Clip of the week: THE AVENGER (aka War of the Trojans)

This scene is cut in all versions except the French VHS (DVD?) copy. With Steve Reeves and others.

Blog's 15th anniversary: Location - Tor Caldara

In celebration of the blog's 15th anniversary, I'll be re-posting old posts. Here's the link to the post.

Here's a post on the popular location seen in many PEPLUM movie: Tor Caldara

Practically every PEPLUM film shot a scene in that often dried up riverbed so there's no point of mentioning them but here are a couple of examples.

THE MIGHTY CRUSADERS

Lex Barker and cast in ROBIN HOOD AND THE PIRATES

Susy Andersen in SAPPHO THE VENUS OF LESBOS

The spectacular climax from HERCULES, SAMSON & ULYSSES starring Iloosh Khoshabe and Kirk Morris

SPFX DEPT.

Scenes from IRONMASTER (1983)

This 1983 movie, often dismissed by many, is actually pretty good. Not just the film itself but the production. It was directed by veteran Umberto Lenzi, who had directed many PEPLUM movies back in the 1960s. The movie is filled with creative special effects. I already covered the matte paintings from the movie. Here, we see the elaborate model/miniature works, which we see throughout the movie, and are credited to Emilio Ruiz del Río.

Vintage Article

From a book called LA GRAN HISTORIA DEL CINE, a page on HERCULES (1958) with photos of Steve Reeves, Fabrizio Mioni and Gianna Maria Canale.

Musings!

Martha Raye in THE BOYS FROM SYRACUSE (1940) 

Based on Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors, this popular broadway play was eventually made into a movie. Now, I don't know how the play was but the movie is good and some very bad. The production is very good. The humour falls flat. It seems PEPLUM comedies, Italian or Hollywood ones, suffer from the same fate. 

"That was a quick change. Did you ever belong to a fire department?"

I groaned. You see, the story is about twins and they...well, never mind! Anyway, in the screenshot, Martha dances and sings. It starts off sorta fine then it turns into a samba of sorts. The bulk of the movie (presumably not the play) are anachronistic jokes: modern stuff, like samba or a chariot made to look like a taxi with a meter, seen in Antiquity. The production is quite elaborate. They spent a lot of money on this thing. I like watching it. But that's about it. Only 73 minutes long.

PEPLUM Movie Poster

Belgian poster of SAMSON (1961) 

Typical colourful poster from Belgium. I like this one but the scene depicted with the horses is totally different in the movie and lasts briefly.

Image of the week!

Maciste (Reg Park) is reduced to a mindless slave labouring over extreme tasks in MACISTE IN KING SOLOMON'S MINES (1964)

Lobby Cards Set: THE FACE THAT LAUNCHED A THOUSAND SHIPS (1953)

Lobby cards set from Great Britain of THE FACE THAT LAUNCHED A THOUSAND SHIPS (1953-1954) starring Hedy Lamarr and Massimo Serato. One of the best lobby cards set ever. Just wow. No complaints. This movie is the short version (slightly over an hour) that was released in Great Britain but was then edited down even more and released with other short stories starring Hedy Lamarr called THE LOVES OF THREE QUEENS. I need to find this Great Britain version. I wrote all about it in BY THE GODS magazine issue 3.

Musings!

Kirk Morris in what movie? 

Can you name the movie from this one screenshot? The only clue is Kirk plays Maciste. I'll add more text once someone guess it correctly.

Paul got it. It's from MACISTE IN HELL as part of the flashback scenes. I always liked these scenes even if some don't match: here, Maciste is wearing a brown piece of clothing and the scenes from SON OF SAMSON, Maciste (Mark Forest) is wearing a yellow piece of clothing. But even with these discrepancies, I still like it. It makes the movie feel epic.

Behind-the-Scenes

Robert Powell watches Franco Zeffirelli setting up scene on the set of JESUS OF NAZARETH (1977; TV)

Clip of the week: ATLAS AGAINST THE CZAR (1964)

Kirk Morris vs Nello Pazzafini! 

New PEPLUM imagery

With a few prompts, new PEPLUM imagery by AI. 

From MEN OF PULP @ X 

AGE OF FURY!

HD Alert!

Yvonne Furneaux and John Erikson in SLAVE QUEEN OF BABYLON (1963)

As I promised a few weeks ago, I said that I was going to create a list of PEPLUM movies in HD or released on Blu-ray. I created the list and it's now available at its permanent page. It's a work in progress and I'll be updating the list with more titles and images of those prints. 

