Movie Poster Mondays

French poster of SALOME

Beautiful artwork even if Rita's costume wasn't that revealing in the film

By the Gods!

Alan Steel (aka Sergio Ciani) as a bound Hercules in HERCULES AGAINST ROME

Steel was often caught in these predicaments, like in HERCULES AGAINST THE MOON MEN. One of the several Italian-born actors who became famous because of the PEPLUM genre. He passed away to years ago. I'm thinking of uploading this at my PEPLUM TV channel. Fun film.

By the Gods!

Rosanna Schiaffino and Sidney Poitier in THE LONG SHIPS

A Hollywood take on the PEPLUM genre : very boisterous and over-the-top. I find it a difficult film to get into because it's so turned-up and campy but PEPLUM regular Rosanna Sciaffino makes things more fun to watch for fans of Italian productions. This Columbia pictures was shot in Yugoslavia. One of the few genre films Sidney made during that period.

Behind-the-Scenes

Charlton Heston shows off his son as a little centurion to Jack Hawkins during the filming of BEN-HUR. Cute.

By the Gods!

Russell Crowe in action in GLADIATOR

The career of everyone involved with this film have faded into near obscurity (by choice or not). Crowe is not A-list anymore. His last two films, NOAH and ROBIN HOOD, weren't massive hits. He's to appear in a yet another remake of THE MUMMY, playing Dr Jekyll(!). That film stars Tom Cruise. Aside from THE MARTIAN, director Ridley Scott hasn't had a big hit since then. And Joaquin Phoenix is too busy dating 19 year old girls. GLADIATOR won best film back in 2000. It must have been a really poor year. Since I'm a big fan of the PEPLUM genre and know everything about them, GLADIATOR wasn't really that special to me. It was a huge hit though and it did sorta re-ignite a new PEPLUM explosion but the output has been sporadic and the qualityvaried tremendously. Do you think Hollywood will remake this film (which was an indirect remake of countless films from the 1960s)?

Identify the movie!

Can you identify this film from this image?

By the Gods!

Dan Vadis and his nine gladiator friends in TRIUMPH OF THE TEN GLADIATORS

I won't name all of them here. You can view the cast at this previous post : identifying the ten gladiators.

Fun film, a bit on the sloppy side, certainly in regards to the use of stock footage from other films. It's filled with brawny action. If you don't like that kind of stuff, then TRIUMPH is definitely not for you. I like them. There were many films with sets of rebels or gladiators back in the Golden Era of the genre (GLADIATORS SEVEN, SEVEN SLAVES AGAINST ROME, etc) but the Ten Gladiator films are in a league all of their own thanks mainly to the direction of Nick Nostro and the larger-than-life presence of Dan Vadis.

Movie Poster Mondays

Spanish poster of SAMSON & DELILAH

The poster contains a spoiler. Well, everyone knows that cutting Samson's hair will make him lose his strength but still...when you think about it, the premise (Delilah trying to figure out the secret to Samson strength) is a pretty thin one for a full feature film.

By the Gods!

Rex Harrison as Julius Caesar and Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra in CLEOPATRA (1963)

An unlikely couple if there ever was one. Peter Finch was originally cast in the Julius Caesar role which would have been better. Rex was miscast as Caesar. He sounded like a school principle. And Taylor and Harrison have no chemistry at all. One of the films that signalled the end of the PEPLUM genre (along with FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE). Could the genre lived on if this film hadn't been made? Maybe...maybe not.

Retro Friday : ROME - Eternal Cinematic City

(originally posted February 2012)

I always love it when a movie states in bold letters or graphic that we're in ROME!

From SPARTACUS

From JULIUS CAESAR

From COLOSSUS OF THE ARENA

From SALOME

From SIGN OF THE CROSS

From CHALLENGE OF THE GLADIATOR (Italian version)

From CARRY ON CLEO

By the Gods!

Melody O'Brian dances for her life while Jack Palance, bound to the mast, watches on helplessly in REVAK THE REBEL (aka The Barbarian)

An unintentionally funny scene. The dancing rivals the one in COLOSSUS AND THE HEADHUNTERS. An odd production, it's apparently a failed TV pilot for a potential series(!). Rudolph Maté, who also directed THE 300 SPARTANS, missed the boat on this one. It is very entertaining but not very convincing.

