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.

Musings!

Daniela Bianchi in THE SWORD OF EL CID (1962) 

Daniela in this unassuming movie before becoming a Bond girl in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963). This is not a sequel to EL CID (1961), the gargantuan Hollywood epic but they made sure to use the name El Cid to capitalize on the bigger movie. I like this movie but few people know of it or even are fans of it. Like so many other films of its kind in the 1950s and 1960s, it was heavily influenced by one movie: ROLAND THE MIGHTY (1956), the Pietro Francisci movie, made before he directed HERCULES (1958). ROLAND THE MIGHTY pretty much influenced every Medieval or Renaissance movie for a long time. This movie even starts the same way. So as much as one might believe it tries to capitalize on the big Hollywood movie, it's actually trading off of an Italian one. The similarities of these movies and ROLAND is incredible. And yet, few people are aware of this. Unfortunately, both films are still in limbo when it concerns HD prints.

PEPLUM Movie Poster

French poster of RAGE OF THE BUCCANEERS (1961) 

Nice poster. The French title translates as GORDON - THE KNIGHT OF THE SEAS. 

Happy Easter!

Rachel (Silvana Mangano) at the opened tomb where Jesus was buried in BARABBAS (1961)

Last Week's Views!

Over 39k views yesterday Saturday. March 29, which is not shown above, had 20k views so 183,000 + 20,000 from the 29th and that's over 200,000 for one week!

AI PEPLUMTV

 STANDING GROUND!

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!

Mary Magdalene (Yvonne de Carlo) and Gaius Marcellus (Jorge Mistral) watch Jesus on the cross in the last scene from MARY MAGDALENE (1958)

Happy Good Friday!

Lobby Cards Set: MACISTE VS HERCULES IN THE VALE OF WOE (1961)

Original Italian lobby cards set (fotobusta) of MACISTE VS HERCULES IN THE VALE OF WOE (1962) starring kirk Morris, among many others. Great, colourful set. The images are collages more than a specific scene from the movie. I like it.

Musings!

Mark Forest in THE MAGNIFICENT GLADIATOR (1964) 

This movie is a Twin Production with MACISTE - GLADIATOR OF SPARTA, released the same year. MAGNIFICENT GLADIATOR is not a Maciste movie. I've already written about this in two articles and posted them in an ongoing permanent page found here. Even though I like both films, I prefer this one. It's not as cold and dreary of MACISTE - GLADIATOR OF SPARTA, which also has great scenes not in MAGNIFICENT. But both films look identical. There's even a big, long scene, just prior to this screenshot, that is used in both films. It's quite confusing. I have to do a side by side one day of that shared scene to see how different the dialogue is. Mark was excellent in both. He wears this gladiator costume for a good part of the movie. I think it's one of the best costumes in a PEPLUM movie. Easily in the top ten. I have to do a list of the best costumes, for men and for women, one of these days. Mark had a big, sorta square frame and his costumes in a lot of his movies weren't that good or didn't fit him properly, certainly in MACISTE - THE STRONGEST MAN IN THE WORLD. So, it's great to see a movie that finally had him is something that fit him. 

Behind-the-Scenes

Kirk Douglas is about to film a scene on the set of SPARTACUS (1960)

Clip of the week: TERROR OF THE STEPPES (1964)

Evil rulers need to be entertained. With the great Kirk Morris and Franco Cobianchi. 

New PEPLUM imagery

ARM OF THUNDER

MEN OF PULP

HD Alert!

Georgi Kaloyanchev as Aesop in EZOP (1970) 

I already posted about this movie years ago. It's now available in HD streaming. The direction of the movie was definitely influenced by Fellini. Depending on how you like Fellini, this could be a good thing or bad thing. It's a very colourful film, in the sense of quirkiness not necessarily colourful. For me, Aesop'a stories are beautiful and colourful. Not like this movie. Below: a naked Aesop runs toward the people. Yes, it's that style of movie.