Co-host John Hudson and I take great pleasure in returning
to our occasional series of episodes on the films of Antonio Margheriti. This
time out we tackle one of his 1980's action films, but this isn't a Rambo-esque
bungle in the jungle. No, no! This is a film 'inspired' by (the huge world wide
box office success of) RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK. From 1982 to 1985 Margheriti
made three different Indiana Jones rip-offs and what separates this film from
the other two is that it is not a period piece even though it deals with Nazi
history and Germany 's
pre-war hunt for religious relics. Of course, this Ark
hunt was done for a fraction of the budget of it's better known Hollywood counterpart, but for the right audience that is
part of the allure.
THE ARK OF THE SUN GOD stars frequent Margheriti
collaborators David Warbeck and John Steiner along with several familiar faces
from Italian and Spanish genre movies. Warbeck is best known to horror fans for
his roles in Fulci's THE BEYOND and THE BLACK CAT. Steiner starred in Mario
Bava's final film, worked with Fulci in his WHITE FANG movies and appeared in
Argento's fine giallo TENEBRA. The great character actor Luciano Pigozzi plays
a guy named Beetle who is instrumental in finding the hiding place of the
titular Ark.
Even though his face is covered in this movie with a big bushy beard it's still
easy to see why he was called Italy 's
Peter Lorre as the resemblance is remarkable. Sadly, this seems to be the one
and only film for female costar Susie Sudlow and this fact upsets both John and
I. Wherefore art thou, Miss Sudlow?
Thank you for downloading and listening to us tromp into the
Turkish desert in search of the tomb of Gilgamesh. If you have any comments or
questions please write to us at thebloodypit@gmail.com and we'll be glad to
hear from you. And before anyone asks the song at the end of the show is by Tame
Impala with an additional tag from Warbeck and Steiner. Enjoy!
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