HD List permanent page

Then & Now: Susy Andersen

Susy as Actis in SAPPHO - THE VENUS OF LESBOS (1960; aka The Warrior Empress); a recent photo of the actress.

Musings!

Aesop (Vitali Politseymako; center) is a slave in EZOP (1961)

This is a Soviet production made in 1961. It looks more like the 1930s. Since this print doesn't have English subtitles, I can't follow what's really going on. But here's the summary found at IMDb:

"The plot is based on the legend of the ancient Greek poet Aesop. The action takes place in Hellas in the V century BC. The philosopher Xanthus brings a slave Aesop as a gift to his wife Klee. He is the ugliest slave in all of Greece, but there is no philosopher equal to him in spiritual wealth and intelligence."

This is not the only movie from the Soviet era about Aesop. I guess Aesop was acceptable to Soviet rulers back then. 

PEPLUM Movie Poster

British quad of URSUS IN THE VALLEY OF THE LIONS (1961)

Nice and simple artwork. At least the other Ursus movies were released theatrically in Britain (the UK?).

Image of the week!

Goliath (Mark Forest) offers the Blood Diamond to the God of Vengeance in GOLIATH AND THE DRAGON (1960)

At the movies...

A truck full of bodybuilders promote THE GIANT OF MARATHON at the Loew's Poli theatre in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Musings!

Georges Marchal and Alessandra Panaro in THE SECRET MARK OF D'ARTAGNAN (1962)

How many movies, PEPLUM or not, have ended this way? As I often said, clichés are not bad. It's in the way they're done. If they're uninspiredly done, clichés suck. Georges played good guys as well as bad guys. He was good in either type of roles but I preferred him as a good guy. He could be really passionate with his role. He was a good actor. Alessandra was also a pretty good actress. She didn't achieve the level of success as Sophia Loren but she did appear in productions that were released in theatres outside of Italy, including the US. Her best roles are in THE BACCHANTES (1961) and ULYSSES AGAINST HERCULES (1962). It's an entertaining, solid production with some good action.

Behind-the-Scenes

Carmen Sevilla and Ricardo Montalban on the set of DESERT WARRIOR (1957). Thanks to Juan for the B&W photo which I colourized.

Clip of the week: HERCULES (1958)

Hercules (Steve Reeves) to the rescue during a storm on the sea! Poseidon is not happy!

Special note: this scene was not redubbed in the US print. When Hercules speaks, it's the International English version even if this audio is taken from the Avco Embassy print.

 

Portraits

Rebecca Ferratti as Telena in GOR (1987)

SPFX DEPT.

Scenes from THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD (1961)

More effects scenes from this Steve Reeves movie. Above, we see Steve, or a double, walking towards the lair of Kadeejah. Almost seamless matte painting. Same thing as below. Another spectacular and evocative matte work. This movie is top notch.

  

The other special effects, Steve Reeves. 😂

Different Titles

Today, it's MACISTE IN KING SOLOMON'S MINES (1964), starring Reg Park and Wandisa Guida. Few titles available. It's been these threes for years with no additional titles, in Spanish or German. The title in Great Britain, as seen in lobby cards, is SAMSON IN KING SOLOMON'S MINES but it has never surfaced on VHS, DVD, etc. It's one of the few Enlglish titles with Maciste.

This is the US public domain print. As I stated, it's one of the few if not the only one with Maciste in its title in English.

  

Italian title. Also on the German and French prints. 

 

This is the VHS French title. Translates as THE GOLD AND THE BLOOD. Hmm...

Reg Park and Wandisa Guida. Lobby card from Great Britain.

Musings!

Toto and Moira Orfei in TOTO AND CLEOPATRA (1963) 

Contrary to what it might look like, Moira Orfei doesn't play Cleopatra but Ottavia. Magali Noël played Cleopatra. IMO, Moira eclipsed Magali in terms of presence. This is a comedy so these things don't really matter but a movie featuring the legendary Egyptian queen/ruler should be the stand-out female star. I like all Toto movies no matter how difficult the Italian comedy might end up being translated in English. I don't know if they'll be dubbed in English one of these days. 

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I'm glad to be back. But last week was hectic so I feel I need to take it slow this week.

PEPLUM Movie Poster

Original Italian poster of REVENGE OF THE BLACK EAGLE (1951) 

Beautiful artwork. Good likeness of Rossano Brazzi, who's excellent in this.