PEPLUM X Tuesdays
Jorge Mistral - Gianna Maria Canale
Tuesday, March 3, 2015
Monday, March 2, 2015
By the Gods!
Laurene Landon in HUNDRA
I got a nice copy of this 1980s PEPLUM film. Sword and Sorcery films were all the rage in the 1980s and this one might be considered as part of the trend but there's very little sorcery in it. It''s about an Amazon warrior avenging her murdered fellow Amazons by the hands of brutal men. It tries to be enlighten, in a Feminist kind of way, but it's still pretty much exploitive. Weren't all S&S films exploitive back in the 80s? The unforgettable score by Ennio Morricone is better than the film.
Movie Poster Mondays
Italian poster for THE TWO GLADIATORS (or Two Gladiators)
Great gladiatorial poster but that doesn't look like Richard Harrison
Friday, February 27, 2015
By the Gods!
The ten gladiators in action from SPARTACUS & THE TEN GLADIATORS
Dan Vadis is resting on Pietro Torrisi's shoulders. By the gods! Pietro is strong, considering how big Dan is. I won't identify the entire cast here but Romain from TETU magazine (see below) asked me what was the film with the most beefcake and I told him the Ten Gladiator series. My answer wasn't published in the final article (maybe the series is too obscure for today's generation).
Blog Notes - New PEPLUM show in France
In one of those strange coincidences that only exists on the internet, a new TV show in France called PEPLUM just started last week and since then people have been following this blog's Twitter account thinking that it's the official one for the series. The obvious problem is that I post everything in English, not French. You'd think they would notice that.
You can view the official website for this new TV show : LINK
PEPLUM TV blog in magazine
My blog and I were featured in a French magazine called TETU. I was asked several questions about the PEPLUM genre, answered them and the author of the article, Romain, took some of my answers and weaved them into the article. Pretty fun article. My name is mentioned (John Sept Davidson). The one problem with it is they printed the incorrect URL for the blog. Oh well. The point of the article was basically the beefcake appeal of the genre and how the films of the past compared with today's films. Romain was supposed to send me a copy of the magazine but he forgot so I found it on the internet. Here are some screenshots.
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
By the Gods!
Sabina (Gianna Maria Canale) and Spartacus (Massimo Girotti) vie for each other in SPARTACO : SINS OF ROME (1953)
Love this film! This entire scene is great. Massimo made a great Spartacus. Gianna is wonderfully malicious in this. Directed by Riccardo Freda. The producers of the Stanley Kubrick version bought the distribution rights and negatives of this film in order to sink it into obscurity in preparation for their more famous version of the story.
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Monday, February 23, 2015
By the Gods!
Louis Jourdan and Sylvia Syms in AMAZONS OF ROME
While I was away, Louis Jourdan died. He was 93 years old. He did just a couple of PEPLUM inspired films. AMAZONS OF ROME is one of them. He played a barbarian. He was miscast in that film but even so the film is entertaining nonetheless. RIP!
Movie Poster Mondays
British poster for GODDESS OF LOVE
I posted the full movie on Youtube. The situation with titles for this film is, as usual with PEPLUM films, confusing. The US title is THE GODDESS OF LOVE with ugly artwork, while the colorful British poster shows the name Aphrodite it's actually wasn't meant to be part of the title but some claim it is, including IMDb. It's just GODDESS OF LOVE. The International English version is called THE VENUS OF CHERONEA (I'd love to see a print of that one). Some countries included Aphrodite in the title but some didn't. Germany actually called this HELENA THE COURTESAN OF ATHENS. Odd since Belinda's character is called Iride. IMDb lists Belinda's character as Aphrodite, which is an error.
Friday, February 13, 2015
By the Gods!
Vivien Leigh as Cleopatra and Flora Robson as Ftatateeta in CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA
I really like this film. Great production values, great cast, etc.
I'm off for one week!
PEPLUM GIF Animation : THE LION OF ST-MARK
Gordon Scott and Gianna Maria Canale meet in THE LION OF ST-MARK. Fun film.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
By the Gods!
A shot of the raising of the obelisk in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956)
By the gods! This photo is more spectacular than the actual film.
Who wore it best?
Gino Cervi as King Solomon in QUEEN OF SHEBA or this fellow from FRINE - COURTESAN OF THE ORIENT
This costume first appeared in QUEEN OF SHEBA.