By the Gods!

Vladimir Brajovic as Caligula in CALIGULA AND MESSALINA (1981) 

A Blu-ray of this movie is now available from Severin. Below is a screenshoot of this HD copy. Above is a scene from the DVD copy. The BD is an extended cut, or longer than the previous version available, and yet the scene above is not included. That scene on the Blu-ray version starts with the screenshot below. I don't know how many different versions there are of this movie but it's hard to keep up. Spoiler: In this scene, Caligula is killed, which happens halfway into the story. The movie sorta looses track and it's not the same without crazy Caligula around. One of many sleazy PEPLUM movies released in the 1980s after the success of the infamous Bob Guccione's CALIGULA (1979).
 

Lobby Cards Set: HERCULES AGAINST MOLOCH (1964)

British lobby cards set of HERCULES AGAINST MOLOCH, retitled as HERCULES ATTACKS, starring Gordon Scott and a host of actors. Great set. I wish it wasn't in black & white. Needless to say, it has many highlights from the action packed movie. Missing is one card with Rosalba Neri. 

Clip of the week: GLADIATOR OF ROME (1962)

Gordon Scott in action from GLADIATOR OF ROME 

HD Alert!

Richard Gere as King David in...KING DAVID (1985)

As posted at BY THE GODS!, the movie will be released on Blu-ray on April 26. Not a big fan of this movie. I'm certain some like it and this tidbit of information will be helpful. I already have an HD copy of this and the audio and image are excellent.  

Vintage Advertisement

Ad published in Motion Picture Daily announcing the SUPER TECHNIRAMA 70 release of SOLOMON AND SHEBA (1959). 

By the Gods!

A set from SLAVE QUEEN OF BABYLON (1963)

I like this movie even though I can see how kitschy it is, in terms of how very little of it resembles ancient Babylonian culture and history. This set is pretty good and looks great in this publicity photo. Yvonne Furneaux and others can be seen in that photo. The columns seen here are the same used in HERCULES, SAMSON AND ULYSSES (1963) during the brawny confrontation between Hercules and Samson (below). I got a *beautiful* HD print of SLAVE QUEEN OF BABYLON and will be addressing it in the future. 

PEPLUM Movie Poster

Original Italian poster of REVENGE OF THE GLADIATORS (1964) 

Classic PEPLUM poster.

Image of the week!

The sentencing of Queen Zenobia (Anita Ekberg) in SIGN OF THE GLADIATOR (1959)

At the movies...

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956) playing at the Rialto Theater in Salt Lake City in 1957.

By the Gods!

Big Steve Reeves, as Hadji Murad, in THE WHITE WARRIOR (1959) 

Solid film directed by Riccardo Freda. This Steve Reeves movie is one of his most serious, one that doesn't rely too much on muscle action.  Oddly enough, Steve is mostly clothed for most of the movie which is a shame because Steve was at his biggest in this movie, as one can see in this screenshot. He was HUGE. Steve's muscle mass fluctuated wildly between projects. A full HD copy of this is still not available...yet.

Behind-the-Scenes

Director Pietro Francisci and Mimmo Palmara have a chat on the set of HERCULES (1958). The setting is the monster scene when Jason retrieves the Golden Fleece. It's nice to see Mimmo decked out in a suit. 

Clip of the week: COLOSSUS OF THE ARENA (1962)

Maciste (Marke Forest) gets a beat down from gladiators in COLOSSUS OF THE ARENA (1962). The gladiators are Dan Vadis, Harold Bradley, Alfio Caltabiano, Pietro Ceccarelli, and Umberto Silvestri.

SPFX DEPT.

Scene from AMAZONS OF ROME (1961)

This matte painting is quite elaborate. The camera pans to the left (below), following a Roman litter, before settling on the complete shot (above). The matte work is good but there's a goof. When the Roman litter passes behind the matte painting, the top corner disappears behind the painting. Oops..

