Monday, February 17, 2020

By the Gods!

Dance sequence from THE INVINCIBLE BROTHERS MACISTE (1964)

I always wonder with dancing scenes like this:

1 - When it was released in movie theatres, did people watch them or did they go to the bathroom or left their seats to get some snacks? I'm thinking the kids in the audience (the majority of viewers?) were probably perplexed by such scenes while adults 'got' their 'sexy' purpose.

2 - What the actors thought of these scenes. They had to be present, like in this scene, but it must have been boring just to sit there and watch the dancers do their thing take after take.

I uploaded this movie to one of my channels but I had to change the music since it was copyrighted. I used the music of the dance number from GIANT OF METROPOLIS (1961) instead which went well with it.

Personally, I love these scenes even though I know they were mostly used as padding to the movie's runtime. Regardless, it's not really a PEPLUM film without one (though a PEPLUM can still be great without one), and this one is memorable, in more ways than one. Aside from the skimpy costumes the two are wearing, and the very suggestive moves, the dance itself is very beatnik in style, making this moment an odd time capsule of sorts. It's anachronistic to the story's setting but it works since the movie itself is kinda odd as well.

No comments: