Bartolomeo Pagano as Maciste in Maciste in the Lions' Den. A Italian silent from 1926.

The last silent Frankenstein film. While there is plenty of promotional material proving this film was shown internationally, there is currently no known film print and it is believed lost. A scientist manages to create a man with a chemical formula of his own invention, but the creature rebels against his creator and commits all sorts of disasters until he is reduced to impotence by the baron.

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.