Vintage PEPLUM Promotion

A truck carrying a bunch of bodybuilders advertising THE GIANT OF MARATHON starring Steve Reeves. Really cool photo. Thanks to Ron Campbell.

Photo of the Day

Zorro (Gordon Scott) is about to be executed in ZORRO AND THE THREE MUSKETEERS

I got a good copy of this film, a Fan Dub in widescreen no less, from someone over the internet by trading some stuff from my collection.  I'll be watching it, and other titles, for the very first time. Yeah! Thanks! ;-)

After Work Activities

Mitsuko Takara and Stanley Baker relaxing at a bar after a day filming SODOM & GOMORRAH

PEPLUM GIF animation

Classic PEPLUM moment from HERCULES (1958), one of my favourite films with Steve Reeves swinging those chains and directed by Pietro Francisci.

PEPLUM X

Make sure to check out PEPLUM X

PEPLUM X

Photo of the Day

Rhama (Ida Galli), Aberdad (John Drew Barrymore) and Tullia (Susy Andersen) practice the black arts in ROME AGAINST ROME (aka War of the Zombies)

Cool film with a great cast and some great ideas made with a too small budget for the expansive concept of the story. Films like this made me love the PEPLUM genre.

German programs

German film programs are some of the best movie memorabilia out there. Their cover art often surpassed the film's actual movie poster art. These could also be Austrian programs.

SPARTACUS - SINS OF ROME

TERROR OF THE RED MASK

THIEF OF BAGHDAD

ATLANTIS - LOST CONTINENT

Before they were PEPLUM stars

Steve Reeves as a teen, from age 15 to 18. He was already pretty much defined even before hitting 20.

Photo of the Day

Jacques Sernas and Belinda Lee in GODDESS OF LOVE

Beautiful ending!

Sculptor Bertel Thorvaldsen

Some of the sculptures by Danish-born artist Bertel Thorvaldsen who worked mainly in Italy for most of his life. Motifs for his works were drawn mostly from Greek mythology.

Some cool stuff.

Ganymede waters Zeus as an Eagle

Venus with an apple

Hercules and Hebe

Beautiful!

Then and Now : Gustavo Rojo

Gustavo as Caesar in JULIUS CAESAR AGAINST THE PIRATES; a recent photo of the Uruguayan actor

Photo of the Day

Maciste (Samson in U.S. version, Alan Steel) shows his prowess in ZORRO VS MACISTE (aka Samson and the Slave Queen)

Fun film in much need of a real Fan Dub but the only English dub track is mangled beyond repair so I abandoned hope in making one.

Movie Poster Mondays

Italian poster for JOLANDA - THE DAUGHTER OF BLACK CORSAIR

Rare film. Looks like a good film from the sequences I've seen from it.

Photo of the Day

Kindar (Mark Forest) listens to a scheming Kira (Rosalba Neri) in KINDAR THE INVULNERABLE

Finally got a nice clean widescreen copy of this and wow, this is definitely one of my favourite PEPLUM films ever. Aside from the low key climax, which is sorta disappointing, the rest is fantastic and even more so when viewing it with such a beautiful print. The film is filled with beautiful moments, some being near poetic.

The cast includes a super buff Mark (in red tights), a stunning Rosalba (in that fetching red dress), Dea Flowers, Mimmo Palmara and Howard Ross (Renato Rossini) whom are all at the height of their looks/sex appeal and combined with the exotic locations makes this the sexiest PEPLUM film of all time.

Back on Monday!

Where to get PEPLUM films?

Many people ask me where I get my PEPLUM films. I have purchased most of my titles and I have nearly a thousand titles (which includes many different versions of the same titles) in my collection so the options are vast and wide and would take hours to showcase everything so here's a quick rundown of places you can purchase or download PEP films.

SINISTER CINEMA - They have a wide selection of titles on DVD but they're mostly taken from the SON OF HERCULES tv show or 16mm prints. Some titles are taken from European DVDs including GOLIATH AGAINST THE GIANTS.

SOMETHING WEIRD - Like Sinister Cinema, the quality of PEPLUM films is wildly uneven most of them bordering on poor than good. The prints also include massive watermark which is an eyesore. The one exception is A QUEEN FOR CAESAR which is in widescreen and in English. I made a Fan Dub of this film, uploaded to Youtube which is now all over the place. The Something Weird  looks suspiciously like it but I checked it and the audio is different in a few scenes so they didn't take it from my Fan Dub.

A QUEEN FOR CAESAR

AMAZON (global) - As much as I hate AMAZON they are a great resource of PEPLUM titles from around the world. If you can view European DVDs on your computer buying them is a cinch. Unfortunately most of them do not have English tracks with the DVDs. But if you're a real PEPLUM fan it doesn't matter.

Amazon.de : Germany

Amazon.fr : France

Amazon.es : Spain

Amazon.it : Italy

Amazon.com : US (and Canada)


Downloads:

EZTAKES : you can download PEPLUM films directly to your computer from them, including select titles from distributors like SINISTER CINEMA. You need to register and download software which manages downloads. Quality varies.

