I’m obsessed with the packages that were sold to UHF channels in the 1960s. Through these collections of movies, which are almost the Mill Creek fifty packs of their time, these small stations got a ton of films that they could show at any time, however they wanted.

For an example of another syndicated package, check out this article on the Nightmare Theater package.

Embassy Pictures, who created Sons of Hercules, was founded in 1942 by Joseph E. Levine as a distributor of foreign films. He introduced America to Sophia Loren and Godzilla, while bringing foreign movies like Jack the Ripper and Attila: Scourge of God to the U.S., renaming The Second Best Secret Agent in the Whole Wide World to Licensed to Kill and producing and executive producing everything from Santa Claus Conquers the Martians and The Graduate to Mad Monster Party, They Call Me Trinity, Magic, The Carpetbaggers and The Producers.

He also spent more than million dollars — more money than 1956’s Hercules cost to make — on the publicity it took to turn Steve Reeves into a star. He also introduced the concept of saturation booking by using over 600 prints of that movie, which at the time was a huge number of prints to be struck, as most theaters only had one screen. He also invested $120,000 on dubbing, sound effects and new titles, but the sword and sandal epic became one of the highest-grossing films of the year and, as you can expect in Italy, creating a whole new genre that would see hundreds of these movies made between 1958 to 1965. They would only fade when replaced by the Italian Western and the Eurospy movie.

Based on the success of the Kirk Douglas movie Ulysses — the idea of The Odyssey also inspired plenty of Italian Westerns where the gunfighter finally makes his way home and finds a different town than he remembered — these movies made stars of Reeves, Reg Park and Gordon Scott. Because so many of them demanded larger-than-life superheroic-looking men, many of them were bodybuilders. And so many of them were part of Mae West’s “Muscleman Review,” including Gordon Mitchell, Mickey Hargitay, Reg Lewis, Mark Forest and Dan Vadis.

Embassy knew that these movies had been popular in theaters and that while that initial success may be waning, local UHF channels had a desperate need for content. They answered with Sons of Hercules, which gave these stations fourteen movies unified with a memorable name, a catchy theme song and a voiceover that starts each movie placing them into the same cinematic universe, even if there was no such connection.

They also edited the films so that stations could air them as one-hour episodes, giving the stations 28 weeks of programming that could be repeated as a full year of a one-hour block. Because none of these movies ever played theaters in the U.S., there was some cachet when they were offered to syndicators.

Thanks to Board Game Geek, I learned that Levine left no stone unturned with these movies. He was an early believer in merchandising movies and Sons of Hercules even had a Milton Bradley board game.

The movies in the package are:

Ursus, Son of Hercules: This is Ursus, a 1961 movie directed by Carlo Campogalliani that stars Ed Fury, who would go on to play the hero in two other movies, Ursus in the Valley of the Lions and Ursus in the Land of Fire. He’s also in The Wild Women of Wongo. This movie has some intrigue for fans of Jess Franco, as the role of the virginal Fillide is played by Soledad Miranda.

Mole Men vs the Son of Hercules: This is really Maciste, the Strongest Man in the World, directed by Antonio Leonviola and starring Mark Forest as Maciste. He battles a subterranean race of albino mole men and a monstrous ape. Gianni Garko also shows up.

Triumph of the Son of Hercules: This Tanio Boccia-directed movie is actually The Triumph of Maciste and stars Kirk Morris, Mr. Italia 1961, and a man born as Adriano Bellini.

Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules: Also known as Maciste vs. the Monsters, this stars Reg Lewis as Maciste. He’s called Maxus in the U.S. dub and every time his name gets spoken, it’s a totally different voice saying it. This Guido Malatesta-directed movie was a co-production between Italy’s Euro International Film and Yugoslavia’s Caserbib filmed at Incir De Paolis Studios in Rome and on location in the caves of Ljubljana in Slovenia. In the UK, it was called Colossus of the Stone Age and re-released and retitled at late year of 1975 as Land of the Monsters when it played double features with Revenge of the Gladiators.

Venus Against the Son of Hercules: Mars, God Of War was Marcello Baldi and has Roger Browne as Mars, the god of war, who falls in love with Daphne (Jackie Lane, who left acting and married Prince Alfonso of Hohenlohe-Langenburg). She’s menaced by a carnivorous plant which makes this pretty fun.

Ulysses Against the Son of Hercules: Ulysses against Hercules has Hercules (Mike Lane, former wrestler Tarzan Mike and Frank N. Stein on the TV show Monster Squad) and Ulysses (Georges Marchal) fighting and then teaming up against bird people. It’s directed by Mario Caiano (Nightmare Castle).

Medusa Against the Son of Hercules: Made 19 years before Clash of the Titans, this has Richard Harrison as Perseus in a battle against Medusa. Known in Italy as Perseus The Invincible, it was directed by Alberto de Martino (Strange Shadows in an Empty Room).

Son of Hercules in the Land of Fire: The sequel to Ursus, Ursus In The Land Of Fire as stars Ed Fur and was directed by Giorgio Simonelli (Two Mafiosi Against Goldginger).

Tyrant of Lydia Against The Son of Hercules: Goliath and the Rebel Slave is also directed by Mario Caiano and stars Gordon Scott as Goliath and Ombretta Colli, the future President of Milan, as Princess Cori.

Messalina Against the Son of Hercules: The Last Gladiator has Richard Harrison as Glaucus, a gladiator in the time of Messalina (Lisa Gastoni), Claudius (Philippe Hersent) and Caligula (Charles Borromel). It was directed by Umberto Lenzi.

The Beast of Babylon Against the Son of Hercules: Also known as Hero of Babylon and Goliath, King of the Slaves, this movie has Gordon Scott as Nippur and is about the Fall of Babylon. It was directed by Siro Marcellini, who made the Lola Falana-starring Italian Western Lola Colt.

Terror of Rome Against the Son of Hercules: Maciste, Gladiator of Sparta starred Mark Forest as Maciste, a Spartan gladiator who falls in love with a Christian woman (Marilu Tolo, Roy Colt and Winchester Jack) — where are you Peter Steele? — and must battle monsters and men in the Colosseum. Directed by Mario Caiano, who seemingly specialized in these films.

Son of Hercules in the Land of Darkness: Hercules the Invincible stars Dan Vadis and is one of two movies directed by cinematographer Alvaro Mancori. It’s an actual Hercules movie, a rarity in the Sons of Hercules package!

Devil of the Desert Against the Son of Hercules: A movie of many names, this is also Anthar the Invincible, The Slave Merchants and Soraya, Queen of the Desert. It also stars Kirk Morris — that first name has to be inspired by Kirk Douglas, right? — who plays Anthar. He battles the devilish Ganor (Mario Feliciani) and it has a final battle in a hall of mirrors, which one assumes is taken from Orson Welles’ The Lady From Shanghai. I see you hiding there, director Anthony Dawson, or should I say Antonio Margheriti.

Did you see Sons of Hercules on TV when you were growing up? What was it like? Is there anything I’m missing? I absolutely love that some of these have a trailer that introduces you to all of the sons that you will meet throughout the films with a fast-talking sixties style and song that feels like Batmania being focused on myth.