sandal/mythological muscleman epic,  _Maciste alla corte del Gran Khan (1961)_ (qv), placing hero Maciste  in a Chinese setting. Genre specialist Riccardo Freda (qv) was  brought in to direct, Gordon Scott (I) (qv) was cast as Maciste  (renamed "Samson" for the U.S. version) and Yoko Tani (qv) was  kept on as the female lead. It became regarded as one of the better  films of that genre.