Blu-ray, DVD Release: Hercules and the Captive Women

Blu-ray Release Date: April 13, 2021
Price: Blu-ray $24.95, DVD $13.99
Studio: Criterion


The latest special-edition release from vintage film champion The Film Detective (TFD) is the epic sword-and-sandal adventure Hercules and the Captive Women.

Originally released in 1961 as Ercole alla conquista di Atlantide in Italy, Hercules and the Captive Women is the version edited for the U.S. and released here in 1963.

Action-packed from the beginning, this peplum finds Hercules (Reg Park) encountering the maiden Ismene (Laura Altan) when he must save her from a shape-shifting creature. Victorious, Ismene brings Hercules home to Atlantis where they come face to face with Ismene’s mother, the evil Queen Antinea (Fay Spain), who’s set on conquering the world (but not if Hercules has anything to say about it!).

The latest TFD release was produced from 35mm archival elements and restored from a 4K transfer in its original aspect ratio.

Bonus features on the discs include the full Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K) version of the film (from 1992). Additional features are an introduction by MST3K writer and co-star Frank Conniff; audio commentary by film critic and screenwriter Tim Lucas; Hercules and The Conquest of Cinema: A Swords and Sandals, documentary from Daniel Griffith at Ballyhoo Motion Pictures; and The Duel of the Titan, a 12-page, full-color booklet insert with an essay from author and historian C. Courtney Joyner.

Buy or Rent Hercules and the Captive Women

About Laurence

Founder and editor Laurence Lerman saw Alfred Hitchcock’s North by Northwest when he was 13 years old and that’s all it took. He has been writing about film and video for more than a quarter of a century for magazines, anthologies, websites and most recently, Video Business magazine, where he served as the Reviews Editor for 15 years.