Musings!

Bette Blythe and Fritz Leiber in THE QUEEN OF SHEBA (1921) 

This silent film is presumed lost. Very little of it is left. I've always been intrigued by it. Bette plays the Queen of Sheba and Fritz plays King Solomon. Since it's lost and the product is presumably in the public domain, wouldn't it be cool that someone would recreate the entire film via AI. It's a win win, in my opinion. Just follow the script, which should still exist in print form, and recreate it scene by scene. The original prints were destroyed in a fire so there's no chance it will ever surface, unless it's found in another country. So, recreating it with new technology would give it new life.

PEPLUM Movie Poster

Original Italian poster of MACISTE AGAINST HERCULES IN THE VALE OF WOE (1961)

Very nice poster with a good set of paintings on the right of the crowded cast, including Kirk Morris as Maciste.

Last Week's Views

290K for the week of 27 April to 3 May. 69538 views on Tuesday, 28 April. A sharp decline from the 1.4 million views of last week but that's ok since that was not normal. 😂 Average 7 day views: 41K. 

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!

Livius (Stephen Boyd) carries the body of Commodus (Christopher Plummer) after defeating him in a sword fight in THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (1964)

At the movies...

Premiere of BEN-HUR (1959) at the Loew's State Theatre in New York city. I tried to colourize the photo but the colours were wildly inaccurate (below). 

Musings!

Marilù Tolo and Mark Forest in MACISTE - GLADIATOR OF SPARTA (1964) 

This movie was released in March 1964 with its Twin Production, THE MAGNIFICENT GLADIATOR, also with Marilù and Mark, was released in December. Both films shared scenes so THE MAGNIFICENT GLADIATORS borrowed scenes from this movie, since it came out first. I like both but I slightly prefer THE MAGNIFICENT GLADIATOR. Just by this much. This movie is good, with several stand-out scenes, including the fate of Marilù's character and the infamous, eye-opening ending, but it's more gloomy and dark while MAGNIFICENT is more fun and colourful. This one is like winter while MAGNIFICENT is like summer. Marilù plays a villainess while her role was more fun in MAGNIFICENT. The scene of Maciste finding her resting is one of the best scenes in any PEPLUM movie. Really well directed. In the English version, Maciste was renamed Poseidon but IMDb says he's called Hercules. Where's the HD version?

Behind-the-Scenes

Janet Leigh, Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis on the set of THE VIKINGS (1958)

Clip of the week: SAMSON AND THE SLAVE QUEEN (1963)

Fully dressed man vs shirtless man. Or Zorro (Pierre Brice; El Toro in US version) vs Samson (Alan Steel; Maciste in the Italian version) in SAMSON AND THE SLAVE QUEEN (1963). Fun film!

Portraits

Reg Park, as Hercules, in HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN (1961)

HD Alert!

Scene from SECOND PONTIUS PILATE (1987)

Jesus (Carlo Panchetti) enters the hall where Pontius Pilate (Nino Manfredi) will overlook his fate. This is a new movie to me. I never heard of it. It's a comedy. The movie looks nice enough but it's not TV movie then cinematic epic. The movie is in HD, just not full HD. The print I was given includes English subtitles. In this scene, when Jesus walks in the room the aquinas slowly tumble to the ground. Suspicion arises from this unusual event. Yes, it's a comedy. Available from a streaming services in Italy.
 

Vintage Article

Old article on 'The Unforgettable Steve Reeves' with a photo from HERCULES (1958), during the Cretan bull scene.

Musings!

Eleonora Bianchi and Ivica Pajer in TREASURE OF THE PETRIFIED FOREST (1965)

Describing this movie is quite difficult. It's a combination of so many other films and stories that it almost becomes impossible. It's part SIEGFRIED (1958), WHOM THE GODS WISH TO DESTROY aka DIE NIBELUNGEN (1966), THE SEVEN REVENGES (1961), MASSACRE IN THE BLACK FOREST (1967), HERCULES AGAINST THE BARBARIANS (1964), FURY OF THE PAGANS (1960), and even more, such as most Viking movies. But even with all these titles, more than anything else, it wants to be another GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS (1959).  Except for a couple of shirtless scenes with Gordon Mitchel, everyone in this movie is clothed so it's definitely not like GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS. There's a reason why this film tries to be like the Steve Reeves movie. Emimmo Salvi is credited for the story of GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS. Emimmo directed this movie. If you're familiar with his movies, like VULCAN - SON OF JUPITER (1961), Emimmo has a unique style which sets him apart from the rest of PEPLUM films. Whether that's a good thing or not, this movie has plenty of his touches, including everything bathed in darkness. It's a dark movie, not as in bleak but as in lighting. I can't wait to view it in HD but with the many night scenes in recent HD releases being too dark, I'm afraid we won't see much of it. 😂

PEPLUM Movie Poster

Thai poster of HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN (1961)

Nice, almost comic book style artwork with a Thai touch to the actors. He doesn't look like Reg Park.

Last Week's Views!

1.47 million views for last week! See graph below. 557,155 views on Thursday! 175612 views on Friday. It could actually be higher but for some reason, April 25 still hasn't been calculated.

Insane!

AI PEPLUMTV

UNSTOPPABLE

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!

Iole (Sylva Koscina) introduces Hercules (Steve Reeves), master of arms, to her family in HERCULES (1958)

Lobby Cards Set: ATLANTIS - THE LOST CONTINENT (1961)

Lobby cards set of ATLANTIS - THE LOST CONTINENT from Great Britain starring Sal Ponti and Joyce Taylor. Nice set. Better than the US one since the images are so sharp and colourful. Good choice of scenes. It's only missing the arena scene. 

Musings!

Cornel Wilde in CONSTANTINE AND THE CROSS (1961) 

This is the pivotal moment where Constantine saves a Christian child from a lion and sets free more Christians. It's a good scene but is it historically accurate? What's interesting about this scene is the set itself. It would be saved and used in many other PEPLUM movies, including all the way to THE RETURN OF THE GLADIATOR (1971). The set looks like...a set. It's difficult to believe a gladiatorial arena would be that small but the movie itself had tons of big, majestic sets, and this one is part of many and unlike the others, it was saved. Like this set, many scenes from it were re-used repeatedly in multiple other films, mainly the big battle scenes.

Behind-the-Scenes

Steve Reeves getting pumped on the set of HERCULES (1958)

Clip of the week: CLEOPATRA'S DAUGHTER (1960)

Shila (Debra Paget) makes a grim decision. With Ettore Manni, Erno Crisa and too many to mention. Taken from the stunning HD print that's only available in Italy. I really love this movie.

New PEPLUM imagery

MASTER OF ARMS

MEN OF PULP

SPFX DEPT.

Scenes from THE MINOTAUR (1960)

This scene is the only matte painting in the movie. There are other special effects, but not another matte work. It's a good one. The three main characters played by Rik Battaglia, Bob Mathias and Rosanna Schiaffino (below) arrive in Athens. My only criticism of this shot is how deserted the beach is. I would have added some people mingling about to make it look more alive. Joseph Nathanson is credited for the work.

 

 

Then & Now: Bella Cortez

Bella Cortez in VULCAN - SON OF JUPITER (1962); a photo of the actress taken in 2025