Article of the week: My PEPLUM movie collection

For the 'Article of the week' this month, I decided to share my collection of PEPLUM movies.

This article is not to show off or for boasting purposes. It's just to show how serious I take the genre and the extent of my collection.  Even though I started to buy DVDs over a decade ago, and still buy some from time to time, and Blu-rays as well, the bulk of my collection today is digital via trades, direct downloads, etc. My digital collection is much bigger than the collection of physical discs.

***My digital collection started with an online service called EZ TAKES, which doesn't exist anymore. I was able to download movies straight to my hard drives. I thought then that that was the way of the future.

*****I started collecting these movies since 2007 (when the WARRIORS megapack was released). I acquired all of this in over 13 years.

Here's a complete rundown of my collection, with some special mentions of some specific DVDs.

Note: most of these movies are released individually but many of them were sold as 'double features'. I don't consider these as 'DVD packs' which should have more than two major titles. The DVD packs are listed in their own category even though many of them belong to another category, IE language or company. I also won't be adding the year next to the titles.

I've created a permanent page for this: here. I'll update the list as I acquire new (or old) stuff.

HOLLYWOOD-

Fairly standard set of titles. Nothing that stands out.

THE ROBE - SPECIAL EDITION
THE BLACK SWAN
SLAVES OF BABYLON
LAST DAYS OF POMPEII
THE MAGIC SWORD
ALI BABA AND THE 40 THIEVES
THE STORY OF RUTH
SOLOMON AND SHEBA
DAVID AND BATHSHEBA
KINGS OF THE SUN
JACOB AND JOSEPH
JULIUS CAESAR 1953
DEMETRIUS AND THE GLADIATORS
HELEN OF TROY WB
CLASH OF THE TITANS
QUO VADIS (DAMAGED)
THE 300 SPARTANS
CAPTAIN KIDD AND THE SLAVE GIRL
CALIGULA - 3 DISC SET
LIBERTINE
MARY OF SCOTLAND
MARIE ANTOINETTE
THE CONQUEROR
KRULL
ULYSSES - LIONSGATE
SATYRICON - MGM
HERCULES, SAMSON AND ULYSSES - WARNER ARCHIVES
DAMON AND PYTHIAS - WARNER ARCHIVES

HERCULES (1983) - Double feature
ADVENTURES OF HERCULES (1984)

CONAN THE BARBARIAN - Double feature
CONAN THE DESTROYER


RETROMEDIA:

Retromedia was one of the best distributors of PEPLUM movies on DVDs. The quality wasn't always great but their releases were mostly 'double features': one big title with the addition of another not-so-big title. I loved this and for a while they were the best source for PEPLUM titles in North America.

HERCULES THE AVENGER - Double feature
HERCULES AND THE BLACK PIRATE

SON OF SAMSON - Double feature
SON OF CLEOPATRA

WAR GODS OF BABYLON - Double feature
WAR GODDESS

HERO OF ROME - Double feature
THE INVINCIBLE GLADIATOR

GIANT OF MARATHON - Double feature
WAR OF THE TROJANS

HERCULES (WIDESCREEN) - Above - more on this one in the French category - Double feature
MOLE MEN VS MACISTE

THE MAGNIFICENT GLADIATOR - Double feature
REVOLT OF THE BARBARIANS

GOLIATH AND THE SINS OF BABYLON - Double feature
COLOSSUS AND THE AMAZON QUEEN

THE GIANT OF METROPOLIS

Many of the Retromedia releases can be found on this DVD pack: HERCULES COLLECTION. They're the same prints as the previous one. I listed this pack under the Pack category.


VARIOUS-

Many of the DVDs in the above photo are listed below.

VCI:

GLADIATORS 7
WHITE WARRIOR
HANNIBAL


WILD EAST:

GOLIATH AND THE VAMPIRES - Double feature
GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS

A LONG RIDE FROM HOME


MYA:

REVENGE OF THE CRUSADER
RETURN OF THE GLADIATOR


WELLSPRING:

QUEEN OF SHEBA
TWO NIGHTS WITH CLEOPATRA


ANCHOR BAY:

ERIK THE CONQUEROR


SINISTER CINEMA:

I have a love/hate relationship with this distributor. The DVDs are overpriced and the quality of the movies are almost always poor but they do have rare titles or prints not found elsewhere. So...

