Musings!

Jeffrey Hunter and Debra Paget in PRINCESS OF THE NILE (1954) 

This is probably the most photogenic couple in the entire history cinema. They make a beautiful couple. With that being said, the movie, which is set in Egypt, is the least Egyptian looking movie of all time. It takes place in the 1300s so it's not Ancient Egypt but still....They tried to make an Arabian adventure in Egypt. Arabia and Egypt are different. Anyway, the movie is basically studio bound one, like so many in the 1950s Hollywood. This is where PEPLUM movies made in Europe had a clear advantage: they could cross the mediterranean and film on location in Egypt, like DESERT WARRIOR (1957), starring Ricardo Montalban and Carmen Sevilla, which is beautiful to look at since it was shot in widescreen on location in Egypt. Yes, Debra has an exotic dance number. 

PEPLUM Movie Poster!

A new monthly feature at the blog. I'll compare posters of a movie from Italy (they have a lot of variations) and other countries, if available, of course. Today, it's HERCULES AND THE TYRANTS OF BABYLON (1964)

The main poster. A lot of text covering stuff, including the lower part of the image. Peter Lupus sorta looks crazed. 

The art is less covered and we see everything clearly, including the lower part of the image, which shows Peter's loins and buttocks.

This variation of the Italian poster, Peter Lupus looks different. Changes to Helga's face, hair and jewelry. The lower part of the image is different, less detailed.

For the Italian DVD release, Peter Lupus' face was changed, again. The lower part of image slightly cropped out.

In the original US poster, Helga is gone and the lower part of the art is cropped out.

 

In this Mexican lobby card, Peter looks absolutely scary. Helga is gone and lower part of image is altered (different colour) and cropped out. 

Variations of Italian posters.
 

 

Last Week's Views!

I was too busy monitoring last week's views but just saw this last night. Friday had nearly 94,000 views! That's insane. I don't know what happened there. 

Peplum Public Discussion

Comments are open in this post. You have something to mention about this week's posts? Or something else. This is the only place you can voice your opinion. Comments are curated therefore any bad comment won't be published! Be respectful!

Image of the week!

 

MUSCLES Inc.

Big Reg on the cover of MUSCLE POWER (July 1951)

Musings!

Virna Lisi, Gordon Scott, Steve Reeves and Jacques Sernas in DUEL OF THE TITANS (1961)

All the top actors in one shot. Unfortunately, it's at night and it's taken from the German Blu-ray which is beautiful but a lot of night scenes are especially dark. I tried to adjust the brightness but it was messing too much with the image quality. What's interesting in this scene is how short Jacques Sernas is. He's almost the same height as Virna. Both Steve and Gordon were around 6'1" tall. One has to remember that Jacques was Paris in HELEN OF TROY (1956). He looks so unimposing and frail next to big Steve and Gordon. This is how movies play with perception. Jacques seemed tall and athletic in HELEN OF TROY but not compared to these two big guys.

Paul provided an image of how it would look like in daytime with AI.

Behind-the-Scenes

Ursula Andress reads the Daily Mirror on the set of SHE (1965)

Clip of the week: QUEEN OF THE SEAS (1961)

Lisa Gastoni vs Jerome Courtland! With Germano Longo.

 

Funnies!

Gordon Scott in HERCULES AND THE PRINCESS OF TROY (1965)

HD Alert!

Georges Marchal in the gladiatorial arena in THE WARRIOR AND THE SLAVE GIRL (1958)

This movie is now available for streaming in HD in Italy. It looks great even though there are several instances of discolouration or odd colours. And some minor audio issues. It's in Italian only, of course. The scenes above and below, of the gladiatorial fight, is without a doubt the best scene in the somewhat uneven movie; I admit that there are really great parts in it and some not so great parts. The scene below, when Marchal walks out of the gladiators 'locker room' is amazing. Better shot than any scene from Hollywood. Hopefully it will be released on Blu-ray but as things are going on at the moment, it's doubtful.

Gianna Maria Canale plays a *really* evil and cruel princess. I don't mind Gianna Maria playing a bad person but in this movie, her character is just bad. You can see some of the discolouration in this screenshot.

Different Titles: REVOLT OF THE PRAETORIANS (1964)

Different titles of THE REVOLT OF THE PRAETORIANS (1964). Pretty much the same title. No wild variations. Some sources have the Italian title even though it's not an Italian release.

