Monday, February 7, 2011

Movie Poster Mondays

A movie that's almost impossible find. I personally never seen it and would love too.

Sunday, February 6, 2011

Photo of the Day

Gordon Scott has to learn how to fight with his left hand in HERO OF ROME

PEPLUM Babe of the Week: José Greci

José Greci is this week's PEPLUM babe. José made several filmss, looked amazing 
in all of them and was a pretty good actress too. She's often overlooked but 
whenever I watch a movie with her in it, I'm happy! The still above is 
from GOLIATH & THE SINS OF BABYLON

José looked at her most fetching in THE TEN GLADIATORS.

The photos above and below are from COLOSSUS OF THE ARENA


José was a peasant beauty in DUEL OF THE TITANS

From HERCULES AGAINST THE MONGOLS

Black Death - Trailer

Never heard of this until yesterday. Sean Bean looks the part but I dunno...PEPLUM flicks these
days seem to look all alike, ie CENTURION and SEASON OF THE WITCH. 

Saturday, February 5, 2011

Photo of the Day


Oliver Reed inspects a line-up of men in GLADIATOR.

PEPLUM Behind the Scenes

Claudette Colbert lights up Henry Wilcoxon's cigarette while
shooting CLEOPATRA(1934)

Big Screen for Big PEPLUM Epics

The Savoy in Hamburg.  It showed big PEPLUM flicks in 
Todd-AO, including SOLOMON & SHEBA.


Can you imagine sitting in the middle and having to go to the washroom in a crowded theatre. 

Friday, February 4, 2011

Photo of the Day

Anthony Quinn is crucified in BARABBAS, one of the most Baroque Biblical/PEPLUMS 
ever made. The direction by Richard Fleischer is one of the oddest of his career.

Future PEPLUM Star: Sean Harley

Sean Harley is a famous face in the world of bodybuilding but does he stand 
a chance in the world of Sword & Sandal flicks?


Frescos of Herculaneum

Beautiful!


Thursday, February 3, 2011

Photo of the Day

Claudia Cardinale and Jean-Paul Belmondo in CARTOUCHE. 
The sumptuous film was a smash in France.

Mighty Samson

Short lived comic book from the 1960s about a superhero
in a post-apocalypse New York. Cool covers!

The defunct comic was revived in December 2010.
This cover is amazing! I have to check it out.

Cinematic Confusion

This is probably the most egregious example of a PEPLUM title that doesn't make any sense, vis a vis the movie or mythology itself, and how badly marketed it was here in North America.

The original title for this film is MARS - THE GOD OF WAR starring Roger Browne as Mars. Venus barely figures in the original storyline and yet for the US market, they got rid of Mars and pronounced him as the Son of Hercules (Mars the son of Hercules?) and have him pitted against...Venus?

If that's not confusing enough, the two figures on the cover of this VHS tape don't even look like the main actors and it certainly doesn't even look like anything in the film (the man is obviously a copy of Steve Reeves). I know it's marketing and no one renting the film knew or cared about the actors from the 1960s but if they had to change the look to sell it to younger audiences why not just leave it as MARS - THE GOD OF WAR which is more cool than SON OF HERCULES VS VENUS.

Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Photo of the Day


In some sort of Herculean effort known only to gods, fabric attempts to contain Sybil Danning in HERCULES (1983)

Before they were PEPLUM stars

Joe Robinson, who would appear in a handful of Sword & Sandal films, first
starred in British films such as A KID FOR TWO FARTHINGS directed by
Carol Reed. Joe's career didn't pan out as he probably hoped for. 

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Photo of the Day

Twin bodybuilder brothers David and Peter Paul share a kiss in the Italian-made 
THE BARBARIANS (also known as THE BARBARIAN BROTHERS). It's meant 
to be a comedy bit but it's so mishandled it's anything but funny. Those naughty Italians.

Seriously, this is one delirious over-the-top cheesy Sword & Sandal film. I mean, the only
way to differentiate the twin brothers from one another is that one (?) exposes his butt
cheeks more than the other. That's the level of depthness to this film. Ah the 80s. 

CLASH OF THE TITANS remake gets two Razzies

CLASH OF THE TITANS remake gets two Razzies:


WORST EYE-GOUGING MIS-USE Of 3-D
CATS & DOGS #2: REVENGE OF KITTY GALORE
CLASH OF THE TITANS
THE LAST AIRBENDER
NUTCRACKER 3-D
SAW 3-D (aka SAW VII)







WORST PREQUEL, REMAKE, RIP-OFF or SEQUEL
CLASH OF THE TITANS
THE LAST AIRBENDER
SEX & THE CITY #2
TWILIGHT SAGA: ECLIPSE
VAMPIRES SUCK!

'The Eagle' Trailer

Looks good!

Monday, January 31, 2011

Photo of the Day


Debra Paget in JOURNEY TO THE LOST CITY (The Tiger of Eschnapur).

Movie Poster Mondays

Pepluminous movie poster for SAMSON & THE  7 MIRACLES OF THE WORLD.

A fun film starring Gordon Scott and Yoko Tani. And in COLORSCOPE, no less.
A remake of this, with all its grandiose aspirations intact, would actually be cool.

Having seen it several times though, I still wonder what the 7 miracles are supposed to be. According to the poster, the 7 "miracles" are:

The man made earthquake (ok, that's one)
The chariot of death (huh? that's a miracle?)
The rock of freedom (?)
The tree of mystery (?)
The bell of truth (in the film the bell is called the bell of freedom)
The golden tiger (there's a tiger but just your average tiger)
The living dead (there were living dead in it? samson knocks himself cold and people think he's dead....)

John Barry - RIP

Legendary film composer John Barry died yesterday. Barry was incredibly
versatile and composed some of the best film scores ever. He won 5 Academy
awards. Sadly, made very few scores for films that would fall in the PEPLUM
genre. Here's his only score for the "mature" Swashbuckler "ROBIN & MARIAN"

The first soundtrack record I've ever purchased was a John Barry score. 

Sunday, January 30, 2011

Photo of the Day

























A chained Errol Flynn is inspected by Maureen O'Hara in AGAINST ALL FLAGS, a colorful Swashbuckler filled with the usual ingredients of whippings, galley battles, lost treasures and all that.

Then & Now: Renato Rossini (Howard Ross)









Renato Rossini (aka Howard Ross) in SAMSON & THE MIGHTY CHALLENGE; Renato today

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Photo of the Day

Carmen Electra, Sean Maguire and Kevin Sorbo star in the universally panned MEET THE SPARTANS.

Funny enough, Sorbo played Hercules in a long lasting TV series and was almost always dressed from head to toe. I always thought that was a bizarre decision. He was 37 years old when he started the series. When Sorbo decided to be part of this send-off of 300 and finally agreed to appear in some skimpy outfits, he was 50 years old!

PEPLUM Behind the Scenes

Rudolph Maté directs a scene from THE 300 SPARTANS