***I also downloaded tons of SS titles from a now defunct digital download service that was called EZ TAKES many years ago.

GOLIATH AGAINST THE GIANTS
SWORD OF EMPIRE
KING OF THE VIKINGS
FIRE OVER ROME
THE MAGNIFICENT GLADIATOR
79 AD
PIRATE OF MALAYSIA
ATLAS
TYRANT OF LYDIA (GOLIATH AND REBEL SLAVE)
HERO OF BABYLON
DUEL OF TITANS (Romulus and Remus)
THARUS SON OF ATTILA

I accidentally bought two of these.

SLAVE GIRLS OF SHEBA - Above
TRIUMPH OF THE TEN GLADIATORS
MACISTE - GLADIATOR OF SPARTA
DUEL OF TITANS
REVENGE OF THE MUSKETEERS
HERCULES UNCHAINED
SAMSON AND THE MIGHTY CHALLENGE
TRAILERS PACK
TRAILERS PACK 2


ALPHA VIDEO:

This is by far the worst company in regards to PEPLUM movies. All of their releases are actually taken from MillCreek releases, re-edited and repackaged. Avoid at all cost.

GOLIATH & THE DRAGON - Double feature
ULYSSES VS HERCULES

MACISTE IN KING SOLOMON’S MINES - Double feature
MACISTE IN THE VALE OF WOE

VENGEANCE OF URSUS - Double feature
COLOSSUS & THE HEADHUNTERS

THE WITCH’S CURSE

GIANTS OF ROME - Double feature
INDAR THE INVULNERABLE

VULCAN SON OF JUPITER - Double feature
FURY OF HERCULES

SAMSON


SOMETHING WEIRD:

Hard to believe that I once actually bought VHS tapes and DVDs from SW but there you go. I've only been buying digital copies of their movies for years now. I also have a Something Weird DVD with trailers but I photographed it with other DVDs of trailers.

SOMETHING WEIRD TRAILERS
SULEIMAN THE CONQUEROR
THE RAPE OF THE SABINE WOMEN
GOLIATH AND THE DRAGON
HERCULES AGAINST THE MOON MEN


INTERNATIONAL

Here are DVDs bought from different countries around the world.


GERMAN-

I have more DVDs from Germany than any other country. Their DVDs are frustrating  in that they often have titles not found elsewhere but many of them are cut or have odd prints. Still, Germany is a top source.

PONTIUS PILATE
LAST DAYS OF POMPEII
COLOSSUS AND THE AMAZON QUEEN
GENGHIS KHAN
SPARTACUS AND THE TEN GLADIATORS
CONQUEROR OF ATLANTIS
MESSALINA (1960)
BRENNUS
WAR OF THE TROJANS
TRIUMPH OF HERCULES
TWO GLADIATORS

PEPLUM confusion: the titles of these Brad Harris movies are flipped; HERKULES is actually SAMSON and SAMSON is actually FURY OF HERCULES. Weird stuff from Germany.

FURY OF HERCULES (SAMSON)
SAMSON (FURY OF HERCULES)
THE BLACK DUKE
URSUS IN THE VALLEY OF LIONS
COROLANIUS
SODOM AND GOMORRAH
SON OF THE SHEIK
THE TROJAN HORSE

This is supposed to be Charlton Heston...

ANTHONY AND CLEOPATRA (HESTON) - Above
MACISTE - GLADIATOR OF SPARTA
URSUS AND THE TARTAR QUEEN
ATTILA
CARTHAGE IN FLAMES
THE EGYPTIAN
THE PIRATE AND THE SLAVE GIRL
COLOSSUS OF ROME (SPARTAKUS)
LEGIONS OF THE NILE

This 'double feature' set of HERCULES and HERCULES UNCHAINED is great and disappointing. Too many cuts in these editions which albeit have somewhat nice image quality.

