BEAST OF BABYLON AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES (1963)

 

PHENOMENALITY: *uncanny*
MYTHICITY: *fair*
FRYEAN MYTHOS: *adventure*
CAMPBELLIAN FUNCTION: *sociological*

This peplum benefits from a better-than-average grounding in real history and at least three charismatic players, though none of those assets keep the film from devolving into the usual cliches at the end.

The "Babylon" of the title is the Neo-Babylonian Empire of the sixth century, and the "beast" is named Balthazar (currently rendered "Belshazzar") and played by Piero Lulli. There was a crown prince of that name at the time that the Neo-Babylonians fell to the invading forces of Cyrus the Great, but it will come as no great surprise that the script for BEAST plays fast and loose with history.

The Persian king Cyrus gained great repute as a liberator of imprisoned peoples, not least because he released the Jewish slaves kept captive in the Babylonian Empire. The scripters for BEAST, one of whom was the director, turn Cyrus's wave of conquest into a crusade to abolish the ancient custom of slavery, in line with the narratives of liberation common to the strongman-films.

BEAST's strongman-- who of course is not any "son of Hercules"-- is Nippur (Gordon Scott), natural heir to the Babylonian throne. Nippur has been gone from his native city for many years, which he refers to as his "exile." However, since Nippur is said to have enjoyed a close relationship with Persian lord Cyrus in his absence, it seems likely that the script implied that he was gone due to a system of royal fosterage. This comes in handy when Nippur returns to Babylon, doesn't like how things have gone, and whistles up Cyrus to invade and overthrow the bad rulers.

His father the rightful king Sargon is absent as well (apparently imprisoned and kept hostage, though he's never seen). In the absence of both king and prince, Nippur's cousin Balthazar rules as regent, assisted by the high priestess of Ishtar, Ura (Moira Orfei). The script asserts that at some time in the past Babylon had banished both the custom of slavery and the corollary use of slaves for human sacrificial rites, and so Nippur is furious to see that Balthasar and Ura have brought the bad old days back.

Despite his uncanny strength, Nippur can't kick Balthasar off his throne, so he contacts an underground rebel alliance as well sending messages to Cyrus, who shares Nippur's progressive antipathy toward slavery and human sacrifice. Nippur also gets some possible help from Ura, who falls hard for Nippur's nipples and tries to persuade the hero to kill off Balthasar and rule a kingdom of evil beside her. However, Nippur's already fallen for a sweet young slave girl, so Ura gets nowhere with her seductive wiles. 

Once all that has been established, the rest is predictable routine, and only the principals Scott, Orfei and Lulli distinguish themselves from the dullness. Genevieve Grad plays the nice slave girl but she has nothing much to work with even if she does get the hero in the end.