Erik the Conqueror (1961)

Original title: Gli Invasori

Peplum/Vikings. Italy/France. Cameron Mitchell, George Ardisson, Alice Kessler, Ellen Kessler, Raf Baldassarre & Joe Robinson. Directed by Mario Bava.

DVD: Anchor Bay (USA). English dubbed. Widescreen. Excellent quality.

Excellent, beautifully shot viking epic! Looks much more expensive than it really was. One of Bava's best non-horror films. 4/5

Tor: Mighty Warrior (1963)

Original title: Taur, il Re della Forza Bruta

Peplum. Italy. Starring Joe Robinson, Bella Cortez & Harry Baird. Directed by Antonio Leonviola.

Replay Video (Belgium). French language with dutch subtitles. Letterboxed (slightly). Image is stretched out so if you adjust your TV settings you can get a pretty good full widescreen, but it doesn't help much since the print is horribly bad and dubbed in french... Nice, tacky cover though.

Bizarre and crudely made peplum, but not without its entertainment value. Apparently the project begun as a Tarzan-ripp off, but not much of that was left in the finsihed product (this tacky belgian video release tries to sell it as one though). A blatantly racist movie, poor Harry Baird (Four of the Apocalypse) had to degrade himself as Ubaratutu, the stupid and cowardly black sidekick to his "massa" Taur. 2/5

Erik the Conqueror (1961)

Original title: Gli Invasori

Peplum/Vikings. Italy/France. Cameron Mitchell, George Ardisson, Alice Kessler, Ellen Kessler, Raf Baldassarre & Joe Robinson. Directed by Mario Bava.

All World Video (Greece). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Excellent, beautifully shot viking epic! Looks much more expensive than it really was. One of Bava's best non-horror films. 4/5

Ursus and the Tartar Princess (1961)

Original title: Ursus e la Ragazza Tartara

Peplum/Historical. Italy/France. Starring Joe Robinson, Yoko Tani, Maria Grazia Spina & Ettore Manni. Directed by Remigio Del Grosso.

Via Video (Holland). English dubbed. Widescreen.

The badass tartars are raising hell in Poland in this enjoyable semi-peplum (the bare-chested muscleman Ursus is not the main character and it's set in the 18th century). No matter what the dutch video cover art implies Gordon Mitchell is sadly not in this film. 3/5

Women Gladiators (1963)

Original title: Le Gladiatrici

Amazons/Peplum. Italy. Susy Andersen, Joe Robinson, Janine Hendy & Harry Baird. Directed by Antonio Leonviola.

Inter-Ocean Video (UK). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

A band of amazons are enslaving the men of the region, but thankfully the dumb hero Tor steps up to show those "redsocks" their right place! The better follow-up to Tor: Mighty Warrior adding more action and amazons to the mix, thus adding a dose of misogynism to the already strong doses of racism (yes, Ubaratutu is back too...). 3/5

Tor: Mighty Warrior (1963)

Original title: Taur, il Re della Forza Bruta

Peplum. Italy. Starring Joe Robinson, Bella Cortez & Harry Baird. Directed by Antonio Leonviola.

VPD (UK). English dubbed. Letterboxed (slightly).

Bizarre and crudely made peplum, but not without its entertainment value. Apparently the project begun as a Tarzan-ripp off, but not much of that was left in the finsihed product. A blatantly racist movie, poor Harry Baird (Four of the Apocalypse) had to degrade himself as Ubaratutu, the stupid and cowardly black sidekick to his "massa" Taur. The brittish mid-eighties video release tried to pass this off as a sword and sorcery flick á la Conan. 2/5