Hercules and the Masked Rider (1963)

Now maybe something got lost in translation here, but I struggled to see what this had to do with “Hercules” - “Zorro” might have been a better character? Anyway, the gist is your typical Spanish sword-fencing romp with the baddie “Don Ramiro” (Arturo Dominici) usurping the kindly “Don Francisco” (Renato Navarini) so he can steal his lands and the hand of his daughter “Doña Blanca” (José Greci). Before he can cement his cunning plan, though, the old gent’s nephew, the dashing young “Don Juan” (Mimmo Palmara) returns, battle weary from the war in the Netherlands, and decides to put a stop to these shenanigans. He is hopelessly outnumbered, but as luck would have it there is band of travelling gypsies who are tired of being moved from pillar to post and so, under the leadership of their feisty boss “Estella” (Pilar Cansino), decide to join forces to bring down this tyrant before the eyes of the visiting envoy of the King. It’s a decent enough drama but it’s far too long and the story wears too thin at times as the scheming and counter-scheming proves just a little repetitive at times. The formula is well oiled and there’s little jeopardy throughout, but Cansino delivers quite well as the woman not to mess with and there is plenty of swordplay to counter the slack periods - of which there are many, when the melodrama takes too much centre stage. It’s still quite good fun if you like you nasty characters straight out of pantomime, and I’ve seen much worse.