By the God!

The Hydra beast in CAPTAIN SINDBAD (1963)

This is a peculiar adventure movie directed by the excellent Byron Haskin (note the spelling of Sinbad). It was shot in Germany and stars Guy Williams. The full scale special effects is cool and also funny. The visual effects are credited to Tom Howard but it's hard to figure out if he was only responsible for optical effects and not practical effects. Regardless, it's my favourite thing from this movie. I need to do a list of movies featuring the Hydra. 

Behind-the-Scenes

Tina Louise plays with a trumpet on the set of THE WARRIOR EMPRESS, aka SAPPHO - THE VENUS OF LESBOS (1960). 

Clip of the week: GODDESS OF LOVE (1957)

With Jacques Sernas and Belinda Lee

By the Gods!

Matte painting from THE MIGHTY CRUSADERS (1957) 

These types of matte paintings were fairly standard in Hollywood movies but not so in movies made in Europe or Italy. There are some but there weren't used as extensively as those from Hollywood productions. I like this one. It's nice and, as usual, it shows someone arriving at a location.

Musings! (07-06)

Searching far and wide for all things PEPLUM! Luciano Marin and Steve Reeves in GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS (1959)

YOUTUBE AGAIN...

I recently uploaded GLADIATOR OF ROME (1962) starring Gordon Scott on Youtube last week and there were no restrictions or claims. Everything was fine. The movie was in good quality (below). My channel's subscribers were happy and then suddenly out of nowhere, a claim appeared several days after uploading it there. It was blocked worldwide.

The movie is available on another channel (which, in part, was involved in this) but it's not of great quality. I really don't know to do with the Fan Dubs I've created. I want people to enjoy them but there's currently no feasible outlet or platform that would support this.

The thing is, I've seen many channels, PEPLUM or not, that were closed permanently. I feel like Youtube is on its last leg. Everyone is going to TikTok. 


CINEMATIC CONFUSION

This amazing VHS cover from Argentina is for HERCULES (1958) and NOT the sequel, HERCULES UNCHAINED (1959) but all the images on the cover is the sequel, including the images on the back cover. I have to say that this one of the coolest things I've seen in a long time but it's still stuck in Cinematic Confusion.



HAVE YOU SEEN...

Ludmilla Tcherina's dance number from SIGN OF THE PAGAN (1954)? It's one of those scenes that has been cut. Speculation for the reasons it was cut are numerous but oddly enou the BBC showed the uncut version, with dance scene intact, in May of 1976. So, someone out there must have seen it. 



WHATEVER HAPPENED TO...GLADIATOR 2?

The long delayed sequel to the 2000 hit, GLADIATOR, was sorta announced at one point but then nothing? Maybe too many people laughed at the idea? 


IDENTIFY THE MOVIE

Can you identify the movie from this screenshot? Should be easy for PEPLUM fans.

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PEPLUM TV library is coming soon. I've decided to dedicate a page to all the genre books I have in my library. Most books have been disappointing so the list will be anti-climatic. Keep an eye on future developments...

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I'll be taking some extended time off in August. I know things are going good in regards to the blog's views and all but I need to work on multiple projects days on end and it's difficult to do this while doing the blog. I might post once a week or post whenever I can. Anyway, I have a month to think it over. Any suggestions would be helpful. Maybe hire someone to work on the blog? 

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Future Musings:

- List of best costumes, for women and for men.

- List of PEPLUM books

- List of movies available in HD / Blu-ray

- PEPLUM Museum?

By the Gods!

Lee Horsley and Kathleen Beller in THE SWORD AND THE SORCERER (1982)

A sorta notorious 'Sword and Sorcerer' movie of the early 1980s which was released to theatres and became a success (nearly $40 million at b.o.) and continued to be successful once it was released for the home video market. This was the first movie directed by Albert Pyun. Lee Horsley played his role with exuberance even if his character was tortured repeatedly throughout the dark story. He had a major TV series back then, MATT HOUSTON, the same year this was released. Beller appeared mostly in TV productions such as DYNSATY. It has a cult following today. Scenes from this movie were copied in GAME OF THRONES series.

