Any info on possible DVD releases for Maciste in Hell?
I saw a 5 minute clip of this on the dvd features for 'Mania
It is listed on Millcreek Entertainment's 50 Nightmare Worlds Movie Pack to be released Aug. 15. I do not yet know if it is a shortened version or how good the video quality is.
shareI snagged the Nightmare Worlds collection immediately and was looking up this film after being utterly blown away by this movie. The DVD box states that it's the 95 minute print, but alas it is the 66 minute video cut.
The print is somehat worn and someone fitted an arbitrary classical music score to it (the same music you hear in THE BLACK CAT with Lugosi & Karloff, if that helps) but has some gorgeous hand tinting, is never dull and is the most frenzied silent movie I've yet seen. It's a Bosch painting come to life with incredible costumes and sets.
And the movie is 81 years old!! Incredible.
When I got the "Nightmare Worlds" collection, I was expecting this to be the Maciste of the 60s. When I saw that it was (1926), I thought there was a mistake. Sure enough, it was from the silent era, though certainly not the Herculean barbarian from the 60s. I was impressed with the quality of the film and would like to see the 95 minute version.
The special effects were pretty impressive for the time period.
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Some of the music is Beethoven's Fourth Symphony. Some is the same piece by Pachelbel that's used as the main theme of "Barry Lyndon". I kept seeing that film in my head while watching "Maciste." No matter, it's still a fabulous movie! 9/10
shareDon't know what version you watched. The Mill Creek version reuses Schubert's Unfinished primarily. Neither Beethoven nor Pachelbel.
Howard Roller
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