Original Italian title. Above is from a current HD streaming source. Directly below is from a VHS source. And the third one is from a Czech DVD, which has the title in Italian.

 

English title

French title

 

German title, which translates as PRAETORIAN REVOLT.

Richard Harrison and the gang.

Musings!

José Greci and Scilla Gabel in COLOSSUS OF THE ARENA (1962) 

This movie is probably the brawniest PEPLUM movie ever, and that's saying something, since the genre is filled with ultra brawny movies. Lost in the action is the subplot of the Queen (Scilla) in danger of being locked up in a dungeon of sorts. Greci knows this and she's not happy with the idea of doing away with her since she's an accomplice with the main villain (there are a lot of villains in this movie). So, you watch non-stop brawny action and in between some scenes, we see these scenes with the Queen. It's really jarring. 😂  I like both Greci and Gabel but I'm sure few remember specifically these scenes compared to the over-the-top action. This is quite typical with Italian action movies.

PEPLUM Movie Poster

Thai poster of SAMSON AND THE 7 MIRACLES OF THE WORLD (1961) 

PEPLUM movie posters from Thailand are some of the best, if not the best posters. Even better than Japanese or those from Europe. The colours and everything. Wow!

Last Week's Views

Over 53k views on April 8. April 5, which is not shown above, had 40k views so 187,000 + 40,000 = 227,000 views for the week! The blog used to have 1500 to 2000 views a day!

AI PEPLUMTV

ONE SPARTAN

Peplum Public Discussion

Comments are open in this post. You have something to mention about this week's posts? Or something else. This is the only place you can voice your opinion. Comments are curated therefore any bad comment won't be published! Be respectful! 

Image of the week!

Helen of Troy (Maria Corda) and Paris (Ricardo Cortez) are jubilantly paraded in THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HELEN OF TROY (1927).

VHS Covers: REVOLT OF THE PRAETORIANS (1964)

VHS covers of REVOLT OF THE PRAETORIANS (1964) starring Richard Harrison, Giuliano Gemma and Moira Orfei. Nice selection. No Italian or English versions though.

French cover used the provocative original poster.

 

Spanish cover. The artwork has Dan Vadis and it's from URSUS - REBEL GLADIATOR.

German cover.

Greek cover! It translates as THE LATEST SLAVES...on the left back cover.

Bulgarian cover. My first Bulgarian cover?

 

As an extra, here's the Spanish BETA tape.

Musings!

Peter Lupus (aka Rock Stevens), Anna Maria Polani, and Helga Line in HERCULES AND THE TYRANTS OF BABYLON (1964) 

Big Peter Lupus, who was credited as Rock Stevens, only made 4 PEPLUM movies and they are all entertaining. This film is a Twin Production with GOLIATH AT THE CONQUEST OF DAMASCUS (1965). Both films star Lupus, Anna Maria, Helga and many others. I like both films equally but I have to say, production wise, this one is more solid. The only sorta disappointing aspect is the re-use of scenes from SODOM AND GOMORRAH (1962) for the ending. My other complaint is the 'love interest' with Anna Maria. I don't have anything against her. She's always good but she's a bit boring. Anna Maria was great in HERCULES AGAINST THE MOON MEN (1964), but in these two movies, she barely registers. Helga is excellent, as always.

Behind-the-Scenes

Jeff Chandler and Jack Palance chat with French actress Corinne Calvet on the set of SIGN OF THE PAGAN (1954)

Clip of the week: REVENGE OF THE CONQUERED (1961)

The oldest trick in the book. With Moira Orfei, Maria Grazia Spina and Carla Calo.

Portraits

Michèle Morgan, as Fabiola, in FABIOLA (1949)

SPFX DEPT.

Scenes from QUO VADIS (1951) 

This epic Hollywood movie has a lot of special effects in it. Every type of effects. Matte paintings are used in abundance. In the Triumphal March scene alone, there are nearly a dozen of spectacular matte paintings. I dare say, the best matte paintings in any films, in my humble opinion. Peter Ellenshaw is the genius behind these paintings.

SHIELDS!

Here are three examples of shields from the partially lost movie, THE PRIVATE LIFE OF HELEN OF TROY (1927). Beautiful shields. 

Added to the permanent page.