Musings!

Rossana Podesta and Pier Angeli in SODOM AND GOMORRAH (1962) 

For a movie about the most wicked place in existence, the movie itself was sorta short on babes (I'm trying not to be sexist here...lol!). The movie starts with Scilla Gabel, who is a babe, but her role is short. It also has Anouk Aimée. I assume some find her desirable back in the day but she's a villain and to many, that's a no. So, the two actresses were basically the only real 'hot' ones. There's also Claudia Mori but she's always in the background. And some dancers. But only 2 for a movie on Sodom and Gomorrah? I like this movie. I've watched it many times but I admit it has several issues. I already wrote extensively on it here in the past 16 years doing the blog. But this issue surfaced while writing issue #4 of BY THE GODS! magazine. The movie is filled with hunks...to the point that it's sometimes difficult to tell who's who, as they wear the same clothes and have the same beards, etc. It's a boatload of hunks. I could write down their names from memory. But only two babes? Hmm...

PEPLUM Movie Poster

Original Italian poster of THE IRON CROWN (1941) 

Yes, this is a movie poster. Very stylish with gorgeous colours. 

Last Week's Views

411k views last week. Nearly 173k last Wednesday. And 153k last Saturday. Wild! And zero comments.

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!

Hercules (Alan Steel) fights Roman soldiers during a wedding ceremony in HERCULES AGAINST ROME (1964)

Lobby Cards Set: AVENGER OF THE SEVEN SEAS (1962)

Original Italian lobby cards set of AVENGER OF THE SEVEN SEAS (1962) starring Richard Harrison, Michèle Mercier and Roldano Lupi. Nice set. Very colourful. Italian lobby cards are a collection of montages, of more than one scene per card. It makes the movie look busy. It's missing the man-eating plants though.

Musings!

Gloria Milland and Mimmo Palmara are evil in GOLIATH AND THE REBEL SLAVE (1963)

It always makes me chuckle a bit when evil characters in movies, PEPLUM or not, look evil. I like both Gloria and Mimmo and both of them have had their share of good and bad characters. Gloria is good in playing an evil person but I prefer her when she's good. On the other hand, Mimmo, even though he has played good characters, has almost been cast as some nefarious character. This movie is no exception. They're good but it's played a bit on the cliched side. The clothes Mimmo wears in this movie is a bit much, sometimes it even doesn't fit him (he was really buff in this film). What Gloria is wearing leaves no doubt that she ain't a nice person. Fun film with some really quotable lines.

Behind-the-Scnes

Deborah Kerr on the massive set of QUO VADIS (1951). This is the bull scene with Buddy Baer.

Clip of the week: GLADIATOR OF ROME (1962)

Gordon Scott...gladiator or landscaper? With Wandisa Guida in GLADIATOR OF ROME (1962)

New PEPLUM Imagery

ARMOUR OF STEEL

MEN OF PULP

HD Alert!

Geneviève Grad, Philippe Hersent and Ettore Manni in ATTACK OF THE NORMANS (1962)

I recently got a ton of HD copies of 29 or so titles from two sources. I will be going over these one by one until I've covered them all. I really like ATTACK OF THE NORMANS and I was happy I got a quasi-HD print (not 720p but not 1920p either). The image clarity is amazing. It's such a great film made even better now. It's from a streaming source in Italy. My source in Europe added the English audio to it. I have no idea if it will ever be released on Blu-ry but it should.

Added to permanent page: List of PEPLUM movies in HD

Cameron Mitchell and Franca Bettoia

Then & Now: Helen Mirren

Helen Mirren in CALIGULA (1979); a recent official photo of the actress.

Musings!

