At the movies...

 The premiere of CLEOPATRA (1963) at the Pantages theatre in Hollywood.

Musings!

Mark Forest is THE LION OF THEBES (1964) 

This is easily one of the best PEPLUM movies ever made. Everything is excellent. The story is a little weak but the very good production compensates for whatever weakness it has. The one big liability is Mark's stuntman, who was Giovanni Cianfriglia (below). Not that Giovanni is bad. He's not. He's an amazing stuntman/body double. The issue is body types. Giovanni is muscular but slim while Mark was thick. The *many* action scenes, all excellent and still thrilling, are jarring with the back and forth between Mark and Giovanni. One can overlook it but it's not easy to do so. This will become even more obvious in HD.

Giovanni Cianfriglia is also THE LION OF THEBES!

Behind-the-Scenes

Director William Castle watches Rhonda Fleming play with a little snake on the set of SERPENT OF THE NILE (1953)

Clip of the week: APHRODITE - GODDESS OF LOVE (1958)

Diala (Irene Tunc) catches the eye of many people, including Anthony Steffen and Ivo Garrani. With Isabelle Corey.

SPFX DEPT.

Scenes from HEROD THE GREAT (1959) 

This movie has multiple excellent matte paintings. Here are two of them. The quality of this movie is tops (actors, sets, costumes, etc) so it's no wonder the effects were also very good. Exterior or interior (bottom), the work is almost flawless regardless of setting. These shots give the movie quite the epic feel to it.

Then & Now: Harry Hamlin

 Harry in CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981); A recent photo of the actor

Musings!

Taina Elg and other women dance to summon/in honour of Dionysus in THE BACCHANTES (1961)

I like this film even though most PEPLUM fans who watch these movies for muscular action aren't much fans of it. I like it because it's one of the few PEPLUM movies which shows the relationship between Greek gods and mortals. Taina is quite good, in the acting department and the dancing one as well. I like this so much I was the first to make a Fan Dub of it from a very poor copy with the English audio (that was out of sync with the film) and re-edited with a nice print from Europe. The English audio is everywhere now but it all came from that one source. Is the movie perfect? No. It does have quite a few odd eccentricities but they don't bother me since the whole of the movie is so good. I hope to see it one day in HD and in English.

PEPLUM Movie Poster

British poster of BRENNUS - ENEMY OF ROME (1963) 

How did the British release change the movies title to SPARTANS is one major Cinematic Confusion. The original story has nothing to do with Spartans.

Image of the week!

Evil Ljuba (Maria Grazia Spina) has a change of heart after being wounded to inform bound Hercules (Mark Forest) of everything while he's been in chains in HERCULES AGAINST THE MONGOLS (1963)

Lobby Cards Set: CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981)

German lobby cards set of CLASH OF THE TITANS (1981) starring Harry Hamlin and many actors. Fantastic set. Gorgeous pictures. Excellent choices. A beautiful visual summation of the movie.

Musings!

Kirk Morris in COLOSSUS AND THE HEADHUNTERS (1963) 

Is this movie great art? Not really but I like it. It's very entertaining. Morris has very little dialogue in this. He's primarily an action star so dialogue is secondary. He's excellent in scenes which demand his physical abilities. Scenes from this movie were re-used in another movie also starring Kirk, MACISTE - AVENGER OF THE MAYANS (1965). It's odd to watch. They would make a fun and weird double feature. 

Behind-the-Scenes

 Charlton Heston, in costume, on a vespa while on the set of BEN-HUR (1959)

Clip of the week: THE SPARTAN GLADIATORS (1964)

No subtitles needed. Starring Tony Russel and a host of Italian actors too numerous to mention. 

HD Alert!

Scenes from 79 AD: THE DESTRUCTION OF HERCULANEUM (1962)

There's a new German Blu-ray of this movie available on June 14 (it used to be May 31). These screenshots are not from the BD. I have yet to buy it but I will since this is one of the best looking PEPLIM movie. This scene alone, a gladiatorial event on a lake of fire, is worth to see alone. I will report on it once I get the BD. 

