Photo of the Day

Maciste (Kirk Morris) is summoned out of the rock by a High Priest (Nando Tamberlani) in MACISTE IN THE VALLEY OF THUNDERING ECHO (that's my title, the US title is a boring "Hercules of the Desert")

Probably the only PEPLUM showing Maciste as a supernatural entity that can be summoned from anywhere. In other films, Maciste just shows up to help people in need but here the High Priest makes an incantation after a quasi-Jesus like ritual asking for his help. I like this.

PEPLUM Art

David & Goliath by Titian

Was it the inspiration for this British poster for the Italian film?

Cinematic Confusion

The PEPLUM genre gets little respect, with a constant set of confusing and contradicting information on films from the genre including titles. As proof of this here are 4 examples of titles which should be in the plural are misidentified in the singular (with one example being the opposite). One missing letter "S" in the title makes a big difference. So here are screenshots of the titles as seen during the film vs information on the web.

Even if the artwork says GLADIATORS Amazon is selling it under the wrong title.

Is the challenge coming from one gladiator or a bunch of them?

This is the title that made me realize this problem with PEPLUM film titles and the plural

As opposed to the previous 3, the word PIRATE in this title should be in the singular but IMDb has it in the plural.

Photo of the Day

Michèle Mercier and friend are WOMEN OF DEVIL'S ISLAND

A "women in prison" type of film also starring Guy Madison. Not bad. I don't have this film in my collection but I did see it online at one point and it was good. Director Domenico Paolella made tons of PEPLUM films, including one of my favourites, HERCULES AGAINST THE MONGOLS. This film doesn't move at the pace of the Mark Forest actioner but production quality is solid. Would make a fun double feature with AVENGER OF THE SEVEN SEAS starring Richard Harrison. You can view an odd trailer here: link

Vintage Italian Box office

Here are two list of box office results between the year 1957 to 1959. It's cool to see the ranking of HERCULES at #7 for 1957/1958 period. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS is number one but HERCULES cost a fraction of what the Cecil b DeMille super-production cost and was also in the top ten. THE MIGHTY CRUSADERS is at #20 for that period which is also cool to see. The film also stars Sylva Koscina and Gianna Maria Canale from HERCULES. 

As for the period between 1958/1959, HERCULES UNCHAINED is at #10 proving that the Francisci's HERCULES films were BIG not only in the US but in Italy and around the world. The Catherine The Great Italian costume drama THE TEMPEST is at #1, THE VIKINGS at #5 and most remarkably the messy SIGN OF THE GLADIATOR is at # 13. 

Note that Sylva Koscina and Silvana Mangano have multiple titles listed and Gianna Maria Canale and Gina Lollobrigida are also listed but no Sophia Loren titles. I find this interesting.

Caroline Munro figurine

If you loved Caroline Munro in THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD and just can't get enough of her, well, you can purchase this figurine kit which recreates her appearance in the Sinbad flick. It's one part of a whole GOLDEN VOYAGE set which also includes one with Sinbad (third photo)

Caroline in THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD

Photo of the Day

Travis Van Winkle, Sean Maguire (as Leonidas) and Kevin Sorbo in MEET THE SPARTANS

I have to watch this film one day.

Location: Azure Window

Located on the Island of Gozo, Malta, the Azure Window has been used as a spectacular spot for a couple of genre films, including the most famous one of them all, CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981, above). It was also used for THE COUNT OF MONTE CRISTO (2002) and THE ODYSSEY (1997) mini-series. If you look at a recent image of the location, part of the underside of the span has fallen off since TITANS was films 30 years ago.

Wrestling to be dropped from Olympics

Yesterday I posted a compilation of wrestling clips from PEPLUM films. These scenes are a staple of the genre. What's a PEPLUM without a wrestling scene? Well, the IOC announced that  wrestling might be dropped for the 2020 games. One of the oldest sports in human history and an original sport dating back as far as 776 BC during the original Olympics, the decision to remove is quite astonishing but not surprising, certainly when you consider the IOC mentality which says beach volleyball is a sport.

Link

The piece of land where the original Olympics in Greece took place.

Photo of the Day

Vercingetorix (Rik Battaglia) forces Publia (Raffaella Carrà) to read a secret stolen letter from Caesar written in Greek in CAESAR THE CONQUEROR

Publia's boyfriend is being tortured here which forces her to read the letter since Vercingetorix can't read Greek. A cool detail. Even if this film is known as a "Caesar" film it's also known indirectly as a Vercingetorix film. The real Vercingetorix is always painted and sculpted with a big Gaul mustache which this film avoided with a clean-shaven Battaglia.

Movie Poster Mondays

French poster for a French film GOLGOTHA

Fantastic poster. Yesterday I posted a photo from this film and here's one of several beautiful posters for this rare film.

