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.
