Clip of the week: SAPPHO - THE VENUS OF LESBOS (1960)

Tina Louise, as Sappho, in a chariot race!

Funnies!

SPFX DEPT.

Scenes from PERSEUS THE INVINCIBLE (1963; aka Medusa vs Son of Hercules)

This excellent movie is known for its elaborate practical effects of the Medusa and a dragon (by Carlo Rambaldi!) but it's matte paintings are as good as the other stuff. The one on above looks realistic and the one below has an incredible otherworld;y look and feel to it. I always loved them. Emilio Ruiz del Río is the artist who created them.

Giovanni Cianfriglia

Actor and stuntman Giovanni Cianfriglia died on October 30. He was 89 years old. The fit man worked mainly as a stuntman/body double at the beginning of his career and quickly moved on to acting. He appeared in too many movies to list here. Just to give you an idea, according to IMDb, he worked as a stuntman in 173 productions and 134 as an actor (which was often with his stunt work). Dude was in demand because he was so amazing in his stunt work. He's listed under some titles even though I can't find him in the movie itself which is why making a complete overview of his career is impossible. For instance, Giovanni is listed for HERCULES UNCHAINED (1959) but Reeves' stuntman was actually Alan Steel, who acts in the movie. I'll just highlight his most famous titles. 

He's also  listed under the Heroes & Beefcake permanent page. R.I.P..

Giovanni as a stunt man, presumably to Steve Reeves, in THE GIANT OF MARATHON (1959). Below: Giovanni with Steve and director Jacques Tourneur.

Giovanni with Steve Reeves in MORGAN THE PIRATE (1960)

Giovanni stands-in for Steve Reeves with Edy Vessel on the set of THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD (1961)

Giovanni is the second Goliath, fighting with Goliath (Gordon Scott) in the climax of GOLIATH AND THE VAMPIRES (1961). Rumours said it was Steve but Steve didn't do these elaborate stunts because of an injury. I posted about this on the blog back in 2012, the first one to speculate about Giovanni being the second Goliath.

Giovanni appears in a brief moment at the beginning of DUEL OF THE TITANS (1962) along with Virna Lisi.

Giovanni in THE SON OF SPARTACUS (1962) with Gianna Maria Canale and Ombretta Colli. Giovanni was also the stuntman/body double to Steve Reeves in action scenes like the one below from SON OF SPARTACUS.

Giovanni acted along with Steve Reeves (and Genevieve Grad) in SANDOKAN THE GREAT (1963). You can see the size difference between the two men.

In HERCULES AND THE BLACK PIRATE (1964), Giovanni has a small role. He fights, for amusement, with Alan Steel (below). Both actors were stuntmen/body doubles to Steve Reeves.

 

Giovanni was the stuntman/body double to Mark Forest in THE LION OF THEBES (1964). His work in this movie is exceptional. His body type, though, was different than Mark's. 

Giovanni was part of the supporting cast in REVENGE OF THE GLADIATORS (1964) starring Mickey Hargitay and Jose Greci.

Giovanni would finally get a lead role in HERCULES THE AVENGER (1965) playing Antaeus who pretends to be Hercules. The fight between Antaeus and Hercules (below with Reg Park) is a stand-out. In fact, he's a stand-out throughout this movie. With Gia Sandri.

I could go on but that's enough. Giovanni continued stunt work and acting well into the 1980s. 

Giovanni in IRONMASTER (1983) with Sam Pasco. He was still in great shape.

Then & Now: Giovanni in IRONMASTER; A recent photo before he passed away.

Musings!

Sarah Douglas as the villainess in CONAN THE DESTROYER (1984) 

She was the best thing about this movie. I don't dislike it but it borrows a lot from other PEPLUM movies, it's unreal. I like that it was the continuation of the genre but the movie had few original ideas in it. Sarah was great but she's not in the movie a lot. We see mostly Arnold as Conan (showing more muscle than the first film) and his gang on some quest. A third Conan movie was never made even though RED SONJA can be somewhat considered one.

PEPLUM Movie Poster

Original Italian poster of HERCULES AND THE TYRANTS OF BABYLON (1964) 

No Rock Stevens (aka Peter Lupus) on the poster but Helga Liné is front and centre. I like it even if it doesn't really sell the Tyrants of Babylon concept.

Image of the week!

Lavinia (Carla Marlier) watches Aeneas (Steve Reeves) relive the past, of his days fighting in the Trojan war, in a ceremonial room with paintings depicting the major events of the conflict in THE AVENGER (1962; aka War of the Trojans)

Lobby Cards Set: MACISTE IN THE VALLEY OF THE THUNDERING ECHOES (1964)

Original Italian lobby cards set of MACISTE IN THE VALLEY OF THE THUNDERING ECHOES (1964) starring Kirk Morris and Helene Chanel. Great set. Very colourful, like the movie (even if the colours don't match those in the movie). I like it. Fun film!

Musings!

