Musings!

Helga Liné and Dan Vadis in SPARTACUS AND THE TEN GLADIATORS (1963) 

When I began watching PEPLUM movies back in 2007, this was one of the first I really like. It does, like all TEN GLADIATORS movies, rely on scenes from previous movies but in this one, the integration of the scenes is done much better than the other two. It's fun, action-packed with a couple of stand-out scenes. It's the right balance of action, drama, humour and visuals (colours, costumes, etc). All three TEN GLADIATORS movies should be available to purchase on Blu-ray but none of them are. It's truly frustrating. Helga and Dan returned in TRIUMPH OF THE TEN GLADIATORS (1964) with virtually the same cast and same director but the supporting actors play different roles while the actors playing the gladiators reprise their roles as the Ten Gladiators. 

Behind-the-Scenes

George Eastman, profiled this week with 'THEN & NOW,' on the set of FELLINI SATYRICON (1969) as the Minotaur.

Clip of the week: SAMSON AND THE MIGHTY CHALLENGE (1964)

Raising a sunken boat from the bottom of the ocean is no obstacle to Hercules (Alan Steel).

 

Blog's 15th anniversary: HERCULES AGAINST THE GODS

In celebration of the blog's 15th anniversary, I'm re-posting old posts. Here's one popular post I wrote back in 2013. Here's the link to the post.

PEPLUM Mystery #1 solved: HERCULES AGAINST THE GOD

 

One of the biggest mysteries of the PEPLUM genre was whatever happened to the third Steve Reeves Hercules movie? Was it even a real thing?

Steve Reeves made two Hercules films: HERCULES (1958) and HERCULES UNCHAINED (1959) and that was it for Reeves and Hercules films. Watching HERCULES UNCHAINED I always feel that there was supposed to be a third film following it. It feels like an in-between story. Well the third Hercules film with Reeves was titled HERCULES AGAINST THE GODS and the ONLY proof I could find (for now) are these photos of a cocktail party for the announcement of the making of ERCOLE CONTRO GLI DEI or HERCULES AGAINST THE GODS. The date of the photos is October 30 1959. So the film was supposed to be a real thing. Unfortunately, and according to Facebook friend Pasquale (who met and chatted with Reeves), director Pietro Francisci wasn't going to direct it and Steve wanted ONLY Pietro. Because of scheduling issues (Pietro was filming SIEGE OF SYRACUSE and SAPPHO VENUS OF LESBOS during that period) Pietro wasn't going to direct it, most likely writing and/or producing it. Steve eventually pulled out of the project because of Pietro was unavailable and whatever was left of the project morphed into that fun oddity called GOLIATH & THE DRAGON starring newcomer Mark Forest.

So here are some photos of the cocktail party. Basically this is the only proof of a third Hercules production with Reeves. Sylva Koscina is nowhere to be seen so I wonder if Iole was in the original working script.

HD Alert!

I got the two new combo Blu-rays/DVDs from France.

THE THREE AVENGERS Blu-ray/DVD set from Artus Films and the new THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES combo Blu-ray/DVD set from Studio Canal+. Both are devoid of English tracks or subtitles. I wrote a mini-review of THE THREE AVENGERS set at BY THE GOD! (link). I'll have more of this one here at PEPLUM TV in the future.

Today, I'll focus on THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES release. I was always not impressed by the previous Blu-ray releases from the US and Germany. I have the physical disc of the US one but not the German release. But I do have a MKV file of the German one sent to me by my contact in Europe. Though the German one is much better than the US one, I was still not impressed. This new release from France beats both of them. This new Blu-ray from France is in Italian ONLY with French subtitles. The French dub is not even included, to the disappointment of many folks in France. 

Even so, this is the best release yet of the Sergio Leone film. The cover art is also very cool and makes a great addition to the collection.

Here's a quick visual comparison. First, US, second, Germany, and third, France.


USA

Germany

France

It's impossible to compare the US version with those from Germany and France since they're different. So comparing Germany and France: the French release is not as dark and has more information on all sides. The German copy is too dark and it's missing visual information on the sides.