HERCULES - Above
HERCULES UNCHAINED

HEAD OF A TYRANT - Double feature
SALAMMBO

ULYSSES VS HERCULES - Double feature
GOLIATH AND THE REBEL SLAVE

ANTHAR THE INVINCIBLE - Double feature
DESERT WARRIOR


SPANISH-

I included the EPICO packs in this photo even though I listed them in the DVD pack category below.

COLOSSUS AND THE HEADHUNTERS
SANDOKAN THE GREAT
HERCULES VS SAMSON
HERCULES - PRISONER OF EVIL
CAESAR THE CONQUEROR
URSUS AND THE VALLEY OF LIONS
CONQUEROR OF CORINTH
MACISTE - AVENGER OF THE MAYANS - Terrible!
SINDBAD


ITALIAN-

Nice DVDs but the choices pale compared to German DVDs.

GIANT OF METROPOLIS
DRAKUT
SIEGE OF SYRACUSE
MACISTE IN HELL
THE BACCANTI
HERCULES UNCHAINED
MARS - GOD OF WAR
LION OF ST MARK
UOMINI FORTI
I TARTARI

This DVD is okay but I recently 'discovered' something interesting about this movie, which is one of my favourites, and which I will share soon enough.

QUEEN OF SHEBA - Above
THE REVENGE OF THE GLADIATORS
7 SLAVES AGAINST THE WORLD
MACISTE VS MOLE MEN
COLOSSUS OF THE ARENA
SAMSON (SANSONE)


FRENCH-

French DVDs are usually good. I have a 7 'double features' DVDs here.

SAMSON AND THE MIGHTY CHALLENGE
ATLAS VS THE STAR
MACISTE IN THE VALLEY OF THE THUNDERING ECHOES
REVOLT OF THE PRAETORIANS
FALL OF ROME
PERSEUS THE INVINCIBLE
SWORD OF DAMSCUS
TERROR OF THE STEPPES

Same print, different package. If you have the one on the left there's no need to buy the one on the right.

Note: this edition is the same as the Retromedia one I mentioned above.

The French DVDS are the same as the one released by Retromedia.

HERCULES - Above
HERCULES - Above
SINS OF POMPEII
CAESAR THE CONQUEROR

ERIK THE VIKING - Double feature
HERCULES AND THE TYRANTS OF BABYLON

CATHERINE OF RUSIA - Double feature
WHITE WARRIOR

SON OF CLEOPATRA - Double feature
JOSEPH AND THE BRETHREN

GIANT OF METROPOLIS - Double feature
HERCULES - PRISONER OF EVIL

SAMSON AND THE SLAVE QUEEN (MACISTE VS ZORRO) - Double feature
ZORRO AND THE COURT OF ENGLAND

SAMOA - QUEEN OF THE JUNGLE - Double feature
APHRODITE - GODDESS OF LOVE

MACISTE IN KING SOLOMON’S MINES - Double feature
MACISTE IN HELL


GREEK-

Greek DVDs are something else. I usually avoid them (I don't know if they are legit or not) but sometimes they do have a completely different print than the usual, which is fun to find.

WAR OF THE TROJANS
TERROR OF THE RED MASK
WARRIOR AND THE SLAVE GIRL
TRIUMPH OF MACISTE
IN THE SHADOW OF THE EAGLE
QUEEN OF THE PIRATE


KOREAN-

I photographed these with the 'dupes'. I don't know if they are legit.

SCIPIO AFRICANUS
CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA


SILENT FILMS-

Not many of silent movies on DVD but I do have CABIRIA, the grand daddy of all PEPLUM movies.

CABIRIA
SPARTACUS
LAST DAYS OF POMPEII
SALAMBO
MARC ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA

JACQUES FEYDER COLLECTION:

QUEEN OF ATLANTIS; CRAINQUEBILLE; FACES OF CHILDREN


TRAILERS-

The trailer DVDs are fun.