By the Gods!

Enrique Irazoqui as Jesus Christ in THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. MATTHEW

Directed by Pier Paolo Pasolini. An interesting take on the story of Jesus, with a cinema vérité style that only Pasolini could do. I like it but it's mostly a film of its time. It's not that it hasn't aged well, it actually has. It's just this style of filmmaking, which I love, has seen its time pass by. The films has been uploaded by many people on Youtube.

Behind-the-Scenes

Richard Burton uses his cigarette to light up the Stanley Baker's cigarette during the filming of ALEXANDER THE GREAT. The two were best friends.

By the Gods!

Jay Robinson, Jean Simmons and Richard Burton amidst the grand set of THE ROBE

The first film shot in CinemaScope. The sets in this film are grand. They needed to be since they had to fill the widescreen image. I prefer the sequel, DEMETRIUS & TE GLADIATORS. It is good but there's a certain lack of conviction to it that prevents it from being great.

Color photo from SIGN OF THE CROSS

This is the only color photo taken from the set of SIGN OF THE CROSS, which was filmed in black & white. It was used for an advertising campaign for Coca-Cola. I wonder if COKE knew about how racy this film was? That's Fredric March, Claudette Colbert and Cecil B DeMille. Anyway, nice colours.

By the Gods!

Iole (Sylva Koscina) and her handmaiden (Luciana Paluzzi) are bared from leaving their room in HERCULES (1958)

The career of both actresses exploded with offers after starring in this worldwide hit. Sylva had the higher profile career but Luciana starred in James Bond film, THUNDERBOLT, as a Bond girl and the trashtastic THE GREEN SLIME. Like Steve Reeves as Hercules, Sylva is perfectly cast as Iole. I can't imagine anyone else player the role.

Movie Poster Mondays

Italian poster of JACOB & ESAU

Extremely rare Biblical film...so rare that I've never seen it. If someone knows where I can get it please email me.

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and happy holidays!

Thanks everyone for your support!

I'm taking some time off during the holiday period. I'll be back part-time after the new year and will resume the blog full time by the end of January.

Happy Saturnalia!

By the Gods!

The funeral pyre for Julius Caesar in CLEOPATRA (1963)

There's no doubt that the film spared no expense in recreating the grandeur of Rome. It's a shame the story or script was uninspired and turgid. No CGI here. This is the real stuff.

Behind-the-Scenes

Mylene Demongeot and Daniela Rocca pose for a photo during the production of THE GIANT OF MARATHON

By the Gods!

The SEVEN REBEL GLADIATORS

From left to right : Pietro Ceccarelli, Mario Novelli, Nazzareno Zamperla, Pietro Torrisi, Jeff Cameron, Harold Bradley and Roger Browne.

The concept of disparate set of men ganging up together to overthrow the bad ruler was a very popular concept in the PEPLUM genre. HERCULES (1958) with Steve Reeves was the first one to start this, with Hercules and the Argonauts but the first with a story not set in mythology were GLADIATOR OF ROME and COLOSSUS OF THE ARENA (both films were released on the same date). By the time SEVEN REBEL GLADIATORS was made, there had been several films with the same idea. This is more comedy than anything. Lots of high speed action and a repetitive storyline.

RIP : Michèle Morgan

French actress Michèle Morgan died today at the age of 96. Her career started back in the 1930s! She did several costume dramas but her big PEPLUM film was playing the title character in FABIOLA. Released in 1949, it was one of the films which started the Golden Era of the PEPLUM explosion (the other being SAMSON & DELILAH). 

Fabiola (Michèle Morgan) and Rhual (Henri Vidal) meet in a garden at night in FABIOLA

By the Gods!

Jason (Jason London) and crew watch as Hercules (Brian Thompson) gets the Argo into the sea in the TV mini-series version of JASON AND THE ARGONAUTS

Not bad...while far from being great. The only inspired aspect is having Brian Thompson play Hercules. The script for this follows HERCULES (1958) more than the Ray Harryhausen 1963 film version, which is odd. Like so many TV mini-series, the production sacrifice a tight narrative for an overextended, somewhat padded retelling of the famous story.