Aspect ratio: FURY OF HERCULES

Trying to find the right version of a PEPLUM film is often a daunting task. Take FURY OF HERCULES. I've been trying to get an acceptable transfer from all over the world and I still haven't found one. It would be great that a standard would exist when transfering a film but no it's different in every country, including Italy.

German DVD (titled SAMSON..!!!)

Probably the best in image sharpness even if the print looks old and and scratchy. The aspect ratio is all wrong as the sides are cropped out, missing a lot of info. Good but not great.


Italian TV Broadcast

You'd think that Italian TV would show the film is a pretty nifty transfer but no it's not good. Almost identical to the German DVD but the frame is squished vertically. The image is fuzzy and blurry. The image also has lots of artifacts caused by the transfer.


US public Domain print

Has more info on the right that's missing from the two previous version and there's no squished image issue here but the colors are terrible and the entire blurry print is not really good.

French DVD transfer

Of all the prints, this one has the most information on the sides even if it's cropped on the top and bottom. The extra info on the sides, missing from the 3 previous versions, gives you an idea of the real widescreen format. The image is terrible and the colors are murky but it's sorta acceptable. The image is slightly squished as well; because the top and bottom are cropped, the image is, vertically speaking, incredibly narrow.

My version



 I tried to fix the French version with a slightly less narrow vertical height while retaining the extra info on the sides. The image is squished but with the top and bottom being cropped out there's no way around it. This is sorta the closest to what the right image should look like.