Brad Harris

 

Jacques Berthier and Mara Lane

Vintage Article

An old article on the business of bodybuilding and how it can lead to acting, like Mark Forest (aka Lou Degni) who retired as a rich actor. The image of Mark is from GOLIATH AND THE DRAGON (1960).

Musings!

Rhonda Fleming and Dolores Francine in REVOLT OF THE SLAVES (1960) 

Rhonda plays a wealthy daughter of rich and powerful man who, with the many twists and turns of events of the story, ends up in prison with her handmaiden. This a fun, action packed movie few people remember. Many critics dismissed the movie as a lesser version of FABIOLA (1949 ) and even though the movies are based on the same source material and the similarities are obvious (Rhonda's character is called Fabiola. And there's Sebastien...), the two movies are completely different in tone and style. I don't see them as the same. I like both of them and the PEPLUM genre is big enough for both. I like Rhonda's role. It's interesting to see such a flawed character be one of the 'good guys.' As for Dolores, she only made a handful of movies, two of which are of the PEPLUM genre. Recommended.

PEPLUM Movie Poster

French poster URSUS - THE REBEL GLADIATOR (1962) 

Very nice poster. Nice colours. The title translates as URSUS THE REBEL. 

Image of the week!

Delilah (Rosalba Neri) and Prince of Gaza (Paolo Gozlino) watch the trial of Samson in THE GREAT LEADERS OF THE BIBLE (1965)

MUSCLES Inc

Ed Fury, born Holovchik and the star of the URSUS movies, on the cover of YOUR PHYSIQUE, Jan 1952

Musings!

Roger Browne, Mimmo Palmara and Mario Novelli in THREE SWORDS FOR ROME (1964) 

Even though there were PEPLUM movies made/released until 1965 and part of 1966 (THE BIBLE: IN THE BEGINNING... being one of them released in 1966), the genre itself was almost dead and this movie is a swan song of sorts, a movie with the type of action popularized in PEPLUM movies and that could only be found in such films. I like it even though one can see that this was a last grasp of sorts. I've said it before: even though a ton of such movies were made, I wished there were even more of them. I'm always trying to discover a new one I've never seen. There are titles that I haven't seen, movies which are out of circulation, but it's not the same as discovering a new one few have heard about. 

Behind-the-Scenes

Caroline Munro displays her costume on the set of THE GOLDEN VOYAGE OF SINBAD (1973).

SPFX DEPT.

Scenes from THE WARRIOR AND THE SLAVE GIRL (1958) 

The screenshot above of the matte painting is from an HD print (did I mentioned that already?). The image is nice if a bit soft. Below is the same matte painting from a different scene from a DVD quality print. The painting looks better in HD than the below one even if the one below seems more clear. Click on images to compare. 

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No posts tomorrow. There might not be any posts for the remainder of the week. 

 

Then & Now: Roberto Chevalier

Roberto in VENGEANCE OF URSUS (1961); a recent photo of Roberto. He's the Italian voice of Tom Cruise.

Roberto with Samson Burke in VENGEANCE OF URSUS. 

Musings!

Gianna Maria Canale, as Princess Amira, in THE WARRIOR AND THE SLAVE GIRL (1958)

This was one of many 'evil queen' roles Gianna became typecast as. Initially, she played heroines or positive roles but Gianna quickly became the beautiful femme fatale type, which limited her roles. She's very good in these roles. But she didn't have much of a chance, certainly after her role in SPARTACUS - SINS OF ROME (1953) as the cunning Sabina. The actress retired early after being disappointed with the direction of her career. I like this movie but her evil ways in the story, which are very evil, tries to make us hate her but I can't since I like the actress too much.

PEPLUM Movie Poster

Original Italian poster of HERCULES AGAINST THE BARBARIANS (1964) 

Nice poster of Maciste/Hercules, or Mark Forest, in action. The scene is slightly different in the movie but it's eye catching regardless.