Also known as Maciste alla corte del Gran Khan, Seven and the 7 Miracles of the World, is a Riccardo Freda directed film which has Maciste (not Samson, which he’s called in the USA version) fighting against an army of Mongol warriors to save a princess!

Screen legend Gordon Scott (Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure, Danger!! Death Ray) stars as Samson/Maciste, who travels to China to save the country from the evil Garak, the Great Khan (Leonardo Severini) who has enslaved the people and is also planning to assassinate a young princess Lei-Ling (Yoko Tani, The Death Ray of Dr. Mabuse, The Savage Innocents). Samson/Maciste, along with Prince Cho (Gabriele Antonini, Hercules, Hercules Unchained) lead a revolt against the Mongols, led by Garak!

Legendary horror/science fiction and fantasy director Riccardo Freda (Caltiki, the Immortal Monster, Giants of Thessaly) does a fine job with Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World, probably not considered to be his best work, but for a sword and sandal picture, which there were plenty of in Italy during the sixties, this one stands out as one of the better pictures in that genre with a literate, comprehensible story. Riccardo Pallotini is responsible for the beautiful cinematography for the movie, capturing a lot of gorgeous outdoor scenery.

Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World receives a Blu-ray release courtesy of Kino Lorber. This release includes both the original 98-minute international version under the Macistealla corte del Gran Khan, title with the original score by Carlo Innocenzi and the American International Pictures (AIP) US cut which is 76 minutes.

You can finally discard any crummy public domain DVD releases of the film as this Blu-ray release surpasses them all! Both cuts seem to have the same HD master, except for the opening moments for the AIP version which is grainy, filled with speckles and print damage. Plus, the aspect ratio changes several times in that first opening minute!  For the international version and the rest of the AIP cut, the film looks outstanding all the way through with strong colors and details to the scenery, most of it is outdoors under beautiful blue skies. Night scenes, what there are of them, do look excellent as well with nice inky blacks and great shadow detail. Skin tones look accurate. Grain is present as well, and the movie retains its film-like appearance. No print damages were detected for the international version outside of a few speckles here and there. Overall, the image quality for this release is outstanding! No DNR appears to have been applied.

The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track is also satisfactory with dialogue, the original musical score by Carlo Innocenzi and other action sounds coming in clearly. Background noises, horseback riding, fighting, screaming are all balanced in perfectly with the dialogue for both cuts. No audio defects were found on either track and should make for a pleasant listening experience. Both cuts only have the English dubbed dialogue with optional English subtitles.

The Blu-ray for Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World gets a commentary track by novelist and film critic Tim Lucas which can be found on the US cut of the film. As with all Tim Lucas’ commentaries, this is another tour-de-force from him as he focuses Samson/ Maciste, Riccardo Freda’s other works and other information about the sword and sandal genre!

Trailers for Revolt of the Slaves, Arabian Adventure, Jack, the Giant Killer, Sinbad of the Seven Seas, and The Magic Sword and aKino Cult promo round out the extras.

I think this is a great release by Kino Lorber. Nostalgic fans will want to watch the US cut, but to me it’s the original version that stands out and should been to see the film the way it was meant to be seen. The US version of the film should be viewed for the Tim Lucas commentary! Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World finally gets the best release to date!

Samson and the 7 Miracles of the World

Director- Ricardo Freda

Cast- Gordon Scott, Yoko Tani

Country of Origin- Italy / France

Distributor – Kino Lorber

Number of Discs – 1

Reviewed by – David Steigman

Date –8/14/22