Maciste all'inferno (1925)

This epic was the last in a series of silent sword ‘n sandal spectaculars starring former Genovese dockworker and aging hunk Bartolomeo Pagano. This homely stud spends half the film in a heavy woolen suit, looking more than a dimwitted butcher than a bodybuilder. Fortunately, true to the title, he does go to hell, where he’s assaulted by demons, propositioned by seminude demonettes, and finally stripped to his overample but still fetching flesh. He keeps busy during his sojourn leading a demon revolt and battling a dragon too large to move very much. Director Brignone pulled out all the stops for this comic-Boschian vision of hell, with what looks a cast of thousands of demon-extras spilling off the screen. Fellini claimed Maciste inspired him to become a filmmaker, and the air of amusing depravity, seen to full advantage in the rare restored print that occasionally circulates, would seem to confirm it.