Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Borrowing from the PEPLUM genre

Russell Crowe, straight from the not-so-successful ROBIN HOOD film and star of the ne-plus-ultra PEPLUM film GLADIATOR is seen here taking a break from shooting the MAN OF STEEL film, which is not a Sword & Sandal but this costume looks like it came from a PEP film. Crowe is playing Superman's Kryptonian father, which Marlon Brando played in the 1978 production. This costume is a step down from that film. As goofy as the Brando "illuminated" costume might seem today this one doesn't seem very alien, more something Massimo Serato would be wearing back in Antiquity. The producers of this SUPERMAN reboot might be wishing for the Crowe/GLADIATOR magic to rub off on this film but in the end it might be more ROBIN HOOD than GLADIATOR.

2 comments:

jim said...

So far, NONE of the costumes from the new Superman movie have impressed me at all.

Now, most PEPLUM's might have used paper mache rocks & rubber suited monsters, but, to their credit, the costumes were always first rate.

Thanks for posting it, though. Hadn't seen this (Jor-El's) outfit yet.

PEPLUM cinema said...

I agree with you on all counts. I haven't been impressed by the costumes I've seen from MAN OF STEEL. Very cheesy and/or wrong.

Italian (or Euro) Sword & Sandal films always had intricate costumes. The shields and weapons were great and convincing. Even the sandals/footwear, by POMPEI, were excellent as well. Just look at the US financed and made ATLAS by Roger Corman, which had none of these, to realize the great production qualities those films had. Of course, they couldn't compete with major Hollywood films like 10 COMMANDMENTS when it came to spectacle but production wise Euro PEPLUMS often if not always "looked" good/right.