Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Photo of the Day

Helena Glabrus (Nina Foch) and Claudia Marius (Joanna Barnes) shop for slaves with the help of Batiatus (Peter Ustinov) in SPARTACUS

This is my favorite scene in SPARTACUS. It's not showy and big but in my mind it's the one instance when the film actually creates something sorta brazen and revels in the absurdity of it all. It's also the one instance when the Stanley Kubrick touch shines through.

I know I recently posted a pic from SPARTACUS a couple of days ago but I was thinking of doing a PEPLUM Cliché post with scenes of people buying slaves and of course this scene was going to be included. The one problem with this is that the slaves are usually on one side and the buyers on the other side which, visually speaking, complicates things. I'll continue working on it because it is a popular cliché.

1 comment:

Scott Ochiltree said...

Yes, a slave market scene PEPLUM cliche post would be nice. Please do not overlook pirate flicks (Ann of the Indies,), numerous Arabian Nights type movies (Chu Chin Chow, The Desert Hawk, etc.)

American Old South movies are another area worth exploring, although they are not PEPLUMS.

Finally,there may also be some good pre-Code silents worth considering (Cabiria).