Sadly Over-hyped

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

This is without doubt one of the toughest Italian sword and sandal movies I have sat through. I will admit that it's not completely without merit - the location shooting in Egypt does provide at times a somewhat eye-catching backdrop. But a pretty look does not a film make. The movie has many problems, but I think the most pressing is that it is surprisingly boring. There aren't that many action sequences, and the few that there are come across as absolutely flat, being given passionless choreography and clunky direction. And between those drab action scenes, viewers will be subjected to a really slow story and endless sequences of dry chat. As for the movie's title protagonist, I don't think it was a good idea to make him invulnerable to practically everything - knowing that he doesn't stand a chance of being killed or even hurt, no tension is ever built, nor does the viewer feel any empathy for this guy, since he never has to struggle. Definitely one time when being stuck in public domain hell is well deserved.

"Hercules Against the Sons of the Sun" director Osvaldo Civirani and scenarists Alessandro Ferraù, Roberto Gianviti, and Luciano Trasatti concocted a warrior unlike any other in the annuals of traditional Sword & Sandal films. In some way, Kindar is like Superman, but he isn't an extraterrestrial. Instead, Kindar (Mark Forest) is born into royalty as the son of a sultan, but his birth is singular. He was born during a storm, and lightning struck his mother when he was born and killed her. Meantime, baby Kinder emerges as a man who isn't vulnerable to anything. Like Superman and Kryptonite, Kindar has only one weakness, a red rose. Actually, the red rose here is a metaphor for fire. Nothing but flames can harm Kindar. The Sultan is awestruck by this turn of affairs. Essentially, a villainous rebel leader, Seymuth (Mimmo Palmara), abducts the infant and raises him as his own. He keeps Kindar hidden for some twenty years, and Kindar hasn't the slight clue that Seymuth isn't his real father. When he rides into battle for the first time, Kindar lives up to his name as 'the Invulnerable.' Seymuth plans to use Kindar to lead his army of nomadic warriors into the city. Unfortunately, Seymuth's plan doesn't work out, and Kindar discovers that he is the son of Eman, King of Utor. Eventually, Kindar and Seymuth have a face-off.Civirani, who also served as cinematographer, lensed the action on location in Egypt as well as on the Nile River. The pyramids of Giza, Abusir, and Dahshur are visible in some long shots. The spectacle, Palmara's villainy, and the authentic Egyptian scenery make this Sword & Sandal melodrama tolerable, but it lacks surprises and revelations. Forest furnishes his solemn muscular presence, while Palmara is every inch an audacious dastard. Rosalba Neri and Dea Flowers provide the feminine pulchritude. Only serious Peplum fans should apply. "Kindar the Invulnerable" isn't one of Forest's better epics.

As foretold by the prophets there would one day arise a man who was born of lightning and would be invincible. And that's who Mark Forest plays in Kindar The Invulnerable.Someone must have been reading Superman comics and decided to create a Superman like character for their sword and sandal film. Forest is impervious to all, swords, spears, rocks. There is something in the prophecy also about a red flower being his Kryptonite, but no one can figure that one out.This was the last film made by Mark Forest aka Lou Degni of Brooklyn who went to Italy to study opera and paid his way through the lessons by doing these muscle films. He was the best looking of all the muscle dudes who were glutting the market with these epics in the early Sixties. I sincerely hope he had a good career in opera to make up for some of these films. He certainly had a focus.

Mark is hit at his birth by a bolt of lightning which kills his mother but makes him almost invulnerable: Only the "Red Flower" can harm him, though nobody knows what it is. Unfortunately, he is soon thereafter kidnaped and made the chief warrior of a desert bandit tribe led by Mimmo Palmara, which tries to sack Mark's city of birth. Two great scenes: Mark, without knowing it, has to fight his own brother in a whipping and wrestling duel in the mountains. And: Mark lets himself be put into an iron maiden to prove that he cannot be harmed; he steps out of it and simply states, "I am invulnerable." Extra wooden acting during love scenes (even in comparison to other products of Italian popular cinema of this time)!! Low production costs, partially boring. Recommended for fans of Mark Forest or Italian trash cinema only. Almost the bottom of the barrel. Rosalba Neri has only a very small part to play, which is a pity.