Clip of the week: THE IRON CROWN (1941)

Arminio (Massimo Girotti) to the rescue! 

HD Alert!

Sylva Koscina and Francisco Rabal in THE MIGHTY CRUSADERS (1958) 

This great film is available in HD...well, not in full HD but 1280x720 resolution. It's on Youtube. The channel that has it is one which caused a lot of problems with me which is why I'm ambivalent in sharing this. I don't want to give them traffic. They took a lot of my Fan Dubs and uploaded them to their channel or used the English audio and added them to videos. In fact, that's what they did with this movie: they took my Fan Dub with the English audio and uploaded it to Youtube. Not a great channel. You can download this HD version, which is what I did. I bought a DVD recently and it was fine but seeing in 720 HD is really nice. It's in Italian but with English subtitles. 

 

Gianna Maria Canale and Rik Battaglia

Vintage Articles

Three vintages magazine cover/articles of Gina Lollobrigida in SOLOMON AND SHEBA (1959).

Above is the cover of a Swedish magazine. The source of the small article below is unknown and the one at the bottom is from an Australian magazine.

 

Musings!

Rossana Podesta and Guy Madison in SLAVE OF ROME (1961) 

Very good PEPLUM that's overlooked. It's solid from beginning to end. It's one of those movies where it takes place entirely outside. There are a few interior scenes. The movie was directed by Sergio Grieco, so I know it's going to be entertaining. The word SLAVE has become a politically incorrect word to use. It seems that might explain a few reasons why the blog was shadow banned last year for two months. It's still sorta shadow banned but the views have come back to normal (3k per day). But websites with such words are seen as problematic and therefore Google makes them invisible. What strange times we live in.

PEPLUM Movie Poster

US poster of THE IRON CROWN (1941) 

Rare poster. The Italian movie was released in the US, which is cool because this movie is excellent. Note: A rare instance where the English version is better than the original versions (the Italian one has more than one version). Well, at least in regards to the ending, the US cut is vastly superior.

Image of the week!

Briseis (Gloria Milland) is about to find out what Achilles (Gordon Mitchell) is made of in FURY OF ACHILLES (1962)

Lobby Cards Set: APHRODITE - GODDESS OF LOVE (1958)

Massive lobby cards set of APHRODITE - GODDESS OF LOVE (1958) starring Anthony Steffen, Isabelle Corey and Irène Tunc. This set is slightly different in that they're big posters with 4 photos each but they're still lobby cards. Nice set but should have had more photos of the actors. No card with Anthony Steffen!

Musings!

Christine Kaufmann in THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII (1959)

So I was watching this great film again (after uploading a Clip of the week a few weeks ago...) and I was wondering about two things:

1 - What happened to movies? Why can't movies look this good today? I'm definitely a big fan of the aesthetics of the 1950s and early 1960s. You don't 'see' films like this anymore. 

2 - Christine was 14 years old when she made this. Below, Steve Reeves and Christine have a kiss. It's nothing 'shocking' until one knows her actual age.  😀  Remarkably enough, she was very mature and composed herself beautifully in the movie, for a such a young girl. So, in the end, there's nothing shocking about it but still...this wouldn't be acceptable today.

What do you think?

Behind-the-Scenes

Marlon Brando on a cigarette break on the set of JULIUS CAESAR (1953)

Clip of the week: SANDOKAN - PIRATE OF MALAYSIA (1964)

Sandokan (Steve Reeves) secretly helps a rebel (Mimmo Palmara). With Leo Anchóriz.

This is not from the HD copy I have. The size of the clip was too large to upload here. If you want to view it (in French), you can check it out at the Facebook account.

SPFX DEPT.

Scenes from THE RED SHEIK (1962)

I usually showcase excellent special effects in PEPLUM movies. Well, here's a different one. The scene is a fortress getting blown up. You can see the shadow of the explosion on the back wall. Had they placed the wall much further in the back, it might have worked but now it's a letdown. The fortress below is the real one, or a big set. This fortress was used in KERIM - SON OF THE SHEIRK (1962). Both films used it for the enormous battle scene at the end. The films are Twins Productions. The explosion is not in KERIM. In that movie, the front door is blown open without the use of models.

Then & Now: Tony Lo Bianco

 Tony in THE STORY OF JACOB AND JOSEPH (1974); a recent photo of the actor.

Musings!

Mark Forest and Mimmo Palmara in GOLIATH AND THE SINS OF BABYLON (1963)

I like this movie. I've watched it many times. But there's one major flaw: it uses an insane amount of scenes from other films. Here, they're on a boat and the re-used footage edited for this movie is CARTHAGE IN FLAMES (1960). If you don't know much of PEPLUM movies, this might not be an issue but for me it's hard to watch it and think of anything else but that movie. It was a cost cutting way of making movies but it sorta cheapens it. The movie is still very entertaining but with some major liabilities to it. This movie got a theatrical release in the US from VIP. There are memorable scenes in it, including one which is featured prominently on the movie poster.

