Above is a portrait of a glorious Anita for SIGN OF THE GLADIATOR (1958). You can see her in the screenshot below wearing the black dress with the left shoulder strap. Oddly enough during this scene in SING OF THE GLADIATOR, Anita is always shot from a distance. We never get to see her in a close-up with that dress. I'm assuming the reason why we never get to see her up close is because the dress is way too contemporary looking. It clashes with the rest of the film's Ancient Rome setting. I'm certain Anita was popular on the set on the day they shot that scene. But even though we never get to see her up close in that PEPLUM film we do see her wearing...
...almost the identical dress in LA DOLCE VITA (sans shoulder strap) which is probably the most iconic image from Italian cinema. So the next time you watch LA DOLCE VITA remember that the inspiration came from a PEPLUM film first.
Anita will be Babe of the Month for January
Anita is certainly the most interesting/glamorous of the 50s sex bombs (Dors, Mansfield,Van Doren). She is glamour personfied in those 50s movies like Zarak, Interpol, etc.
ReplyDeletemy god, that woman was smashing!
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