 

Then & Now: Richard Gere

Richard in KING DAVID (1985); a recent photo of the actor

By the Gods!

Lou Ferrigno makes for a muscular Sinbad in SINBAD OF THE SEVEN SEAS (1989)

This good looking movie has a chaotic production history (it was intended to be a mini-series) and the final product sorta shows it. It has some nice scenery and cinematography, and a lot of unintentionally funny stuff (like most Ferrigno PEPLUM movies) but it's a fun movie for die hard fans of the genre like me. The climax, with the virtual cage, has to be seen to be believed.  Also, Sinbad battles himself, which is a copy of the climax of GOLIATH AND THE VAMPIRES (1961).

PEPLUM Movie Poster

Belgian poster of SERPENT OF THE NILE (1953)

Beautiful artwork. The Arabic stuff is incongruous with this movie though.

Image of the week!

Samarra (Lana Turner) and Baal from THE PRODIGAL (1955)

Behind-the-Scenes

Jeff Chandler and Rita Gam goof around on the set of SIGN OF THE PAGAN (1954)

By the Gods!

Paris (Howard Ross) asks where his love, Helen (Christa Linder), was in HELEN, YES...HELEN OF TROY (1973)

Since this is a sex comedy, as most PEPLUM movies from Italy were in the 1970s, Helen here was busy with another man. I'm not that familiar with Christa Linder. I've only seen a couple of her other movies, including NIGHT OF 1000 CATS (1972). As for Howard, he was a regular actor of the PEPLUM genre and it always fun to watch stars from the Golden Era end up is such a raunchy movie. I lost count on how many different versions I have of this. I like it. I have a soft spot for these 1970s Italian sex comedies. 

Lobby Cards Set: SERPENT OF THE NILE (1953)

Incomplete lobby cards set of SERPENT OF THE NILE (1953) starring Rhonda Fleming, Raymond Burr. I suspect the missing card is a title card so from these cards, Rhonda is featured prominently, which is a good thing. Also two cards with Julie Newmar. Good set.

Clip of the week: TAUR THE MIGHTY (1963)

Joe Robinson is TAUR THE MIGHTY

HD Alert!

The Blu-ray of SON OF SAMSON (1960) is available for pre-order at AMAZON. Release date: May 10. As I posted this last week at BY THE GODS!, this KINO LORBER edition is not available yet at Amazon Canada. The movie stars Mark Forest as Maciste (above). Below is the slipcase and cover. Looks great.

Beware the Ides of March!

Today is the Ides of March, initially a positive observance in Ancient Roman culture, which is forever known for the assassination of Julius Caesar. Above: Rex Harrison as Julius Caesar from CLEOPATRA (1963).

"The Ides of March is the 74th day in the Roman calendar, corresponding to 15 March. It was marked by several religious observances and was notable for the Romans as a deadline for settling debts. In 44 BC, it became notorious as the date of the assassination of Julius Caesar, which made the Ides of March a turning point in Roman history." Wikipedia.

Caesar's assassination has been filmed many times and below is a compilation of clips from different movies. I didn't create this compilation.

 

The bloody historical moment was spoofed in CARRY ON CLEO (1964), with Kenneth Williams as Julius Caesar: Infamy, infamy. They've all got it in for me.

By the Gods!

Gordon Scott and opera singer Mario Petri in HERO OF BABYLON (1963) 

Last Friday, from the MUSINGS! post, I wrote about the website with a lot of PEPLUM movies, many in HD. This one was taken from there. It says it's in full HD and it is but it's not really a new print in HD. They took a nice print at a lower resolution and upscaled it to HD. Now if there was a real HD version of this it would be great. It's one of my favourites. Also from that MUSINGS!, I posted about Mario Petri and this is one of his many PEPLUM movies. 

PEPLUM Movie Poster

Original Italian poster of PER AMORE DI POPPEA (1977) 

Title translates as FOR THE LOVE OF POPPEA. Nice art. There's an excellent high definition copy out there, with English subtitles.