Though the image is not the best the aspect ration is in widescreen and in the 4:3 version everything on the far sides, including Armando, were cut off. It's great to see film as they were originally intended. Thanks to Alan.
Friday, January 30, 2015
By the Gods!
Though the image is not the best the aspect ration is in widescreen and in the 4:3 version everything on the far sides, including Armando, were cut off. It's great to see film as they were originally intended. Thanks to Alan.
PEPLUM GIF Animation : CLEOPATRA'S DAUGHTER
Erno Crisa, as Kefren, gets his comeuppance in CLEOPATRA'S DAUGHTER. Great death scene.
Wednesday, January 28, 2015
By the Gods!
Nero (Vladimir Medar) compliments Poppaea (Moira Orfei) in FIRE OVER ROME
A lot of people don't like this film but I like it. People try to compare it with QUO VADIS which is silly. This is more an action film than the drama of the Hollywood production.
There are a couple of liabilities but there are some good stuff too. The exterior sets are pretty amazing and the action surrounding the fire over Rome is vivid. The biggest liability is the film's main star, Lang Jeffries who, even though looks good in costume, has one expression throughout the film. The screenshot above is taken from the widescreen print and that also makes a huge difference from the usual muddy ugly version available out there.
Tuesday, January 27, 2015
Monday, January 26, 2015
By the Gods!
The Golden Falcon, played by Massimo Serato, with Nadia Gray in THE GOLDEN FALCON
Added this title to my ULTIMATE MOST WANTED list. It's odd that I came across this film totally by accident on Youtube (there's a clip there) and I didn't know about it. It looks great but the dubbing seems to be unusually poor. Massimo is the leading man and he even has a beefcake moment.
Movie Poster Mondays
Italian poster for a film not released in English; THE CROWN OF FIRE
Not to be confused with the classic LA CORONA DI FERRO or THE IRON CROWN. Somehow I didn't include this film on my ULTIMATE MOST WANTED list so I've added the title to it.
Friday, January 23, 2015
By the Gods!
One of my favourite PEPLUM flicks...in widescreen! Hallelujah! Thanks Alan for the screenshot.
The annual 'Wikipedia PEPLUM page sucks' post!
This is my annual "Please don't visit the PEPLUM page at Wikipedia" post.
If you search 'Sword and Sandal' at Google like above example and click the first link it'll bring you to the following page (below) which says PEPLUM film genre. Confusing? Not as much as before : Before the name of the page was Sword and Sandal but in the rest of the page they would only use the word PEPLUM to explain the genre. Previously the page was even more confusing but they've made a few changes (recommended by me ; see the Talk section of the page) where I told them how confusing the page says Sword & Sandal but the text only uses PEPLUM.
The page is very condescending and insulting and full of mistakes.
It's impossible to add anything to it since the hall monitors there categorically refuse any outside input aside from those blessed by them.
The stupid part of the page is they keep saying the PEPLUM genre is cheap knock-offs of Hollywood films when the genre itself was born in Europe. Also, since the whole page is devoid of any logic, how can HERCULES starring Steve Reeves be a cheap Hollywood knock off when that film was the first Hercules film ever made in film history anywhere around the world? How can HERCULES be a knock off when films based on Greek mythology didn't even exist in Hollywood before 1958?
Some other illogical parts of the page mentioned below regarding copyrighted material.
So as a PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT to PEPLUM fans out there: Do not visit the WIKIPEDIA page on the PEPLUM genre.
If you think it's sour grapes or jealousy my blog gets over 1000 hits a day. It's still the most popular website on the internet on the PEPLUM genre. So no it's not that. A more respectful page of the PELUM would be great but alas the one currently available is nothing like that.
Repost from a previous post:
A few years ago I tried to submit my blog to the Sword and Sandal page at Wikipedia. I created an account and logged in and made a few changes and added the link to my blog. Someone monitoring the page removed all my information and said quite clearly that content found at external links have to be copyrighted. I told them that the links listed (see below in red) all fully violate that copyright clause and yet the links are still present today.
Not only that but they actually included links to video distributors whom sell public domain films but of the many titles they sell many of them are not in the public domain.
Also, I've been following the Sword and Sandal page for years now and it's obvious that whoever maintains that page gets info from this blog as the listing changed/improved continuously as my blog kept on going. I never took any info from that page as it was filled with mistakes.
Keep that in mind the next time you go to Wikipedia.
Thursday, January 22, 2015
The Man with 100 Swords - Trailer
Here's the official trailer for the rare Finnish Swashbuckler called THE MAN WITH 100 SWORDS. The trailer is in colour but the film is in B&W. I didn't upload this. Thanks to Boris.
Wednesday, January 21, 2015
By the Gods!
Luciano Marin and Steve Reeves, as Emiliano, in GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS
This is Steve Reeves day, for his birthday.
I wish there was a better print of this film out there somewhere. It looks like it was transferred from a 16mm anamorphic print not a 35mm one. Some scenes are out of focus and so murky you can't see anything. Someone should come up with a better image and sound print for this classic.
Happy birthday to Steve Reeves
Today is Steve Reeves birthday. Happy birthday to the PEPLUM legend!
Posted at the HEROES & BEEFCAKE permanent page
HERCULES UNCHAINED
SANDOKAN THE GREAT
THIEF OF BAGHDAD
