New PEPLUM imagery

THE RETURN OF BANGOR

MEN OF PULP

SPFX DEPT.

Scenes from A THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS (1945)

Nice matte paintings from this old movie starring Cornel Wilde and Phil Silvers. There are more matte paintings than these two but they are my personal favourites. It was nominated by the Oscars for special effect. Lawrence W. Butler is credited for the movie's special effects but it's not clear if he was responsible for the paintings themselves. I love old Hollywood movies. 
 

THE ODYSSEY controversy

Unless you live under a rock, the upcoming Hollywood production of THE ODYSSEY has caused a lot of controversy, certainly after it was revealed that many characters were cast according to Oscars' guideline for eligibility. To be eligible for any Oscar nomination, the production of a film has to follow certain criteria or quotas, including have characters of a visible minority be cast, regardless of historical accuracy. The issue went viral all over social media platforms, including X (aka Twitter).

The studio went into damage control for the $250 million production. The director has appeared on the cover of TIME magazine promoting the movie and there was a segment on him and THE ODYSSEY on 60 Minutes. 

The pros and cons usually fall on political spectrum. One of the funniest arguments is 'Who cares? It's just a movie.' But if they had done is exactly like it should have been done, the same people would complain that it's not reflective of diversity. There's no winning this argument. I think it's all just a ploy to drum up interest for the movie and many of those who critique it will most likely say that it wasn't as bad as expected. It's all a game.

Personally, I won't be watching it. Just the casting of Matt Damon, who's not a favourite actor, was enough for me to realize that this movie won't live up to expectations. I saw the trailer and the costumes look bland and the general outlook looks boring. I'd rather watch THE TROJAN HORSE (1961), with Steve Reeves or FURY OF ACHILLES (1962) with Gordon Mitchell. Or ULYSSES (1954) with Kirk Douglas and Silvana Mangano or the 1968 ODYSSEY TV miniseries starring Bekim Fehmiu and Irene Papas.

Musings!

Rosalba Neri as Delilah in THE GREAT LEADERS OF THE BIBLE (1965) 

This movie is two short stories in one film. The first story is the story of GIDEON and the second one is  SAMSON. I'll be writing only about the second segment. Overall, I like it. My main criticism is that the look of the movie is drab, certainly compared to the Technicolor version in SAMSON AND DELILAH (1949). The fact that this version is around one hour long and it actually drags in some places shows how thin the story of mystery of Samson's strength is. Once the secret is known, the story ends with Samson bringing down the temple, which in this movie is very well made even if some scenes are obviously models. Rosalba is a great choice for Delilah and I wish the movie had been a full movie, with dazzling colours and violent action, as in ESTHER AND THE KING (1960) in which Rosalba also starring in. But the tone here is more serious and Sunday school style than entertaining style. The movie has two directors. Who directed what is unknown. Exterior scenes were shot in Spain and with interior scenes filmed at Cinecittà.

PEPLUM Movie Poster

French poster of THE WARRIOR AND THE SLAVE GIRL (1958) 

Not a very flattering image of Ettore Manni. It looks like him but he looks sick.

PEPLUM Break

I take a break roughly every two months. My last break was at the beginning of March so it's that time again. 

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!"

Peplum Public Discussion

Comments are open in this post. You have something to mention about this week's posts? Or something else. This is the only place you can voice your opinion. Comments are curated therefore any bad comment won't be published! Be respectful!

Image of the week!

A caged Randus (Steve Reeves) is scorned by Claudia (Gianna Maria Canale), wife of Crassus, the Governor of Egypt, which Randus is trying to overthrow, in THE SON OF SPARTACUS (1962; aka The Slave)

PEPLUM Movie Quotes

SALAMMBO (1960) starring Edmund Purdom and Jeanne Valérie as Salammbo.

NARR HAVAS (Purdom): You do well, Salammbo. Your indignation soothes the grief of all of Carthage. All of them will die, to the last man.

Musings!

Giovani Cianfriglia as Antaeus in HERCULES THE AVENGER (1965) 

It's amazing what PEPLUM movies got away with back in the 1950s and definitely in the 1960s. For the most part, PEPLUM movies of the 1950s mostly played it safe except for a bunch of movies like TWO NIGHTS WITH CLEOPATRA (1954) or even HERCULES (1958). By the 1960s, all pretence of decorum disappeared in many films and even today, they're quite eye openers. For instance, this scene where Antaeus clearly forces himself on Queen Leda (Gia Sandri). It's played so straightforward. The scene doesn't last long but one has to remember that PEPLUM movies were popular with kids. Why is that? Why did these kind of movies got away with stuff other films couldn't even imagine back then? It's very fascinating.

