Hercules the Invincible

"Hercules falls for the daughter of a deposed king whose kingdom is held in thrall by an evil queen. The Queen captures our hero and orders him torn apart like a wishbone by wild elephants. He survives, and the queen falls for him, but he is true to his love. The queen's subjects rise up in arms and her realm is engulfed in a volcanic eruption. Somewhere along the way, Hercules and his chubby comic companion fight off lions, bears, and an angry dragon," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.

Re-titled "The Land of Darkness" for US TV viewing as two parts of "The Sons of Hercules" series (with a mighty catchy theme song). A patchily-edited lion fight signals, early in the running time, that you're not in for high quality product. With his golden beard, Dan Vadis (as Ercole aka Hercules) looks a little like the lions they used, and none are too ferocious. Silly John Simons (as Babar) is Mr. Vadis' gluttonous comic sidekick, and shapely Spela Rozin (as Telca) is the attractive leading lady.

* Ercole l'invincibile (3/19/64) Alvaro Mancori ~ Dan Vadis, John Simons, Spela Rozin, Carla Calo