PEPLUM Movie Poster

French poster of CALIGULA: THE UNTOLD STORY (1982) 

The French title translates as CALIGULA: THE REAL STORY. Great poster. Also known as THE EMPEROR CALIGULA: THE UNTOLD STORY and CALIGULA 2 - THE UNTOLD STORY.

Blog note

No regular posts today

By the Gods!

Ursus (Ed Fury) is a captured man and has to answer to Ayak (Alberto Lupo) in URSUS IN THE VALLEY OF LIONS (1961)

The second Ursus movie starring Ed Fury. Both THE MIGHTY URSUS and this movie were released in 1961. The third Ursus movie, URSUS IN THE LAND OF FIRE, was released in1963. The cast and crew of both first movies were sorta identical, with Fury, María Luisa Merlo, and Moira Orfei back together again. In the US, people saw it as VALLEY OF THE LIONS. Director Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia started his career back in the 1930s and he eventually ending up doing mostly PEPLUM movies at the end of his long career. He directed THE MIGHTY CRUSADERS (1957), HANNIBAL (1959), and AMAZONS OF ROME (1961), amongts his PEPLUM titles. Like HANNIBAl, elephants are featured prominently in this movie.

Lobby Card Set: HERCULES AGAINST THE MOON MEN (1964)

Original US lobby card set for HERCULES AGAINST THE MOON MEN starring Alan Steel and Many Clair. features almost all the highlights of the film, including the sandstorm scene (card #6)  and the classic feat of strength (#7) but there are still several great scenes missing like the "shower" moment and the many fights with disposable soldiers. But overall a good set.

Clip of the week: HERCULES AGAINST THE MOON MEN

Alan Steel enters the lair of the Moon men in HERCULES AGAINST THE MOON MEN (1964)

By the Gods!

Sylvia Syms and Louis Jourdan in AMAZONS OF ROME (1961)

I haven't written a lot about this movie in recent years (but I did at the beginning of the blog). I like the movie but I can't get past the casting of Jourdan as a barbarian. I always joke: Cary Grant wasn't available? I understand what the director tried to do here (showing that barbarians were not just mindless idiots), and Jourdan is a good actor but the testosterone level in his character is low. Syms is very good in this pseudo-feminist movie. It's a solid production with a good cast but needed more oomph. The title probably did a disservice to the movie. I give 7 out of 10.

Musings! (06-29)

Searching far and wide for all things PEPLUM! Luciano Marin and Steve Reeves in GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS (1959)

TRANSFERING VHS TO DIGITAL..

In last week's musings, I wrote about acquiring the VHS tape of ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA (1972) starring and directed by Charlton Heston. This tape, released in 1985, is the only uncut copy available to the public. The Blu-ray from Twilight Time is cut. Copies which have appeared on TV are heavily cut. I got the VHS just because of this. The issue was how to transfer it to digital. I'll go over this here.

It just so happens that I have a DVD recorder which also has a VCR. It's from Samsung and it's one of the best piece of electronics ever made. The last time I used it was a decade or so ago. I transferred almost all of my tapes to digital and once that task was over, I set the DVD recorder aside. Just a note: I don't own a TV set. Just computers. And with this recorder, a TV is needed. Now this amazing piece of electronics has ALL the connections behind it: RCA, composite, s-video and, yes, HDMI. 

Since I don't have a TV and no computer monitors with a HDMI connection, I had to buy a tiny, cheap monitor on Amazon. It has all the connections, including HDMI. I connected the tiny screen to the HDMI port. And proceeded to record something for the first time in over 10 years. Remarkably enough, the DVD/VCR recorder worked flawlessly. It's super easy to set up and operate. You just press one button on the remote: copy to DVD. I just needed to remember the process and steps and boom, the movie is now on DVD; see photo above with the DVD's menu. Photo below is a screenshot of the transfer. 

The one problem was the length of the movie. Since it's 160 minutes long, a regular 2 hour DVD is not good enough. So I had to record the film on two DVD+Rs. I have two external disc players, one for regular DVDs and another for Blu-rays. I put the discs in, ripped them and voila, I now have the uncut version in digital format.

