Maciste alla corte del Gran Khan [Samson and the Seven Miracles of the World] ** (1961, Gordon Scott, Yoko Tani) – Classic Movie Review 13,994

The 1961 Italian/ French historical adventure film Maciste alla corte del Gran Khan [Samson and the Seven Miracles of the World] stars Gordon Scott as Maciste and Yoko Tani as the Princess he rescues in 13th century China.

Director Riccardo Freda’s 1961 Italian/ French co-production film Maciste alla corte del Gran Khan [Samson and the Seven Miracles of the World] stars Gordon Scott as Maciste (or Samson in the American version).

Wandering star Maciste turns up in 13th century China, where he rescues Princess Lei-lin (Yoko Tani) and Prince Cho (Gabriele Antonini) from the Tartars, and leads the Chinese in a revolt against the Tartars.

Gordon Scott is manly and muscular as Maciste in this exuberant historical adventure escapism from a simpler, more innocent era apparently. It looks sleek in Riccardo Pallotini’s cinematography and Riccardo Freda keeps his film bright and lively.

The film reuses the sets, extras and Yoko Tani as a princess from Marco Polo [L’avventura di un italiano in Cina] (1962) and Freda’s The Mongols (1961). The producers made it as a ‘film di recupero’, a recovery film, to earn back money lost on their expensive epic Marco Polo.

It was released on 31 October 1961 in Italy, and then in the US by American International Pictures.

In the American version, the score by Carlo Innocenzi is changed to another by AIP’s go-to guy Les Baxter.

After the success of Hercules, more films with muscular heroes performing amazing feats were needed, and producer Ermanno Donati thought of the idea of resurrecting the character of Maciste who first appeared in the silent film epic Cabiria (1914) for new audiences. He and his brother Piero Donati first shot the film Maciste nella Valle dei Re [Son of Samson] (1960), followed by Riccardo Freda’s film Maciste alla corte del Gran Khan [Samson and the Seven Miracles of the World].

After six films as Tarzan, Scott moved to Italy and became a popular star in péplum / sword-and-sandal epics. A friend of Steve Reeves, he played Remus to Reeves’s Romulus in Duel of the Titans (1961). Scott played Maciste twice, in Goliath and the Vampires and Samson and the Seven Miracles of the World. When the craze for péplum epics ended, Scott starred in spaghetti Westerns and Eurospy films until 1967.

Okay then, we have the French to blame for the term peplum. It is a Latin word referring to the ancient Greek garment peplos and was introduced by French film critics in the 1960s to refer sword-and-sandal movies in a condescending way, but later embraced by fans. A peplos is a body-length garment established as typical attire for women in ancient Greece by c. 500 BC, a rectangular piece of woollen cloth that was folded loosely down one side.

The cast are Gordon Scott as Maciste (Samson in the American version), Yoko Tani as Princess Lei-lin. Hélène Chanel as Kiuta, Dante DiPaolo as Bayan, Gabriele Antonini as Prince Cho, Leonardo Severini as Garak, Valéry Inkijinoff as Tao, Franco Ressel as Captain of the guards.

Running time: 94 minutes.

© Derek Winnert 2026 – Classic Movie Review 13,994

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