Hercules in the Haunted World (1961)

Christopher Lee looks like he'd raided Laurence Olivier's dressing room as he donned the bowl-cut wig and took on the role of the manipulative "Lico". He's got it into his head that he can marry the princess "Deianira" (Leonora Ruffo) and usurp the throne. Thing is, though, she is the love of the legendary "Hercules" (Reg Park) so he has to put her under a magic spell that will necessitate her hero heading to the depths of the Underworld to retrieve the "Apple of the Hesperides" to help restore her to her senses. Accompanied by his two friends "Theseus" (George Ardisson) and "Telemachus" (Franco Giacobini) off they set on a series of adventures set deep within the bowels of the Earth. Needless to say, the valiant warriors who keep the apple aren't just going to give it to him, and then there are lava rivers, stone monsters and of course Pluto himself to contend with too as they traverse his dark and treacherous realm. Will they make it back to daylight? This is nowhere near as bad as I thought it was going to be. Although none of the acting merits mention at all, nor does the very staccato script, the studio-set scenarios have seen some effort put into them and the story is quite decently structured to mix mythology with a vehicle for Reg Park's high-protein diet. That mythology does confuse it's Roman and it's Greek a little, but that doesn't matter as the hammy Lee, the rent-a-grin Ruffo and the light relief coming from Giacobini keep it rolling along quite entertainingly for eighty minutes. Not great, no, but if you like the genre then it's actually quite watchable.