Musings!

Wandisa Guida and Gordon Scott in GLADIATOR OF ROME (1962) 

I've written extensively about this movie. I like it but it does have flaws. They're not enough for me not to like the movie but they're there and they are sorta annoying. One of the annoying things is the fact that Wandisa is not the love interest of Gordon Scott's character. I don't know if it's an Italian thing but the two here spend almost all the time together but Wandisa's character is with someone else and the same with Scott's character. This is not the only movie that does this. Wandisa is also in HERCULES AGAINST ROME (1964) with Alan Steel as Hercules and they spend loads of time together, he aves her, etc. But she ends up with Mimmo Palmara. I'm like huh? I understand that PEPLUM movies love to portray Heroes unattached and on a solo journey sans wife and children but this is, certainly with this movie, odd. The romance stuff can be fun, to a certain point, but it can also hinder a movie (see COLOSSUS OF RHODES and Rory Calhoun romancing...which stops the movie dead in its tracks). Maybe this is the case but usually when the Hero saves the lady, he ends up with her. 

There's also the fact that kids hate romantic stuff. But these kind of 'the Hero not interested in the ladies' further fuelled the idea of gay subtext about the genre, which I'm covering at THE LASCIVIOUS LOOK permanent page.

PEPLUM Movie Poster

Pakistani poster of GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS (1959) 

To me, it looks more like a poster from the 1970s or 80s but the seller says it's from 1959. Pretty cool poster even if the lady below, behind Steve Reeves, is not in the movie. I believe this is my first Pakistani poster.

Last Week's Views

I didn't monitor the views on a daily basis last week since I was so busy but the stats are around 130,000! 

Side note: Views on March 5 were over 40,000 when I was on break. 😂

AI PEPLUMTV

SPEAR & SHIELD

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!

Spartacus (Massimo Girotti) saves Amitys (Ludmilla Tchérina) in the arena in SPARTACUS - SINS OF ROME (1953)

MUSCLES Inc.

PEPLUM Star Steve Reeves on the cover of the Spanish edition of Mr Universe magazine.

Musings!

Kirk Morris, as Maciste, uproots a haunted tree to access Hell in MACISTE IN HELL (1962)

In my opinion, this is the best Maciste film of the 1960s revival. Directed by Riccardo Freda, it creates an incredible tapestry of moments, images and a world rarely seen in movies. Not to my surprise, a lot of people hate it. I've come across many comments about it and a lot of it is negative. The US public domain print might be a reason, under the title THE WITCH'S CURSE, but I've also seen such comments from people in Europe. Regardless of what people think, it's a solid, unique film that seen in original widescreen format is something else. The film is replete with symbolism so that might be another reason why some hate it. In this scene, Maciste has access to Hell from a haunted/cursed tree that, among other things, stood next to where a witch was burned. Remarkably enough, there's a legend in Rome of a church cursed by a walnut tree filled with demons. Nero was buried there. It's the Santa Maria Del Popolo church. 

"As the story goes, after his suicide Nero was buried in the mausoleum of his paternal family, the Domitii Ahenobarbi, at the foot of the Pincian Hill. The sepulchre was later buried under a landslide and on its ruins grew a huge walnut tree that "was so tall and sublime that no other plant exceeded it in any ways." The tree soon became the haunt for a multitude of vicious demons harassing the inhabitants of the area and also the travelers arriving in the city from the north through Porta Flaminia: "some were being frightened, possessed, cruelly beaten and injured, others almost strangled, or miserably killed." Source.

There's more to this story, including an exorcism. I think this scene was definitely inspired by the Santa Maria Del Popolo legend. I'll have more on Maciste in a future article on the many Maciste movies. 

Behind-the-Scenes

Director King Vidor chats with Tyrone Power and Gina Lollobrigida on the set of SOLOMON AND SHEBA (1959). Tyrone eventually died on the set of the movie and was replaced by Yul Brynner.

Clip of the week: MARY MAGDALENE (1958)

Dance number from movie. With Yvonne de Carlo, as Mary, and Jorge Mistral. So many people had no idea this movie existed (on Facebook anyway...) that I needed to upload a clip.

Funnies!

Jayne Mansfield in THE LOVES OF HERCULES (1960)

SPFX DEPT.

Scenes from THE QUEEN OF BABYLON (1954) 

This is the big scene in the movie, which has an excellent matte painting. The crowd and part of the doorway and surrounding design are part of a real set while the rest is a great painting. The artist is uncredited. A side note: within the doorway we see a design of a building that extends well beyond it. The image in the doorway is not a matte painting but a mural. In the image at the bottom, you can see light reflecting on the big mural. Oops. With Rhonda Fleming in the image below.

