The evil Black Queen (Janine Hendy) rules a race where the men are enslaved and the women rule. Captive men are sent to the mines and captive women are trained to be gladiators and compete to the death for the amusement of the Queen and her people.
The oracle Sibyl predicts that a strong man will appear and overcome one hundred and one of the Black Queen’s strongest Amazons. If he is not defeated it will mean the end of the Black Queen’s reign. The Queen offers one thousand slaves to the woman who can bring her that man. Word gets to the Queen about a man in a distant village named Thor. The Queen orders that Thor be brought to her.
Thor (Joe Robinson) and his friend Ubaratutu (Harry Baird) live in a distant village. The former King was killed years earlier by the Black Queen’s warriors. The king’s children Tamar (Susy Andersen) and her young brother Amouk escaped harm. When the Queen’s forces try to capture Thor he manages to get away but Tamar and Amouk are captured. The Queen is unaware that there are heirs to the throne among the captives. Amouk is sent with the children slaves and Tamar is sent to be trained as a gladiator.
Amouk manages to escape with a young girl who wants Amouk to teach her how to hunt a bear. They are found by Ubaratutu. Amouk explains the situation with Tamar. Thor and a reluctant Ubaratutu go to the Black Queen’s village to free Tamar and the enslaved men. Ubaratutu gets caught but the Queen decides to make him her husband. At least until Ubaratutu realizes that his status is tenuous. Thor is also caught.
The Captain of the Gladiators, Yamad (Maria Fiore), confides to Tamar that she is part of a resistance movement and that she is aware of Tamar’s status. Unfortunately they are overheard by Ghebel Gor (Carla Foscari). Ghebel Gor is a gladiator-in-training who is loyal to the evil Queen. The Queen has Yamad tortured to death. What she has planned for Thor and Tamar could mean their deaths as well. One by fire and one by hand to hand combat.
“Thor and the Amazon Women” AKA “The Mighty Thor Against the Queen of the Amazons” AKA “Women Gladiators” AKA “The Amazon Women” AKA “Le Gladiatrici” was released in 1963 and was directed by Antonio Leonviola. It is an Italian and Yugoslavian Sword and Sandal film.
In June 1963 Italy released the sword and sandal movie “Taur, il re della forza bruta” AKA “Taur the Mighty”. Taur was played by Joe Robinson and Ubaratutu was played by Harry Baird. In August 1963 was released “Le Gladiatrici” AKA “Thor and the Amazon Women”. Taur was changed to Thor for the second film because it was more recognizable to American audiences. As Thor the character has nothing special about him other than being strong.
Even though the women rule the village the movie is quite misogynistic. It spends a lot of time referring to women as inferior to men. Although Thor and Ubaratutu are top billed the movie spends more time on Tamar and the gladiators. Ubaratutu is more interesting of the two top male characters only because he is basically comic relief, but he does seem to have more screen time than Thor as well. Susy Andersen as Tamar is the best of the bunch. For the most part her character is strong except when the lame script calls for her to put herself down for being a woman. Other than that she does a good job as the blonde royal heir.
There isn’t much else to highlight this movie. Most of the acting is bland. So are the dialogue and the plot. There’s some campiness to it but not enough to make it interesting.