Product Description

Contains: The Giant of Marathon (1962).
Steve "Hercules" Reeves plays the musclebound hero who defends Athens from Persian forces. A horse with incredible stamina, a double-crossing siren, epic land and sea battles and Reeves' amazing physique highlight this sowrd-and-sandal winner.

"The Last Glory of Troy" (1962)
The majestically muscular Steve Reeves slings a lot of swords, in this action-filled tale of a fight for freedom between Etruscan slave drivers and oppressed Trojans. This movie is not to be missed. AKA: "The Avenger"

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #79610 in DVD
• Released on: 2005-04-26
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 190 minutes

Customer Reviews

The worst DVD image quality ever!!
I can't imagine what DVDs the previous reviewers were looking at. Sadly this is an instance where I made a purchase based on the comments of others. I own hundreds of DVDs and there is nothing I have that comes close to the abysmal quality of this disk. It looks like a fifth or sixth generation transfer from a VHS, like looking at a movie through a fish bowl. I am a huge admirer of director Jacques Tourneur and hope I'll be able to see this film someday.

The Gods Of War
Before Sylvester Stallone, There was Steve Reeves, and any film that he was involved in: strangely used to work. A lot of these films were tongue in cheek but there is still something magical about The Giant Of Marathon, and the story of the Trojan migration to found Rome. A lot of these films are completely innocent in their story line and their over dubbing, but they still bring a warmth of nostalgia whenever I view them.
If you are of a particular age, then all I can say to you is "purchase and enjoy."

OK for Nostalgic Entertainment
Both of these films are some of countless cheap Italian films to come out of the 50s and 60s portraying the myths and histories of antiquity. In this set, one film is on the battle of Marathon while the other covers Virgil's and Livy's tales of Aeneas, the Prince of Troy who settled in the kingdom of Latium with his Trojan refugees.

Mario Bava's 'Hero of Marathon' presents a fictional story of Philippides, the Athenian commoner who saves Athens and Greece against Darius in the First Persian War. The film is still amusing to watch despite it being historically inaccurate and of terrible quality. The battle of Marathon was fought on a plain and not a canyon. Unlike Reeves' Phillipedes, the real Phillipedes of Marathon died upon having delivered his message. The film does have some interesting battle scenes with relatively accurate equipment and tactics but they're pretty cheap. This is certainly not one of the best Italian sword and sandal films to come out of Italy.

Jacques Tourneur's 'Avenger' covers the hardships of the Trojans soon after Aeneas has settled a peace with the Latins and received a right from the King to settle near the Tiber. This film is better than the other one in terms of plot and has some interesting scenes. The acting is horrible however and the picture quality even worse.

These are not very good quality films but are fun to watch in terms of story line and for their cheesiness. A good Italian film to watch on Roman history is the 1939 release of Scipio Africanus covering the Second Punic War with Carthage and Hannibal.