Giovanni Cianfriglia as Antaeus in HERCULES THE AVENGER (1965)

The great Giovanni died on October 30. Last week I was on break and in trying to save stuff from my computer. I didn't get the news back then. It's sad because he was so good for the PEPLUM genre. His list of titles is almost endless. I was the first one 12 years ago to post on the probability of Giovanni being the second Goliath during the battle between Goliath (Gordon Scott) in the movie. Rumours on the internet back then claimed Steve Reeves played the second Goliath but my post dismissed that false rumour. Giovanni finally got a starring role in HERCULES THE AVENGER and he's bad...as in a really great villain. He made so many PEPLUM movies, as actor or stuntman, that it extended well into the 1980s. Why do these big names always die when I'm on break? I will try to make a tribute next week.

Behind-the-Scenes

Extras are handed their food on the set of THE SIGN OF THE CROSS (1932). Amazing photo!

Clip of the week: CAESAR THE CONQUEROR (1962)

Vercingetorix (Rio Battaglia) is a bad man. With Ivica Pajer and Raffaella Carrà as his victims.

New PEPLUM Art!

With a few prompts, new PEPLUM art by AI. 

From MEN OF PULP @ X 

ZEUS' REVENGE

HD Alert!

Margaret Lee and Reg Lewis in COLOSSUS OF THE STONE AGE (1962) 

These screenshots were taken from the recently released Blu-ray from Germany. It's called LAND OF THE MONSTERS. As goofy as it is, I always liked this movie and having it in HD is great. To make it even better, the English audio is included! My only issue with this release: the image is good but it's not a wow! It already had some decent DVD releases and, yes, this is a step up but I'm not wowed by it. Is it worth buying? Yes! Buy it here.

 

Note: my list of topics for posts on Tuesdays is one my other computer. I'll post more once I retrieve it. For now it's only one post for today.

Musings!

Pierre Cressoy and Hélène Rémy in THE BARBARIANS (1953) 

A very well made movie few people know. It was written and produced by Mario Francisci, who is related to Pietro Francisci, director of HERCULES (1958). The two leads in this Italian production are French actors! The movie is known under other titles, including THE SACK OF ROME and THE PAGANS. The movie is interesting as it has a different style compared to other productions with the same type of story. I got the Italian version recently while the English version was always available. A rare situation in collecting PEPLUM movies. 

NOTE: my main computer crashed at the beginning of my break. I'm still in the process of fixing up everything as it used to be but it will take some time so I'll be posting irregularly until everything is finally settled. Sorry about this. Most of my files are still on the old computer. I hope you understand.

PEPLUM Movie Poster

Original Italian poster of THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII (1959)

Very nice poster which really sells the movie. Steve Reeves looks more like Burt Reynolds but that's fine. 

PEPLUM Break

I take a break roughly every two months so this is that time again.

(I'll have a rundown on all the blu-rays and dvds I recently bought...)

So stay tuned!

I'll leave you now with King Leonidas (Richard Egan) from THE 300 SPARTANS (1962), saying "From this wall, we do not retreat!"

Image of the week!

A victorious Menelaus (Niall MacGinnis) meets his wife Helen (Rossana Podestà) for the first time during the Fall of Troy in HELEN OF TROY (1956)

At the movies...

 KING OF KINGS premiere at the Loews State theatre in New Your city.

Happy Halloween!

With a few prompts, new PEPLUM art by AI. 

From MEN OF PULP @ X 

A WEREWOLF IN ROME

Musings!

Karim (Steve Reeves) is surrounded by killer trees in THE THIEF OF BAGHDAD (1961)

As I already stated many times here at the blog and in BY THE GODS! magazine, PEPLUM movies often had horror elements to them even if they weren't horror movies. This is a good example. It's not the only PEPLUM movie with killer plants. It's not a cliché per se but almost one. Since I'm a big horror fan, these scenes are always fun to watch. This scene is well made but i wished it lasted longer and Karim was in greater danger. Karim had to go through a lot to find his goal and these senes are baptism by fire, sorta speaking.

Behind-the-Scenes

Reg Park and Christopher Lee playfully apply make-up on Leonora Ruffo on the set of HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD (1961)

Clip of the week: ULYSSES AGAINST HERCULES (1962)

Hercules (Mike Lane) and Ulysses (Georges Marchal) are in jeopardy! 

 

Portraits

Reg Park as Hercules in HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN (1961)

HD Alert!

As I wrote at BY THE GODS!, I purchased several Blu-rays/DVD from Amazon.de early last month and I have been waiting for the stuff to arrive. It says it should arrive by November 6! Nearly one month after I purchased them. Really disappointed by this.

There are no titles in this batch for Halloween...well, HERCULES AGAINST THE BARBARIANS has some horror elements to it. This means I'll be watching two movies by Mario Bava: HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD (1961; above with George Ardisson) and THE WHIP AND THE BODY (1963), starring Christopher Lee and Dallah Lavi, which is one of my favourite Bava productions. The HD transfer is nice but this dark movie is really dark in HD.
 

Not Coming Soon!

New feature here at the blog: PEPLUM movies that never were made or completed! This feature will last as there are titles to write about.

First: ROME, SWEET ROME. 

 

This unlikely film project originated on Reddit. A Reddit user wrote the premise on...Reddit and it became so popular that Hollywood took note and it was actually picked up by a studio. The idea was a modern US army ending up in Ancient Rome and the conflict between the two military giants. For the promotional poster (above), a scene from GLADIATOR (2000) was used with some blackhawks added to it. It never went anywhere but 'development hell.' Anyway, I'm surprise the unlikely story went that far.