Since this is VHS, the quality is obviously not comparable to DVD or Blu-ray but it's still pretty cool. I watched it as it recorded. This is truly the only version to watch.

I'll do a comparison of different versions soon.

I have other VHS tapes in my collection, including double cassettes of THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (1964) and SPARTACUS (1960) so i think I need to buy 8.5 gb DVD+R discs for those transfers.


CINEMATIC CONFUSION

Spanish VHS cover of THE MAGNIFICENT GLADIATOR (1964) starring Mark Forest. This cover is cute but has nothing to do with the movie itself. First, Mark Forest has no beard. Second, there is no chariot race in the movie. Third, a chariot race with lions? Now I'd like to see that. 


IDENTIFY THE MOVIE

Can you identify this movie from this screenshot? Should be pretty easy, if you know the movie, of course.

Ivan was able to identify the movie. It's TARKAN VS THE VIKINGS (1971). 



MOVIES I WATCHED...


ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA 

The more I watch it the more I appreciate what Charlton Heston tried to do with this movie. It's great. 1972, 1973 and 1974 saw a small explosion of PEPLUM movies, which this one was part of, even though it wasn't released in the US.


SWORDS WITHOUT A COUNTRY

A pretty good movie. Every time I watch it, I appreciate even more. The direction is atypical, and the ending is sorta depressing. But overall, it's a PEPLUM movie that has gone under the radar. A movie with Leonora Ruffo (above) is always great to watch. And the speech at the end with Gerard Landry is pretty amazing (below). Landry and Ruffo are such overlooked actors. Note: the title is either SWORDS WITHOUT A COUNTRY and SWORD WITHOUT A COUNTRY.  

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This is probably the least flattering figurine of Steve Reeves ever made. Look at those tiny legs. There are much better figurines out there of Steve.


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Some sad news: RARELUST is a great website with TONS of old movies. I got many from them. Usually, a free download took about 5 or 7 hours but they now changed their server provider and the downloads now take 10 to 15 hours. Really bad. If I pay, the downloads only take a few minutes but I don't want to pay for this kind of service.

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Stats are maintaining between 1000 to 15000 views a day. Except for last Thursday which got over 2500. I still don't get why the blog gets these out of nowhere bursts. I didn't post anything out of the ordinary last Thursday. Unfortunately, the tracking info at Blogger is extremely limited. 

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Future Musings:

- List of best costumes, for women and for men.

- List of PEPLUM books

- List of movies available in HD / Blu-ray

- PEPLUM Museum?

By the Gods!

Gina Lollobrigida as Sheba in SOLOMON AND SHEBA (1959)

I like Gina and this movie is fun but sorta uneven. One thing which is unnecessarily distracting are her eyebrows and bangs. Gina is a beautiful woman and simplicity is the best when to comes to someone like her and these dated looks do not do her any service. The shoot itself must have been arduous since Tyrone Power was cast as Solomon but died on the set. There are a few brief scenes of Tyrone in the final cut. I wonder if the stuff they filmed with Tyrone still exists. I hope so. 

PEPLUM Movie Poster

German poster of CORIOLANUS: HERO WITHOUT A COUNTRY (1964)

Straight-forward poster. The title translates as THE TRIBUNE OF ROME. 

By the Gods!

Alan Steel and Nando Tamberlani in HERCULES AGAINST THE MOON MEN (1964) 

Gladius, played by Tamberlani, should asks Hercules: 'Will I die soon since I'm talking to you?'. It's one of those things in PEPLUM movies were characters who engage with the Hero usually end up dead after a while. Steel was in top action form, going through one peril after another. Fun movie. Do not listen to the naysayers. This movie is more fun than a thousand naysayers. 

At the movies...

THE ROBE playing at the Grauman's Chinese Theater. December 1953. Nice color photo.

By the Gods!

