GOLIATH AND THE SINS OF BABYLON (1963)

 

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

I'll note in passing that one online review asserts that this was a better funded peplum that most films in the subgenre. That said, I still found that the SINS here were pretty dull.

The city of Babylon has a bad habit of demanding from vassal state Nefir thirty virgin females a year to sacrifice to their gods. Princess Rezzia (Jose Greci) would like to rebel against the evil practice, but she can't assume the throne of Nefir until she's married. However, Rezzia can only marry whoever defeats her in an arena-bound chariot-race. Wandering hero Goliath (originally "Maciste" and played by Mark Forest) takes exception to the sacrificial ritual and tosses around a few Babylonian soldiers. Some local members of a Babylonian resistance induct Goliath into their ranks, and eventually the rebels set Babylon on fire and depose its corrupt ruler.

There's so much emphasis on ordinary sword-battles (including one at sea) that there's barely any room for the usual muscleman feats of strength. There's an insidious death-trap, in which Goliath is chained to a table while numerous spears drop from the ceiling, either to hit him or torment him with near misses, but there's no big payoff to this. The best action-scene is that when Goliath goes to Nefir for whatever reason, he ends up racing Rezzia in the arena, and of course he wins. But it lacks dramatic impact because Rezzia's in love with another man, so Goliath bows out and-- I guess everyone's just okay with her marrying the guy who didn't win? There's some novelty to seeing a female character race a chariot, and I wondered if the script took a little inspiration from the Atalanta myth, in which an athletic woman races men trying to claim her hand in marriage. But if there's no real consequence to the chariot-race, so what?

The best thing in the movie might be Fabrizio, playing a comic relief midget. For a true rarity, the little hero even gets a bride his own size at movie's end.