I don't advocate illegal downloads on this blog. I've purchased the vast majority of my titles but sometimes a title is so rare that there's no other option.

uloz.to : this site has loads of PEPLUM titles but most of them are in Italian. There are a couple of films in English (El Cid below) but they are rare.

EU torrents : this site has loads of PEPLUM films to download but you need to upload as much as you download. I've only downloaded one film from it and they've technically banned me for not uploading a film there but I'm not returning there. You have to register to access files.

Telecharger.nl : this French site is filled with PEPLUM titles but none of them are in English. If you haven't seen a film in a long time and it's only in French you could still check it out.

Cine Clasico Conecta : This Spanish-language site has many old PEPLUM films but in Spanish, sometimes on DVD with dual languages which includes English stuff. You need to register to access films.

VEEHD : This site has (or used to have) loads of films and many up loaders are fans of European cinema which at times includes PEPLUM films. You need to register to access films.

THE AVENGER (aka War of the Trojans)

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Lobby Cards Set : HEAD OF A TYRANT

US lobby cards set for HEAD OF A TYRANT starring Massimo Girotti and Isabelle Corey. Good set but the scenes are murky to say the least. I like this sorta morbid PEPLUM but cards 4, 5 and 7 don't sell much of the film. Could have concentrated more cards on Massimo and Isabelle like card no 3. Average.

Photo of the Day

Maya (Michèle Bailly) gets the point in MARS - GOD OF WAR

Michèle plays a deaf/mute in Maya and she's best thing in this movie. A sympathetic role that's not overdone. She being made to go through an elaborate torture device that's still a bit baffling on how it's operated but it's cool nonetheless.

Behind-the-Scenes

Behind-the-scene photo from CONAN THE DESTROYER. The Geek and the Brawn. The short fellow looks familiar.

PEPLUM GIF animation

The Golden Warriors of the Dagger of Jae from TRIUMPH OF HERCULES

Bodybuilder Pietro Torrisi is the buff fellow at the bottom left corner.

Photo of the Day

A tied-up Blackie the Pirate (Terence Hill) looks at Isabela (Silvia Monti) wondering a few things about her in BLACKIE THE PIRATE

Terence is about to be whipped when Edmund Purdom walks in the room making them stop the torture. The producers were teasing the audience. This photo is sorta funny. It's like Terence is wondering what's with her hair. Fun film if a bit overlong (even at 90 minutes) and the soundtrack is a tad overly exuberant but it's one of those rare PEPLUM/Swashbucklers from the 1970s.

Where Is Sodom?

According to the Bible, “the men of Sodom were wicked” (Genesis 13, verse 13). For its many sins, God destroyed Sodom and all the inhabitants of the “cities of the plain” in an intense conflagration, but not before allowing Abraham’s nephew Lot and his family to flee to safety.

The stories of Sodom and its destruction, whether historical or not, were clearly understood to have occurred near the Dead Sea, among the so-called “cities of the plain” mentioned in Genesis 13, verse 12. But where exactly was this plain, and was a particular site associated with Sodom? In the article “Where Is Sodom?” in the March/April 2013 issue of BAR, archaeologist Steven Collins combines clues from Biblical geography with archaeological evidence from the site of Tall el-Hammam in Jordan to suggest that the author of Genesis 13 located Sodom in a fertile area northeast of the Dead Sea.

Link

It's amazing that in this day and age they still don't have a conclusive site of the fabled sin city. But then again it might be a myth. The comments at the link are something else.

Hmm...

What's going on in this wall painting from FURY OF HERCULES? The things PEPLUM films got away with back then. Ah!

(I know they're carrying a wounded warrior but still...)

Photo of the Day

Maciste (Reg Park) is given a 'special' wreath by Fazira (Wandisa Guida) in MACISTE IN KING SOLOMON'S MINES

The wreath is unique amongst PEPLUM film's 'Drugging the Hero' cliche: when Fazira puts it on him he becomes dizzy, too weak and faints. The unique characteristics of this wreath is never explained. I wonder if they came up with this idea the same day they shot it. Ah!

Same film, same scene, different cast

KERIM SON OF THE SHEIK has the distinction of having two different versions: the one titled KERIM is the Italian version, with Gordon Scott and most of the supporting actors being also from Italy. Then there's the Egyptian version called KARIM - THE SHEIKH'S SON. That one also stars Gordon Scott but many of the Italian supporting actors have been replaced with Egyptian actors, as in this scene shows: same film, same scene but different actors: the Italian one is with Alberto Farnese while the Egyptian one (below) has a different unidentified actor. I don't know if the actress is the same in both films. If anyone out there has it please let me know. I'd love to see it.

I already posted about these two films almost 3 years ago: link

PEPLUM weekend at the box office

Unique box-office results this weekend: two PEPLUM films in the top 5 with 300 : RISE OF AN EMPIRE at no 1 with a healthy $45 million. And lo and behold SON OF GOD, the film with the sexy Jesus, was at no 5 with a weak $10 million. Pretty rare to see two PEPLUM films in the top 5. There might still be hope for the genre.