The cast in SEVEN SLAVES AGAINST ROME (1964) 

Difficult to identify the actors with those helmets but I know the fellow in the middle in Pietro Marascalchi, who is not credited at IMDb for this movie. Pietro was a professional wrestler and he starred in a handful of movies; most notably he was Moloch in HERCULES AGAINST MOLOCH (1964). His career never took off like it should have. He excelled in action scenes. Like so many actors of the PEPLUM genre, Pietro disappeared from the face of the earth. Those helmets must have been difficult to wear. Very awkward. The English dub for this movie is still missing.

Behind-the-Scenes

Hedy Lamar and Cecil B deMille on the set of SAMSON AND DELILAH (1949)

Clip of the week: SAMSON (1961)

Fight between Brad Harris and Alan Steel in SAMSON (1961)

By the Gods!

Opening credits to ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA (1972), with credits appearing across a matte painting. IMO, this is one of the best use of a matte painting in any PEPLUM movie. This setting will appear later on in the movie (below). more than once, but showcasing the credits in front of it actually makes it look more real than anything else.

Musings! (06-22)

Searching far and wide for all things PEPLUM! Luciano Marin and Steve Reeves in GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS (1959)

RECENT ACQUISITION

Today I received the VHS tape of ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA (1972) starring and directed by Charlton Heston. This edition is uncut, at 160 minutes. If it's the same as the Norwegian copy I got recently, this tape doesn't have the intro and outdo music, like the one in the Twilight Time Blu-ray. But this is no big loss. The TT edition is cut. 

The problem now is transferring this VHS copy on a DVD disc and then ripping the disc for a digital copy. I'm working on this.

The VHS cover and cassette are in mint condition. I don't know if the tape itself works but assuming that no one actually watched this from its perfect state, I believe it should be in working condition.

 

CINEMATIC CONFUSION

THE FURY OF HERCULES starring Gordon Scott...? That's the head of Gordon Scott on the body of Brad Harris (that's not Scott's body). Again, Gordon Scott is the go to fellow for these Cinematic Confusions. 


VINTAGE ADVERTISING

An old ad celebrating the success of radio spot for HERCULES (1958), released in the US in 1959. Steve Reeves, who played Hercules, is also holding up ATTILA, which was one of Joseph E Levine's previous promotional projects before HERCULES. 


RARE MOVIES...

One of the hardest to get movies is JACOB AND ESAU (1963) starring Ken Clark. The movie is basically missing in action. Is it good? Is it an undiscovered classic? Who knows since no one has seen it for decades. But the Amsterdam Film Museum has a copy of the movie. Their database is open to the public and can be searched. The rare movie is part of their collection.

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I was in communications with a PEPLUM star of the Golden Era for a written interview...I cover this at BY THE GODS! 

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I recently thought of not adding the blog's name to photos and such. It would speed up things considerable. And then I see the photo above, at IMDb. Yes, my stuff is *everywhere*. People take a lot of stuff from the blog. So, I decided I didn't have a choice but to keep on doing this. 

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The blog's stats are all over the place. For a week, it was super high with a peak of nearly 5000 views for one day while staying in and around 1000 views for 10 days or so. Very wild and inexplicable views. 


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Future Musings:

- List of PEPLUM books

- List of movies available in HD / Blu-ray

- PEPLUM Museum?

By the Gods!

Brigitte Nielsen in RED SONJA (1985)

Does anyone like this movie? I'm not trying to be facetious here but I've seen this movie countless of times and barely remember anything from it. It had a great director, Richard Fleischer, who directed THE VIKINGS (1958) and BARABBAS (1961), much older movies and yet I remember them quite well. It's a strange phenomenon. It expires from my mind as soon as I stop watching it. Arnold Schwarzenegger is billed as the main star but he actually has a supporting role more than anything else.

PEPLUM Movie Poster

Italian poster of DAMON AND PYTHIAS (1962) 

Servicable poster. It's surprising that Guy Williams wasn't front and center. He was a recognizable star back then, and today as well. THE TYRANT OF SYRACUSE was the Italian title (and the UK as well).

PEPLUM TV Official store

Official PEPLUM TV Merch