Mark Forest and Anna Maria Pace in HERCULES AGAINST THE SONS OF THE SUN (1964)

Is a love story important in a PEPLUM movie? Personally, I don't mind it if it actually adds a lot to the story. In most cases, such as this one, it's often just padding. I'm not familiar with Anna Maria Pace. I looked her up at IMDb and according to the film's profile at the website, she only appeared in 4 movies. She was also in BRENNUS - ENEMY OF ROME (1963). I don't think she's awful in it and I actually don't mind the love angle here but this movie, which I love and have watched many times, is filled with padding. It has not one but two major dance scenes, and there's this love story. There's at least 30 minutes of padding. No, I'm not exaggerating. I still love it because it's so colourful and entertaining. It's one of the most original PEPLUM films to come out of the PEPLUM explosion, but I call it as it is. The script spends such an inordinate amount of time on the friendship between Forest and Giuliano Gemma that anything else seems superfluous. In my view, removing the love story in the case wouldn't have made any difference.

PEPLUM Movie Poster

Original Italian poster of TERROR OF THE RED MASK (1960) 

Good poster but I have to be honest, it's a bit too busy. Chelo and Liana look tired. 

Last Week's Views

115+K views last Wednesday, when I posted the clip from THE PIRATE AND THE SLAVE GIRL. 242K for the week!

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!

Hercules (Steve Reeves) carries the drunk members of the Argo back to the ship in HERCULES (1958)

PEPLUM Movie Quotes

MESSALINA (1960) starring Belinda Lee (Messalina) and Mino Doro (Sulpicius)

Sulpicius: We will make history. Because history is made by courageous men!

Messalina: I give you the finest wine in the empire!

Musings!

Georges Marchal and Adriana Benetti in SINS OF POMPEII (1950) 

In this scene at the beginning, Lysia (Marchal) hits Nidia (Benetti) with his chariot. This sets off the story in this long and complex version of based on the novel, THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII. Personally, and this is just me, I don't care much for stories which start by an accident or something out of the characters' control. To me, it always seems to be a bit of lazy writing. It doesn't diminish the movie's worth but I find such 'crashes into a story' kind of plot point facile. Do people actually continue to be friends with people they crash into? 

In this scene, everything looks great. The costumes, including Marchal's, the crowd, the lighting, It all looks amazing. Production wise, this movie is excellent. But the story, as I wrote in the BY THE GODS! magazine on disasters, is long and complex for nothing really. BTW, I didn't colourize the image because the movie is in black & white. 

Behind-the-Scenes

Candid photo of Gianna Maria Canale and Gordon Scott during the filming of THE LION OF ST. MARK (1963)

Clip of the week: THE PIRATE AND THE SLAVE GIRL (1959)

Fashion show! With Massimo Serato, Chelo Alonso and Lex Barker. 

FUNNIES

Gérard Landry in THE BLACK ARCHER (1959)

HD Alert!

Brad Harris and Gloria Milland in GOLIATH AGAINST THE GIANTS (1961) 

I usually post about special effects every other week but now with so many new HD films I got recently, I will go over these files and temporary stop the posts on special effects.

This HD print is stunning. The clarity in some scenes is breathtaking. These screenshots don't do it justice. The movie always had nice prints on DVD. But this HD streaming print blows every other ones previously available

The mystery of Burt Nelson in WITH FIRE AND SWORD (1962)

Burt Nelson is an American actor, born in Brooklyn, and who starred in a handful of PEPLUM movies. His most famous role was in REVOLT OF THE SLAVES (1960. He also starred in REVENGE OF THE CONQUERED (1962). That's him in the image on the left. But he also starred in WITH FIRE AND SWORD (1962), the image on the right, and yet he's not credited. I always wondered what happened. Everyone in the list of credits for the movie is accounted for except for a Bruno Nessi, who has not other acting credit. But Burt's name is not on the list. Now that is Burt on the right. He's still uncredited at IMDB and Wikipedia. Burt apparently introduced Reg Park to filmmakers in Rome.

Musings!

Deborah Kerr as Lygia in QUO VADIS (1951) 

In the original novel, Lygia is bound on top of a bull, naked, as Ursus fights with it and tries to save her. For the 1951 film, they clearly couldn't do this so they opted for Lygia being tied to a pole. It's a good compromise but it's clearly not as dramatic. The 2004 mini-series replicated the scene as it was in the book. The poster for the 1913 silent movie shows Lygia on the bull but fully clothed. Side note: speaking of nude, Deborah seems to be showing.