USA

 

Germany

 

France

The US version has a ton of grain. It looks like a second generation print. It's also a bit too bright. And the image is cropped. The German one is good but too dark. Rory Calhoun and Lea Massari both look sunburnt. The colours in the background differ to the one from France. The French copy looks clear, skin tones look normal, details are more available, the image is not cropped on the left and right. The colours look more natural, certainly in the background. The image though is squeezed slightly, making everything look slimmer. Even with this slight distortion, the French release is the clear winner.


USA

Germany

France

Again, the grain in the US version is to the point of being distracting. The image is also cropped. The German version is excellent but one can clearly see more details in the French version. The tones are richer and things pop out. You can clearly see the texture of the costume. The image of the French release is also more complete on the right side. I can see details in Angel Aranda's eyes compared to other other versions. 

USA

Germany

France

This scene really stood out. The main problem with the German print is the right side is cropped. The cauldron with the woman's face is missing entirely in the German print. In this shot, even the US version beats the German one. The German print seems off-center. This scene in the French release stands out for many reasons, including the eyes of the evil face in the background which appear to shimmer in this new release. With Mimmo Palmara.

I'm really happy with this French release. It's a definite improvement over the other Blu-ray releases. This one impressed me.

Then & Now: George Eastman

George Eastman in IRONMASTER (1983); from a recent interview with the actor.

Musings!

Rosalba Neri as evil Queen Demeter in HERCULES AGAINST MOLOCH (1963)

One of Rosalba's meatier PEPLUM roles. She is evil through and through though. Nothing subtle about it but it makes it quite entertaining. PEPLUM movies need villains or someone to antagonize the Hero or good guys and sometimes PEPLUM movies forget about that. The films with the most villains or evil people are the Ed Fury URSUS movies. More baddies than anything out there. Rosalba looks the role and acts it up so it's a definite plus to any movie, including this one.. 

PEPLUM Movie Poster

Original Italian poster of FALCON OF THE DESERT (1965)

Nice poster but it's a Kirk Morris film without Kirk Morris on the poster. 

Stats week 15 - 21 June 2025

On average, in the past, the blog had 1500 to 2000 views a day.Average. Last week, between June 15 and 21, the average was 3288. 

15 june  3800

16  june 1714

17 june 2227

18 june 2383

19 june 4383

20 june 4584

21 june 3925*

Total: 23,016

*June 21 final total was adjusted from the one in the screenshot.

Image of the week!

Ursus (Alan Steel) fights against the false Ursus (Mimmo Palmara) in the scorching sun in THE THREE AVENGERS (1964; this is from the new Artus Films Blu-ray)

Lobby Cards Set: GLADIATOR OF ROME (1962)

UK lobby cards set of GLADIATOR OF ROME (1962; Battles of the Gladiators) starring Gordon Scott and Wandisa Guida. All the photos here are fantastic. One of the best lobby cards set ever. There's even a wardrobe malfunction. The only downside: it's in Black & White for a film in colour. 

Musings!

Kirk Morris in COLOSSUS AND THE HEADHUNTERS (1963) 

This looks like the ending of the movie but it's actually at the beginning. Right after the volcano/earthquake disaster scenes (taken from COLOSSUS OF THE STONE AGE 1962). I imagine these sunset scenes are difficult to shoot. Everything has to be ready just as the sun sets and there's very little time and if the scene is not good they'll have to wait for another spectacular sunset on another day. Scenes from this movie and from COLOSSUS OF THE STONE AGE were re-used in MACISTE - AVENGER OF THE MAYANS (1965) which also stars Kirk. I need a HD print of HEADHUNTERS! I like it. There's one scene in the castle that's amazing. But then there's a scene that follows that's unintentionally funny. A mixed bag but still very entertaining.

Behind-the-Scenes

Esther Williams being filmed on the (underwater) set of JUPITER'S DARLING (1955). The behind the scenes photos of this production are probably the best I've ever seen.

