Country: Italy
Year: 1966
Duration: 89
Aliens from the constellation Hydra crash-land on Morino. A prominent scientist, his daughter, several young technicians, and a pair of Oriental spies are taken hostage by the beings so they can use them to repair their spaceship’s broken engine. With that done, they take off towards their home planet, taking the earthlings with them. However, the humans attempt to stage a mutiny against their captors, inadvertently sending their tiny spaceship hurtling into the infinite beyond…
Biography
film director
Pietro Francisci
(Rome, 1906) after receiving his law degree, worked as a documentary filmmaker, debuting in 1934 with Rapsodia di Roma and later shooting short films for the Istituto Nazionale Luce. In 1935, he directed his first narrative feature film, La mia vita sei tu, and after the war made different types of movies, from the poignant Io t'ho incontrata a Napoli (1946) to the vaguely neorealistic Natale al campo 119 (Christmas at Camp 119, 1947) and the slightly mystical Antonio di Padova (Anthony of Padua, 1949). He found his personal register in epic and mythological movies, starting with Il ribelle di Amalfi (The Lion of Amalfi, 1950), Le meravigliose avventure di Guerrin Meschino (Wonderful Adventures of Guerrin Meschino, 1952), La regina di Saba (The Queen of Sheba, 1952), and Attila (1954), achieving his definitive fame with Le fatiche di Ercole (Hercules, 1958), a huge box office success in Italy and the United States that inaugurated the season of sword and sandal movies. Successes like Ercole e la Regina di Lidia (Hercules Unchained, 1959) and Ercole sfida Sansone (Hercules, Samson & Ulysses, 1963), were joined by L'assedio di Siracusa (Siege of Syracuse, 1960), a historical re-elaboration in a melodramatic key, Saffo (The Warrior Empress, 1960), and the mythological-science fiction hybrid 2+5: missione Hydra (Star Pilot, 1966).
FILMOGRAFIA
Rapsodia in Roma (1934), La mia vita sei tu (1935), Edizione straordinaria (doc, 1941), Il cinema delle meraviglie (ep. Ritmi nuovi e Sui pattini a rotelle, 1945), Io t'ho incontrata a Napoli (1946), Natale al campo 119 (1948), Antonio di Padova (1949), Il leone di Amalfi (1950), Le meravigliose avventure di Guerrin Meschino (1951), La regina di Saba (1952), Attila (1954), Orlando e i paladini di Francia (1956), Le fatiche di Ercole (1958), Ercole e la regina di Lidia (1959), Saffo, venere di Lesbo (1960), L'assedio di Siracusa (1960), Ercole sfida Sansone (1963), 2+5 missione Hydra (1966), Simbad e il califfo di Bagdad (1973).
Cast
& Credits
DIRECTOR, SCREENPLAY: Pietro Francisci. STORY: Fernando Paolo Girolami. CINEMATOGRAPHY: Giulio Albonico, Silvano Ippoliti. FILM EDITING: Pietro Francisci. PRODUCTION DESIGN: Gianfranco Ramacci. COSTUME DESIGN: Gaia Romanini. MUSIC: Nico Fidenco. CAST: Leonora Ruffo, Anthony Freeman, Roland Lesaffre, Kirk Morris, Alfio Caltabiano, Gordon Mitchell, Leontine Snell, Nando Angelini, Giovanni De Angelis, Mirella Panfili, John Sun, Antonio Ho, John Chen, Pietro Francisci, Renato Montalbano. PRODUCTION: Golden Motion Pictures.
CONTACT:
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