PEPLUM Mystery #1 solved : HERCULES AGAINST THE GODS

One of the biggest mysteries of the PEPLUM genre was whatever happened to the third Steve Reeves Hercules movie? Was it even a real thing?

Steve Reeves made two Hercules films: HERCULES (1958) and HERCULES UNCHAINED (1959) and that was it for Reeves and Hercules films. Watching HERCULES UNCHAINED I always feel that there was supposed to be a third film following it. It feels like an in-between story. Well the third Hercules film with Reeves was titled HERCULES AGAINST THE GODS and the ONLY proof I could find (for now) are these photos of a cocktail party for the announcement of the making of ERCOLE CONTRO GLI DEI or HERCULES AGAINST THE GODS. The date of the photos is October 30 1959. So the film was supposed to be a real thing. Unfortunately, and according to Facebook friend Pasquale (who met and chatted with Reeves), director Pietro Francisci wasn't going to direct it and Steve wanted ONLY Pietro. Because of scheduling issues (Pietro was filming SIEGE OF SYRACUSE and SAPPHO VENUS OF LESBOS during that period) Pietro wasn't going to direct it, most likely writing and/or producing it. Steve eventually pulled out of the project because of Pietro was unavailable and whatever was left of the project morphed into that oddity called GOLIATH & THE DRAGON starring newcomer Mark Forest.

So here are some photos of the cocktail party. Basically this is the only proof of a third Hercules production with Reeves. Sylva Koscina is nowhere to be seen so I wonder if Iole was in the original working script.