Atlas

USA 1961
produced by
Roger Corman, Charles B. Griffith (associate) for Beacon Films, Filmgroup
directed by Roger Corman
starring Michael Forest, Barboura Morris, Frank Wolff, Walter Maslow, Andreas Filippides, Christos Exarchos, Theodoros Dimitriou, Miranda Kounelaki, Sascha Dario, Dick Miller, Roger Corman, Charles B.Griffith, James Carleton, Robert Hudson, William Jolley, Jean Moore, Charles Stirling, Kent Whitley
written by Charles B.Griffith, music by Ronald Stein

review by
Mike Haberfelner

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Tyrant Praximedes (Frank Wolff) is putting the town of Thenis under siege, and that town's ruler Telectos (Andreas Filippides) is quick to discover he and Praximedes are in a stalemate, only to be resolved by a one-on-one fight of his son Indros (Christos Exarchos) against whoever Praximedes can come up with - so Praximedes goes to the Olympic Games, picks out the best wrestler, Atlas (Michael Forest), and tries to persuade him by a) painting the siege as a peacekeeping mission, and b) using his own wife Candia (Barboura Morris) as bait - and reluctantly, Atlas, a peaceloving man at heart agrees - and beats Indros in battle, but refuses to kill him.

Once Atlas realizes that Praximedes is a tyrant as ruthless as they come, he knows he has been had and leaves Thenis. This doesn't anger Praximedes too much, but what really angers him is that his own wife Candia goes with Atlas. Atlas and Candia soon meet up with rebel forces led by Indros who want to reclaim Thenis, and after some musing, Atlas joins them and makes up a plan how to take Thenis by surprise - while Praximedes is on the verge of insanity after even his own right hand man Gallus (Theodorous Dimitriou) has betrayed him.

Of course, Atlas' plan to retake Thenis succeeds and he defeats and kills Praximedes in a fight one-on-one ... and then he and Candia leave the region to find peace somewhere else.

One of the few sword-and-sandal films set in ancient Greece of the early 1960's to actually have been shot in Greece - but that sounds more exciting than it is, since the film was made pretty much on a shoestring and the Greek locations just meant the actors jumping around in some ancient ruins - which isn't to say Atlas is essentially a bad film. Actually, Atlas features a better-than-usual script for this type of film, and Frank Wolff makes a good villain ... on the other hand, the budget for Atlas was way too low for this kind of film, as even the epic battle scenes never feature more than a few dozen soldiers, the props often fail to convince, and the ruins, authentic as they may be, just don't spell ancient Greece, they just spell ruins from ancient Greece. Plus, American (drive-in) filmmaker Roger Corman simply lacks the hot-bloodedness of the Italians (then the chief sword-and-sandal-filmmakers) to pull off a project like this on the cheap. Plus both the hairdo of Michael Forest and the attitude of Barboura Morris seem to be totally out-of-place in ancient Greece as it is.

Despite everything though, you might find this film slightly amusing, I know I did.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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