By the Gods!

Rory Calhoun in the action packed arena scene from COLOSSUS OF RHODES

I always thought Rory was miscast for this film. He was too, eh, American to be believable in this film. The chintzy costumes he was made to wear didn't help matters. There are many great things about this film (mainly top production values) but there are also other not so great things about it which, imo, prevent it from being a total knockout.

Movie Poster Mondays

Belgian poster for THE IRON GLOVE

Directed by William Castle. I've seen almost all of Castle's B-movie epics except for this one.

By the Gods!

Anthar (Kirk Morris) is caught in a dizzying hall of mirrors, and tormented by Ganor (Mario Feliciani) in ANTHAR THE INVINCIBLE (aka Devil of the Desert vs the Son of Hercules)

This scene is visually interesting even though it doesn't really work. Most of the time it's pretty obvious the two actors are simply standing next to each other. I give this scene a B+ for being different and for the visuals. This scene was copied 20 years later in CONAN THE DESTROYER.

By the Gods!

Alan Steel (aka Sergio Ciani) as Millstone (aka Hercules in original) in SAMSON

Alan had a (big) supporting role in SAMSON, with the titular character played by Brad Harris. The two had great chemistry together and they would make another film, FURY OF HERCULES, though Alan's role wasn't as prominent. I wish they had made more films together, with better scripts.

In this scene, Millstone and Samson have been duking it out. Samson fell into a basket of apples, took a bit from an apple he grabbed and throws it to Millstone, who also takes a bit from it. I always thought that scene was, hmm, odd. Definite subtext going on there. Personally I wouldn't eat an apple from which someone already took a bite from.

The pendant he's wearing would be important to Samson later on in the story but oddly enough Samson doesn't notice it now.

Anyway, Alan dyed his hair for this film. He's a redhead and he looks very different with dark hair. The PEPLUM star died recently and I still have the sads.

GAME OF THRONES : ripping off the PEPLUM genre

Everyone is raving about GAME OF THRONES, everyone except for me. I find the whole thing derivative. I just can't get into for many reasons, with the main one being the vivid sense of deja vu I get whenever I've tried to watch it. It's like a grand buffet of every PEPLUM made, from the Golden Era to the Sword & Sorcery films of the 1980s.

The most glaring example of a near direct copy is the scene from THE LAST OF THE VIKINGS with Edmund Purdom torturing George Ardisson, who's nailed on a St-Andrew's Cross. The scene was almost entirely copied in an episode of GOT : the bad guy looks like Edmund Purdom (same crazy style of acting) and the hero is nailed to a St-Andrew's Cross. It's incredible.

The GOT character in the top comparison is known as the Red Woman, like the Sybil from HERCULES, played by Lidia Alfonsi.

There are more examples than these three but they're enough to show the extent of the plagiarism going on.

It's sad that people can't enjoy old movies anymore. If they'd actually watch them, rip-offs like these scenes would provoke an uproar.

Clash of Steel

PEPLUM X Tuesdays

Gérard Barray - Gianna Maria Canale - Gonzalo Cañas - Irán Eory

Attila

PEPLUM X Tuesdays

Sophia Loren

Samson

PEPLUM X Tuesdays

Vladimiro Leib - Romano Ghini

Androcles and the lion

PEPLUM X Tuesdays

Jim Backus - Jean Simmons - Victor Mature

The White Warrior

PEPLUM X Tuesdays

Steve Reeves

Temple of a Thousand Lights

PEPLUM X Tuesdays

Wilbert Bradley - Richard Harrison

By the Gods!

Aesop (Turhan Bey) woos Delarai (Merle Oberon) in NIGHT IN PARADISE

One of the few genre films from the 1940s (if one disregards the popular Arabian films), it cost a lot of money to make and it bombed at the b.o.. It's not bad but I wonder what was the target audience for it. It's not like Arabian films even though, like Arabian adventures of the 40s, it's shot entirely in a studio. The film is glacially slow and it has more of an early 1930s feel to it. I like Turhan. Totally overlooked as an actor but I'm not too crazy about Merle, who looks like his mother in many scenes. It's a difficult film to figure out.

Movie Poster Mondays

Italian poster for Pietro Francisci's ATTILA

Beautiful poster. One of the best I've seen. Sophia hated making this movie.

By the Gods!

Samson (Maciste in original ; Alan Steel) is confronted by Zorro (Pierre Brice) in SAMSON & THE SLAVE QUEEN, also known as ZORRO VS MACISTE

The recent passing of Sergio Ciani, aka Alan Steel, is so sad to me. All the PEPLUM stars are dying and no one is interviewing them. Pierre Brice also died earlier this year. This film is the best of Alan Steel's 'Strong Man' Swashbuckler films.

I'm taking some time off (not because of his passing). Back soon!

PEPLUM GIF Animation : SOLOMON & SHEBA

Pagan dance sequence from SOLOMON & SHEBA starring Gina Lollobrigida and Yul Brynner. 

By the Gods!

Rex Ingram is the genie in THE THIEF OF BAGDAD (1940)

Great fantasy which was, in part, responsible for the glut of Arabian adventures of the 1940s, which today, in our PC world, might not seem ok but I love them nonetheless. Nice miniature set.

Behind-the-Scenes

The cast of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS hangs around Cecil B. DeMille. The cast : John Carradine, Martha Scott, Charlton Heston, Olive Deering and Nina Foch.

The Pharaohs' Woman

PEPLUM X Tuesdays

John Drew Barrymore - Linda Cristal - Armando Francioli

Sodom & Gomorrah

PEPLUM X Tuesdays

Giacomo Rossi Stuart - Stewart Granger

Samson & the Slave Queen

PEPLUM X Tuesdays

Alan Steel (Sergio Ciani)

The Silver Chalice

PEPLUM X Tuesdays

Virginia Mayo

Steve Reeves

PEPLUM X Tuesdays

The Bible : The beginning...

PEPLUM X Tuesdays

Stephen Boyd

By the Gods!

Richard Harrison and Nazzareno Zamperla in the exciting climax from GLADIATORS SEVEN

I like this film and the ending is action-packed but I feel this movie is padded, certainly during the ending where we see endless scenes of the gladiators climbing cliffs.

Movie Poster Mondays

Italian poster of SLAVE GIRLS OF SHEBA

Action packed poster for a very hard film to find. I have it but in B&W and in poor quality.