Clip of the week: HERCULES - PRISONER OF EVIL (1964)

Things don't go according to plan when would be assassin (Claudio Scarchilli) tries to kill Hercules (Reg Park). With María Teresa Orsini.

New PEPLUM imagery

With a few prompts, new PEPLUM imagery by AI. 

From SEMIRAMIS @ X

also make sure to check out:

 MEN OF PULP @ X 

THE REBEL EMPRESS

SPFX DEPT.

Scenes from JUPITER'S DARLING (1955)

Excellent matte paintings in JUPITER'S DARLING gave the movie an extra epic feel, at least for a musical. Even more so in HD! Now I checked for the credits and there's a 'Special Effects' category and 'Visual Effects' category. I assume the Visual one is the one responsible for the matte work and that would be Matthew Yuricich, who by looking at his other credits, says matte work. Dude was good!

New Steve Reeves figurine

A new detailed figurine of Steve Reeves of the scene when he pulls down the columns at the end of HERCULES (1958) will be available to buy. Below is the creator. A replica of Sylva Koscina will also be created in the near future. Pretty cool. According to David (Facebook), the website 'MONSTERS IN MOTION' will be selling the kit.

 

Musings!

Lisa Gastoni and Germano Longo in QUEEN OF THE SEAS (1962) 

The original Italian title is LE AVVEMTURE DI MARY READ or THE ADVENTURES OF MARY READ. Personally, I prefer that title over the generic QUEEN OF THE SEAS. It also makes sound like QUEEN OF THE PIRATES (1960), the one starring Gianna Maria Canale. There's a surprising high number of pirates movies with women in the lead in Italian moviemaking. There's YOLANDA - DAUGHTER OF THE BLACK PIRATE (1953) and so on. Lisa Gastoni is always excellent in her roles and this one is no exception. One of the best actresses of the genre. Germano Longo is a familiar face. But he's not the romantic lead. Lisa's co-star in THARUS - SON OF ATTILA (1962), Jerome Courtland, is. Explosive ending. 

PEPLUM Movie Poster

Original Spanish poster of HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN (1961)

Nice poster and Reg Park likeness.

Stats week 8 - 14 June 2025

On average, in the past, the blog had 1500 to 2000 views a day. Average. Last week, between June 8 and 14, the average was 3509. 

8 jun   3475

9 jun   5549

10 jun 4549

11 jun 3925

12 jun 1186

13 jun 1653

14 jun 4229*

Total: 24,566

*Google updated the numbers and they went from 3007 to 4229 for June 14. Total has been revised. As with the average. June 15 numbers are not final and not counted for the week.

Image of the week!

Hercules (Steve Reeves) looks out to the Argonauts after examining the bodies of the people killed by Eteocles in HERCULES UNCHAINED (1959)

AI PEPLUMTV

ONE SPARTAN

PEPLUM Movie Quotes

New feature here at the blog. I'll be posting Quotes from PEPLUM movies.

From FURY OF HERCULES with Serge Gainsbourg: 

'Without violence, power gives no satisfaction!'

Musings!

Remo (Enrico Montesano) and Romolo (Pippo Franco) in REMO E ROMOLO - STORIA DI DUE FIGLI DI UNA LUPA (1976)

I recently realized that I was missing this movie from my collection. Now I have 4 different prints! A ribald raunchy comedy/musical of the story Remus and Romulus that's typical of the Italian style filmmaking of the 1970s. See NERONE and MESSALINA, MESSALINA, both from 1977. From what I've seen, it wasn't translated into English. 1970s PEPLUM movies were to PEPLUM movies of the Golden Era like Spaghetti Westerns were to classic Westerns. They're chaotic, crude, raunchy, messy, etc. This one is no exception. The male cast is almost entirely in underwear or wearing very little. Not ready for today's audiences. The women are hippie chicks! The 'She-Wolf,' played by Gabriella Ferri, is memorable. There's bawdy singing scenes. Unlike anything made today. A complete opposite of the Steve Reeves - Gordon Scott epic DUEL OF THE TITANS (1962). I like it.

Behind-the-Scenes

Maria Montez on the set of COBRA WOMAN (1944)