Behind-the-Scenes

Lex Barker holding Jocelyn Lane on the set of ROBIN HOOD AND THE PIRATES (1960)

Clip of the week: THE MAGNIFICENT GLADIATOR (1964)

Mark Forest will make a magnificent gladiator...and hero! With Marilù Tolo and Jolanda Modio. I love PEPLUM movies.

Funnies!

Rosalba Neri and Alan Steel in HERCULES AND THE BLACK PIRATE (1964)

SPFX DEPT.

Scenes from AMAZONS OF ROME (1961) 

Two beautiful matte paintings seen briefly in the film. The one above is pretty convincing. The one below is a matte painting seen in a tracking shot. Crowd scenes with matte paintings always work. The person responsible for these works is not credited.

 

 

Sylvia Syms stars.

CABIRIA comic strip

CABIRIA (1914) is the legendary silent movie in which the character Maciste came from. The movie was a big hit and if you look at it, it basically sums up the entire PEPLUM genre. The movie was serialized decades later in a Turkish publication in the form of a comic strip. Here are some images of the comic strip I was able to save, and two scenes from the movie to compare with the artwork. It's almost impossible to get a hold of. 

 

Musings!

Bette Blythe and Fritz Leiber in THE QUEEN OF SHEBA (1921) 

This silent film is presumed lost. Very little of it is left. I've always been intrigued by it. Bette plays the Queen of Sheba and Fritz plays King Solomon. Since it's lost and the product is presumably in the public domain, wouldn't it be cool that someone would recreate the entire film via AI. It's a win win, in my opinion. Just follow the script, which should still exist in print form, and recreate it scene by scene. The original prints were destroyed in a fire so there's no chance it will ever surface, unless it's found in another country. So, recreating it with new technology would give it new life.

PEPLUM Movie Poster

Original Italian poster of MACISTE AGAINST HERCULES IN THE VALE OF WOE (1961)

Very nice poster with a good set of paintings on the right of the crowded cast, including Kirk Morris as Maciste.

Last Week's Views

290K for the week of 27 April to 3 May. 69538 views on Tuesday, 28 April. A sharp decline from the 1.4 million views of last week but that's ok since that was not normal. 😂 Average 7 day views: 41K. 

Peplum Public Discussion

Comments are open in this post. You have something to mention about this week's posts? Or something else. This is the only place you can voice your opinion. Comments are curated therefore any bad comment won't be published! Be respectful!

Image of the week!

Livius (Stephen Boyd) carries the body of Commodus (Christopher Plummer) after defeating him in a sword fight in THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (1964)

At the movies...

Premiere of BEN-HUR (1959) at the Loew's State Theatre in New York city. I tried to colourize the photo but the colours were wildly inaccurate (below). 

Musings!

Marilù Tolo and Mark Forest in MACISTE - GLADIATOR OF SPARTA (1964) 

This movie was released in March 1964 with its Twin Production, THE MAGNIFICENT GLADIATOR, also with Marilù and Mark, was released in December. Both films shared scenes so THE MAGNIFICENT GLADIATORS borrowed scenes from this movie, since it came out first. I like both but I slightly prefer THE MAGNIFICENT GLADIATOR. Just by this much. This movie is good, with several stand-out scenes, including the fate of Marilù's character and the infamous, eye-opening ending, but it's more gloomy and dark while MAGNIFICENT is more fun and colourful. This one is like winter while MAGNIFICENT is like summer. Marilù plays a villainess while her role was more fun in MAGNIFICENT. The scene of Maciste finding her resting is one of the best scenes in any PEPLUM movie. Really well directed. In the English version, Maciste was renamed Poseidon but IMDb says he's called Hercules. Where's the HD version?

Behind-the-Scenes

Janet Leigh, Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis on the set of THE VIKINGS (1958)

Clip of the week: SAMSON AND THE SLAVE QUEEN (1963)

Fully dressed man vs shirtless man. Or Zorro (Pierre Brice; El Toro in US version) vs Samson (Alan Steel; Maciste in the Italian version) in SAMSON AND THE SLAVE QUEEN (1963). Fun film!

Portraits

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