AI PEPLUM clips

A Youtube channel has very short clips from mock PEPLUM movies, among other film genres. I like it. Some of them look odd (PEPLUM movies don't looks that odd...) but I like the spirit of it. The one above is cool. My only complaint is the clips are too short. Disclaimer: I didn't create these. The PEPLUM genre is more popular than people think. Thanks to Paul for the info. Link below:

THE LOST REEL ARCHIVE

Musings!

Sylva Koscina, as Clorinda, and Andrea Aureli in THE MIGHTY CRUSADERS (1957)

I love this movie. I even made a Fan Dub of it (which was copied everywhere on the internet). I know this movie. There's only one thing I'm sorta confused by it. How did Clorinda became a warrior...a Muslim warrior combating, and falling in love, with a crusader (Francisco Rabal)? Now, I just checked Google AI (which is politically correct) and asked if there were female Muslim warriors during the Crusades. AI said yes but they mostly worked alongside their husbands. One has to take AI with a massive grain of salt but supposed this was true, how did Clorinda, who is single (and promised to Andrea Aureli's character), become an independent Muslim female warrior? I don't care about the accuracy. The movie is highly entertaining as it overlooks the major religious aspects of the story and focuses on the Crusader men falling in love with the Muslim women (Koscina and Gianna Maria Canale). And was most likely inspired by ROLAND THE MIGHTY (1956) but it's something I always wondered. Anyway, this sorta unlikely set-up still leads to a great ending, which is why I always overlook this confusing aspect of the story. And Sylva Koscina is great a Clorinda.

PEPLUM Movie Poster

US one sheet of MARY MAGDALENE (1958; 1960 USA)

Fairly standard US poster. Does anyone think of 'spectacle' when thinking of Mary Magdalene? I like the movie. It's also known as THE SWORD AND THE CROSS. Yvonne went from THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956) to this movie. It was released in 1958 in Italy but 1960 in the US.

PEPLUM Break

I take a break roughly every two months. My last break was New Year's week 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!

Hercules (Reg Park) is prepared to do what it takes to stay alive in Atlantis in HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN (1961)

BY THE GODS! magazine issue 4

BY THE GODS! magazine issue 4 and previous issues.

Details at the link below.

https://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/3205057 

A reminder as well: I'm not responsible for the publishing and shipping of the magazine. MagCloud is.

Lobby Cards Set: QUEEN OF THE SEAS (1961)

French lobby cards set of QUEEN OF THE SEAS (1961) starring Lisa Gastoni, Jerome Courtland and others. Nice set. A bit on the murky side but that's most likely due to the photos taken of them. Some cheesecake here. I like it.

Musings!

Dolores Francine and Van Aikens in REVOLT OF THE SLAVES (1960) 

Even though their characters were supporting ones, I always liked their presence and how it meshed with the story. Van appeared in 5 PEPLUM movies (he only acted in 7 films in total) and was also very memorable in GOLIATH AND THE VAMPIRES (1961), as the man who 'recruited' the women for Kobrak. As for Dolores, this is her only PEPLUM film. She was quite good in it. In this movie, Van is the leader of the Emperor's elite soldiers. I know a big chunk of the audience today would react negatively towards the entire movie (the slaves in this movie are whites) but I think the movie holds up brilliantly.

I already made a list of black actresses in PEPLUM movies 11 years ago, here at this link. I think I should do the one listing all the black actors. 

Behind-the-Scenes

Kerwin Mathews on a vespa on the set of SAPPHO - THE VENUS OF LESBOS (1960)

Clip of the week: REVOLT OF THE BARBARIANS (1964)

A lot of sword fights and brawls in this movie. With Roland Carey, Gabriele Antonini and many others.

 

New PEPLUM imagery

A HERO OF ROME

MEN OF PULP

SPFX DEPT.

Scenes from THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (1964)

This is a mega-production and there's very little information of the use of special effects in the movie since humongous sets were built so people assumed everything in the movie was built full scale. It wasn't. The top shot is definitely a matte painting. The structures behind the wall give it away. This shot has a left to right pan.

There are many big statues in the movie and the one below is definitely a special effects. Reading the credits at IMDb, this is most likely a foreground miniature and not matte painting. Francisco Prosper is credited for foreground miniature work. I recently explained the use of foreground models with THE GIANTS OF THESSALY (1960).