Photo of the Day

Jesus (Robert Le Vigan) is in Herod's temple in GOLGOTHA

Incredibly sharp photo. I wish the film transfer was this sharp. 

What movie?

Can you identify the movie from this screenshot?

Artemis reborn

Contortionist/archer Lilia Stepanova would be right at home in a PEPLUM film

Photo of the Day

Daniele Vargas and Gordon Mitchell head the army inspecting the bodies on the beach in THE REVENGE OF SPARTACUS (aka Revenge of the Gladiators)

Can you imagine the time and resources needed to set up a scene like this?And this specific shot lasts just a few seconds (with additional shots from different angles, of course). Ah the joys of filmmaking.

Photo of the Day

"Goliath" (Steve Reeves) terrorises the country side as a masked avenger in GOLIATH & THE BARBARIANS

Many consider this to be Steve's best film. I disagree even if I love it and can watch it over and over again. In the story the barbarians do not recognize Emiliano as "Goliath" without his mask but you'd think they would have recognised him just by his humongous muscles. This is a great shot.

Lobby Cards Set : THE GIANTS OF THESSALY

Incomplete British lobby cards set for THE GIANTS OF THESSALY, titled as Jason & the Golden Fleece. I don't know what are the two missing cards but this set is excellent. All the cards are good. It showcases the film beautifully. I'd definitely would want to see this film from looking at these cards.

More PEPLUM Rules

Photo of the Day

Nippur (Gordon Scott) ends the reign of Balthazar (Piero Lulli) in HERO OF BABYLON

Great PEPLUM: action packed, tight, good production and well cast, this is one of those Sword & Sandal films I can watch over and over again. I got a widescreen copy of this, in English no less, from a British TV broadcast and this specific shot (a spoiler, I know) was cut from it. It was deemed to violent, I guess. This screenshot is from another version. It's infuriating: I finally get this film in English and widescreen and one of the most important scenes in the film was removed.

I'll be using this shot for an upcoming update on PEPLUM Rules. 

The Identified Argonauts

Yesterday I posted a compilation of actors whom appeared in THE GIANTS OF THESSALY and their identities are unknown. Today, here's a compilation of the actors who played the Argonauts, who have names within the storyline and/or the actors have been identified. It took some time figure it out. I believe these are correct. 

THE VIKING: First Technicolor film with sound

Pauline Starke in THE VIKING

The first film to use a new Technicolor process, a dye-transfer process, was a film from the PEPLUM genre. THE VIKING (1928) was also the first Technicolor film with sound (even if there's no talking in it). It looks gorgeous for something that's 85 years old. Other films, like THE BLACK PIRATE starring Douglas Fairbanks, were full featured film made in Technicolor 2-strip process.Also, many silent films had Technicolor inserts within the film but weren't shot fully in Technicolor from beginning to end.

Initial reviews were mixed. Many loved the colors but many critiques thought the characters looked like they stepped right out of an opera.

You can watch THE VIKING on Youtube.

Photo of the Day

Balkis (Leonora Ruffo), the soon to be Queen of Sheba, is frozen with fear after she notices a huge snake in her mirror while her assistant Ati (Dorian Gray) wonders what's going on in THE QUEEN OF SHEBA

One of my favorite PEPLUM films ever. It's in black & white, which many don't like or bother watching but it's supremely important to the genre. It really lays down the template for almost all future films made in Italy (and elsewhere) and yet it's quasi-forgotten.

The Unknown Argonauts

In preparation for my upcoming review of THE GIANTS OF THESSALY, here's a compilation of the actors who's name are unknown and except for Leocratus and Pelius, their character names are not known as well. They all have bits of dialogue throughout the film. Most of them were probably new actors and this was their only film production.

Tomorrow I'll post a compilation of the known/identified Argonauts.

Photo of the Day

In preparation for a big battle, Prince Maytha (Giuliano Gemma) gives a speech to his men and Hercules in HERCULES AGAINST THE SONS OF THE SUN

I finally got a widescreen copy of this film which has been eluding me for years. The print, in Italian, is from a TV broadcast and it's soft and fuzzy, not from a DVD but it's good enough. Giuliano wears the skimpiest costume in any PEPLUM film (Mark Forest's is almost as skimpy...). I like this film for more than one reason but the dance numbers are too long and I've made a version with abbreviated dance sequences and the film moves along at a better pace. The battle at the climax is one of the best.

PEPLUM FX : the penetrating arrow

Sword & Sandal films could also be known as "Arrow & Sandal" as arrows are used as often if not more so than swords. One of the tricks to make arrows appear to penetrate people is by attaching a wire where the arrow will go in and have the arrow slide or spring directly in that spot. As an example, here's a scene from THE GIANTS OF THESSALY. In the top screengrab from the US print, you can see the wire going towards the actress and a few seconds later an arrow appears to stab her out of nowhere. I'm currently working on a review of the same film and will be posting more stuff from it by this weekend.