PEPLUM Movie Poster

Original Italian poster of THE THREE AVENGERS (1964) 

Simple but nice poster. 

Image of the week!

Cassiopeia (Siân Phillips) presides over the marriage of her daughter, Andromeda (Judi Bowker) to Perseus (Harry Hamlin), which brings some terrible fate in CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981)

MUSCLES Inc

VIM magazine cover promoting ATHENA (1954) starring Steve Reeves, Jane Powell and Debbie Reynolds. Classic photo!

Musings!

 Hercules (Steve Reeves) in search of the lion in HERCULES (1958) 

I love this movie. It's one of my favourite movies. I've written a lot about it. One of my pet peeves of this movie is the chariot in which Steve used. It changes sizes. In close-ups, it's seemingly normal size. In this long shot, like this official photo, it makes Steve look tiny, which is something few could describe Steve as. The chariot looks massive. It's something that always made me confuse. And, yes, that's Steve and not a body double or stuntman. In the previous shot, it is a stuntman, who's physique is ordinary. Maybe it was for security reasons.

Behind-the-Scenes

Director Emimmo Salvi standing with actors, including two dressed as Lizard Men on the set of VULCAN - SON OF JUPITER (1962)

Clip of the week: SLAVE QUEEN OF BABYLON (1963)

 Kir (John Ericson) is in a tight spot. Semiramis (Yvonne Furneaux) watches the spectacle!

HD Alert!

Sandokan (Steve Reeves) brings breakfast to Lt. Clintock (Nando Gazzolo) in SANDOKAN - PIRATE OF MALAYSIA (1964)

The HD version of this movie exists. Again, it's from a streaming service in Europe. The image quality is much better than the previous DVDs or releases but the image does have some artifact issues and the image is a bit reddish. Regardless though, it's a vast improvement over previous versions. So, will KINO LORBER pick it up? Steve Reeves in HD!

Steve Reeves with Mimmo Palmara. The image is excellent even if there's some compression issues (see the sky and mountains in the background).

The Return to Academy Aspect Ratio!

The first film shot in widescreen, or CinemaScope, was a PEPLUM movie. THE ROBE (1953; above).

Ever since that time, the old Academy 4:3 aspect ratio had gradually disappeared with the advent of widescreen TVs and movies released on DVD and Blu-ray. Now it's trendy to go back to the old 4:3 aspect ratio.

Personally, I always liked 4:3 aspect ratio (or 1.33) but for big epics, the widescreen format is the best. I'm glad to see this trend.

 

"But something has changed in the last couple of years… We’re seeing a resurgence of the classic 4:3 format, with more filmmakers embracing it on feature length narratives. This is something we haven’t seen on a large scale for ages."

Why The Old-School 4:3 Aspect Ratio Is Coming Back With A Vengeance Right Now 

I won't link the article because it has little to do with PEPLUM movies but what do you think of this trend?

Musings!

Ed Fury as Ursus who's about to get trapped in URSUS IN THE LAND OF FIRE (1963) 

This scene is frustrating. In many prints, this scene is cut. It goes from Ursus talking to the evil ruler straight to Ursus chained to a millstone. In the uncut version, Ursus is ambushed by men on horseback with a net that traps him while talking to the evil ruler. The cut version doesn't even make any sense. I'm thinking: who's the genius who cut this movie down? The German and French versions are uncut but the quality is less than desirable (this screenshot shows the image quality). I also have an Italian version (not in widescreen) but the audio is out of sync. The URSUS movies with Ed Fury are very entertaining but someone got butchered by censors. This movie is more like the Sword & Sorcery films of the 1980s. It's non-stop violence but not as bloody as those of the 80s.

PEPLUM Movie Poster

French poster of VENGEANCE OF URSUS (1961)

Good art for good PEPLUM movie.

Image of the week!

Sabina Crassus (Gianna Maria Canale) has issues with her new handmaiden, Amitys (Ludmilla Tchérina) in front of Marcus Virilius Rufus (Vittorio Sanipoli) in SPARTACUS - SINS OF ROME (1953)

VHS Covers

VHS covers of KINDAR THE INVULNERABLE (1964) starring Mark Forest, Mimmo Palmara and Rosalba Neri. I couldn't find the Something Weird and sinister Cinema VHS covers.

 

US cover. There are more US covers, from SINISTER CINEMA and SOMETHING WEIRD but I couldn't find them.

 

Above and below: German covers. The artwork is from SAMSON AND THE MIGHTY CHALLENGE and a Kirk Morris movie. Hard to say. The photos on the back cover are from the movie.
 
 

 

Spanish cover. Totally different artwork. 

 

Swedish VHS cover. Photos on the back are from the movie.

 

VHS cover from Norway. Identical to the Swedish one but different layout.

 

Mark Forest and Rosalba Neri