That's Gloria Milland besides him, with Barbara Carroll and Jose Rubio on the left. Again, how many films have ended this way? It's a cliché but I love them.
Wednesday, November 11, 2015
By the Gods!
That's Gloria Milland besides him, with Barbara Carroll and Jose Rubio on the left. Again, how many films have ended this way? It's a cliché but I love them.
Tuesday, November 10, 2015
Monday, November 9, 2015
By the Gods!
Tina Louise and Enrico Maria Salerno in SIEGE OF SYRACUSE
In SIEGE, Tina plays a dancing girl of an entertaining troupe led by Salerno. Their relationship is fraught with tension. Salerno wants her but she doesn't want him. Though the love relationship between Louise and Rossano Brazzi is good, I think this relationship is much more interesting. Salerno is extra slimy but smart in this.
Thursday, November 5, 2015
By the Gods!
Ursus (Dan Vadis) is interrogated by Commodus (Alan Steel) in URSUS - THE REBEL GLADIATOR
Yeah! Finally got this title in widescreen. Thanks Alan. It's one of my faves. It has a great cast, including Gloria Milland and Jose Greci. Great action and solid acting. This copy is from a VHS source so the image is a bit fuzzy and wobbly but it's one of those titles which I had only one copy (the poor US version) and any other version had been eluding for a long time.
Dan is the good guy in this story and Alan is the demented ruler who believed he was the reincarnation of Hercules. Steel stands his ground against the taller Vadis which is great to see. That's Gianni Santuccio on the right.
Spotting the Future PEPLUM star : Mimmo Palmara in QUEEN OF SHEBA
Mimmo Palmara's legendary career in the PEPLUM genre had to star somewhere. He's most famous for often being the foil to Steve Reeves in HERCULES and other films. Even though he's not credited during the opening credits for QUEEN OF SHEDA or at IMDb, I spotted Mimmo in a very small role in this Pietro Francisci directed epic, his first of five films by Francisci. If there are no other missing films from his profile, this is probably his first PEPLUM production. That's Franco Silva in the top image with Mimmo on the left.
Wednesday, November 4, 2015
By the Gods!
Samson Burke (as Ursus) and Wandisa Guida rule over the kingdom in VENGEANCE OF URSUS
How many films have ended this way? STAR WARS, for one.
Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Monday, November 2, 2015
By the Gods!
I got a copy of this rare film from Alan. It's pretty good. It's about an evil man (Serato, who else?) who tries to marry himself into power and a masked avenger known as The Masked Cavalier who tries to stop him. The story is pretty much standard stuff (so many PEPLUM films have this storyline) and it has pretty much almost every PEPLUM clichés known to man, including this one, trap door, but it's solidly directed by Mario Costa, so the familiar script doesn't detract. Part of the film's intrigue is trying to figure out who's The Masked Cavalier and even though I guessed it, it was still fun to watch how the script played with it. The film was originally in color and widescreen but this Italian broadcast showed it in B&W. Very entertaining.
Movie Poster Mondays
Belgian poster for THE LOVES OF HERCULES (aka Hercules vs the Hydra)
Colorful, almost cartoony artwork for the colourful, nearly cartoony film.
Thursday, October 29, 2015
By the Gods!
This is a screenshot of a copy provided by Alan (thanks!). It's in widescreen (cropped at the sides) from an Italian TV broadcast. So glad this exists. The version available in the US is in 4:3 screen format and poor at best. Fun film with the recently deceased Alan Steel in a showy supporting role.
Wednesday, October 28, 2015
By the Gods!
Dan Vadis and team in THE TEN GLADIATORS
This screenshot was taken from a HD broadcast of the film in Italy. It's the best looking I've ever seen for this film. Is it true HD? I don't know. The one downside to this HD copy is the edges have been cropped. So It didn't retain the true aspect ratio of the original film. In this image, Ugo Sasso is barely visible on the far left. The other actors are (from left to right) : Arnaldo Fabrizio (short fellow), Emilio Messina, Pietro Torrisi, Giancarlo Bastianoni, Salvatore Borgese, Aldo Canti and Vadis (with the worst haircut in the world!). If the English audio matches the HD image, I'll do a Fan dub.
RIP : Maureen O'Hara
Maureen O'Hara, the beautiful, fiery redhead Hollywood actress, died last Saturday at the age of 95. She starred in mostly family films and costume / period dramas, some of which were PEPLUM-inspired films, either Swashbucklers or Arabian adventures. She recently published a biography which had some juicy tidbits in it. Fiery till the end. It's amazing that she lived such a long life. RIP.
Maureen with Tyrone Power in THE BLACK SWAN (also first picture)
Maureen was the love interest in SINBAD THE SAILOR starring Douglas Fairbanks jr.
Above & Below : Maureen in BAGDAD, costarring Vincent Price (above)
Maureen with Jeff Chandler in FLAME OF ARABY