Mario Bava: THE VIKINGS with Kirk Douglas had come out. So they said: "You need to do a Vichingo (Viking Movie)." And we made GLI INVASORI (aka THE INVADERS, aka ERIK THE CONQUEROR) with Giorgio Ardisson and Cameron Mitchell, shot in Lavinio, with Caldara used as the land of the Vikings. Since I am very fast, use few horses, few props, it made a bagful of money. I remember that the marquis Patrizi, the producer, came and he was pale. In the studio there was a construction of a ship that had cost 150 million. My Viking ship had a carcass of Buitoni pasta twisted together, with that kind of Dragon's head in front of it. There was dry ice to do the fog and technicians who every so often threw bucketfuls of water. There was a dolly that went up and down and the studio was filled with smoke; white smoke, black smoke. The stuff was intoxicating and it put me in bed for six months. For a while I thought I was going to end up in a sanatorium for the poisoned. Nello Santi sent a cashier to me with a gift of five million lire, one of those insurance premiums that they pay out to cabbages. The film went very well, even in America. Then with the success of the Horror Films, I was obliged to continue smashing the box-office.
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