By Adrian Smith
For
international audiences, the words “Australian comedy” probably conjures up
images of Dame Edna Everage, or the sexual adventures of Alvin Purple. What may
be less familiar is the work of the comedy group Double Take, led by former
child actor Des Mangan, who began performing live in the mid-eighties in
cinemas, screening the schlock horror classic Astro Zombies (Ted V.
Mikels, 1968) whilst lip-syncing an entirely new script. What had begun as a
group of friends throwing funny lines at the TV during late might screenings of
B movies developed into a successful series of live screenings that spread in
popularity throughout the country, and eventually overseas with an appearance
in 1987 at the Edinburgh Fringe. In 1989 they began a new show using the
relatively obscure Italian peplum film Ercole, Sansone, Maciste e Ursus gli
invincibili (Samson and the Mighty Challenge, Giorgio Capitani,
1964). This was coming from the tail end of the sword and sandal boom that had
begun with Le fatiche di Ercole (Hercules, Pietro Francisci,
1958) a few years and hundreds of films earlier, and as such was already almost
spoofing the conventions, particularly in having mythological heroes from
different backgrounds (Greece, Israel and Rome) fight each other. Double Take,
by this time consisting of just Mangan and comedian Sally Patience, took this
already amusing film and drastically rewrote the story so that Hercules, a
Sinatra-style crooner, falls in love with the beautiful Labia, whose mother runs
the Pink Parthenon nightclub in Climidia, and, well, you get the point. It’s
smutty, politically incorrect and hilarious.
The
success of the ‘Double Take Meets Hercules’ live show encouraged an American
business and wannabee film producer to provide funding to turn the whole thing
into a movie, so Mangan wrote a wraparound story about Brad (David Argue), a
disillusioned cinema executive who quits his job with one of the major
distribution franchises to restore and open his own reparatory cinema. With
publicist Lisa (Mary Coustas) and projectionist Sprocket (the legendary Bruce
Spence, a man so tall he probably wouldn’t fit in a real projection booth),
they plan a gala black tie event opening screening featuring the last film to
be screened at the venue before it closed down – Hercules. It is not
until the guests arrive that they realise the print they have been sent is in
Italian, so Brad and the gang must dub the film live, much the great delight of
the audience. This set-up is obviously just the excuse needed to be able to
present large sections of the original Hercules film with the new dubbing, and
it works very well. Unfortunately, despite successful film festival appearances
around the world, Hercules Returns did not stick around in cinemas for
very long and was largely forgotten. The Double Take team went back on the road
with shows based around, among others, Morgan the Pirate, (André De Toth
& Primo Zeglio, 1960) and Starcrash (Luigi Cozzi, 1978), and later
Mangan became a well-known face on Australian television through presenting
film screenings and Eurovision coverage.
This
new, fantastic blu ray release from Umbrella Entertainment features not only
the restored Hercules Returns, but also the full English-language
version of the original film, Samson and the Mighty Challenge. This is a
very entertaining and funny film in itself; a sort of Italian Carry On
film. However, the jewel in the crown of this release is the full original
recording of ‘Double Take Meets Hercules’. Whilst much of the script was used
in the rerecorded version for Hercules Returns, in my opinion this version
is purer and funnier, uninterrupted by the new narrative segments required to
make the Hercules Returns story work. It is witty and frequently
outrageous, and it’s easy to forget that there are only two people doing all
the voices. There is also a new audio commentary for Hercules Returns
with the cast and crew, which raises the slightly meta prospect of watching the
film, which is mainly a commentary, with another commentary over the top. This
deluxe, limited-edition package also comes a book which tells the complete
story of Double Take, the making of the film and the critical reaction, as well
as a copy of the wraparound story script. Housed in a hardbox with fantastic
new artwork, it also contains a complete set of lobby cards and a reversible
poster.
This
Collector’s Edition of Hercules Returns is only available from the
Umbrella Entertainment webstore, and is highly recommended.