Hercules and the Conquest of Atlantis – Vittorio Cottafavi, 1961

A blood-red curse hangs over the Hellas. The Greek kings convene a conclave to discuss the measures to be taken. The danger comes from beyond the western shores, from a distant continent beyond the western limits of the known world. Androcles, the intrepid king of Thebes and a great friend of Hercules, decides to embark for the western seas to confront the danger looming over Greek civilization. Hercules agrees to accompany him, but is dissuaded by his wife Deyanira. However, to take him with him Androcles resorts to trickery and dilutes a powerful sleeping pill in Hercules’ wine, thus embarking him on this adventure, even against his will. His son Illo and a dwarf servant named Timoteo will also go with them. The rest of the crew is composed of those condemned to the galleys, since Androcles has not been able to convince anyone else to participate in this risky mission.

When Hercules wakes up, he is not indignant when he discovers the ploy, and without giving the matter much importance, he turns over to continue sleeping. The ship will refuel on the shores of an island, and there, while Hercules rests on the sand and Androcles explores the place, the rowers rebel and try to take command of the ship. But the prodigious strength of Hercules (who, by pulling the anchor chain, prevents the ship from drifting away from the shore) defeats the troublemakers, who are abandoned on the island while the others continue their voyage. Now only Hercules, Androcles, the dwarf… and the young Illo hidden in the hold, which his father ignores, are left on board.

One night they are caught in a violent storm. Hercules and his crew lose control and the ship sinks. When the hero comes to, he finds himself floating on a plank (one of the pieces of the ship) near a coast, and there is no trace of his friends. Arriving on the beach, Hercules is astonished to see a girl imprisoned in a rocky cliff face, as if she were being swallowed up by the stony surface. The girl explains to him that she is being absorbed by the monster Proteus, an infernal being capable of adopting multiple forms. Then, a sinister old man tells Hercules to leave, only to turn into a snake, which attacks the demigod by wrapping itself around him… The serpent then transforms into a lion, then a vulture, and finally into a hideous, colossal reptile, in one of the most psychedelic scenes of the peplum subgenre. Hercules defeats the monster, and the young woman is thus freed from Proteus’ deadly embrace.

The girl, named Ismene (Laura Efrikian) explains to her savior that she was given to the monster by her own people as a sacrifice, to appease the wrath of Uranus, the supreme god of the Atlanteans (for that is the people to which the girl belongs). Hercules has already arrived in Atlantis, although without the company of Androcles.

The strapping hero is brought into the presence of Antinea, Queen of Atlantis, who happens to be the mother of the beautiful Ismene. Antinea reacts coldly to seeing her daughter again, which surprises Hercules. The queen does not seem pleased to hear that the demon Proteus has been killed, and that no more virgin offerings to Uranus will be necessary. Antinea proposes to the son of Zeus that he remain as a guest at court, and Hercules agrees, as he wants to find out the whereabouts of his friend Androcles.

When later mother and daughter are alone and the young Ismene embraces her joyfully for having overcome her ordeal, the icy and perfidious queen replies that she has no escape anyway: her fate is cruel and already decided…. For according to the prophecies, Antinea tells the fruit of her womb, if a daughter of hers survives her, the kingdom of Atlantis will come to an end. And for that not to happen, she, the innocent and sweet Ismene, must be immolated. The girl reacts with stupefaction, but her mother orders her to be put to death.

Hercules thinks he recognizes Androcles in the queen’s palace, but is convinced that it must have been an illusion. The Atlantean queen tries to subdue the muscular Greek, to turn him into a kind of consort, but the hero keeps his will strong. One night he is attacked by a masked man, but he reacts in time to repel the aggressor… The assailant turns out to be his friend Androcles! Androcles tried to kill Hercules while he was sleeping. As a possible explanation, one can only speculate that he had been brainwashed by Antinea.

Meanwhile, Ismene is tied to a post on the beach and her mother’s soldiers are about to execute her, but she is saved in time by Illo, the demigod’s son, with the help of the dwarf Timothy. They will become the girl’s protectors and will try to reunite with Hercules. Illo and Ismene will begin to fall in love.

Later, Hercules discovers that after using his friend Androcles, the queen is going to send him as a slave to a valley of lepers. Once there, and after being reunited with his son and Princess Ismene, the superman learns that in the adjacent Sacred Mountain, the evil queen is trying to create a new race under the influence of a magic stone, to invade Greece with an invincible army…