42nd STREET FOREVER TRAILERS 1
42nd STREET FOREVER TRAILERS 2
42nd STREET FOREVER TRAILERS 3
SWORD AND SANDAL TRAILERS



DVD PACKS-

WARRIORS 50 MEGAPACK - MILLCREEK

Too many titles to list. This is the very first 'official' DVDs of PEPLUM movies I ever bought. It was basically a crash course of the genre and I loved it even with the poor quality of the prints. I've been a fan ever since.


ADVENTURE OF HERCULES - TRIMARK

Great pack even if the movies are in standard 4:3 aspect ratio.

MEDUSA VS SON OF HERCULES; TRIUMPH OF HERCULES; HERCULES AGAINST THE SONS OF THE SUN; HERCULES VS MOLOCH; LION OF THEBES; TROJAN HORSE; HERCULES VS THE HYDRA (LOVES OF HERCULES)


WARNER HISTORICAL EPICS:

LAND OF THE PHARAOHS; COLOSSUS OF RHODES; THE PRODIGAL


KINGDOM OF GLADIATORS:

Odd pack since only one movie has gladiators in them (THOR). Aside from THOR, the other three titles were great to find on DVD. So, in the end this pack is very good. Just don't expect gladiators.

THOR AND THE AMAZON WOMEN; CONQUEST OF NORMANS; THE MERCENARIES; REVENGE OF THE BARBARIANS


GLADIATORS COLLECTORS EDITION:

GLADIATOR 7; GIANTS OF ROME; REBEL GLADIATOR; THE INVINCIBLE GLADIATOR


GLADIATORS AND ANCIENT WARRIORS (VCI):

GIANTS OF THESSALY; SINS OF ROME; HERCULES; HERCULES UNCHAINED


EPICS OF THE OLD TESTAMENT (VCI):

Some rare titles in this one.

SAUL AND DAVID; GREAT LEADERS OF THE BIBLE; JACOB FOUGHT WITH GOD; JOSEPH AND HIS BRETHREN


GODS OF WAR:

GIANT OF MARATHON and THE LAST GLORY OF TROY. I bought this 'two pack' for the latter. A photo of Steve Reeves from HERCULES UNCHAINED.


SOPHIA LOREN PACK:

ATTILA (ITALIAN WITH SUBTITLES); SUNFLOWER; MADAMEE SANS GENE; CAROSELLO NAPOLITANO


HERCULES COLLECTION (Retromedia):

HERCULES (WIDESCREEN); MACISTE VS MOLE MEN; HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN; HERCULES THE AVENGER; HERCULES AND BLACK PIRATE; HERCULES AND PRINCESS OF TROY; ATLAS IN THE LAND OF CYCLOPS; THE GIANTS OF ROME

Photo is at the Retromedia category above.

EPICO (SPANISH):

ATLAS IN THE LAND OF THE CYCLOPS; SAMSON AND THE 7 MIRACLES OF THE WORLD; SON OF SAMSON


3 GRAND PEPLUM (FRENCH):

THE MONGOLS; LOVES OF HERCULES; THE TITANS


LES CLASSIQUES DU PEPLUM (FRENCH):

Excellent pack. All these titles include the English tracks!

HERCULES AND TYRANTS OF HERCULES; HERCULES AND THE MOON MEN; COLOSSUS AND AMAZON QUEEN; GIANT OF MARATHON; HERCULES UNCHAINED


BLU-RAY-

My collection of Blu-rays is small but these movies fill up hard drives pretty quickly. I'll be buying more BRs in the future.

THIEF OF BAGHDAD - GERMAN (Great release!)
DEMTRIUS AND THE GLADIATORS - SPANISH (dupe?)
HERCULES - JAPANESE (Great release!)
HERCULES UNCHAINED - JAPANESE
HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD - 3 MOVIES / 2 DISC PACK - KINO LORBER
REVOLT OF THE SLAVES - KINO LORBER

THE BIBLE - Double feature
THE ROBE


UNKNOWN / DUPES -

Most of these DVDs were bought on eBay. Most of them are obviously dupes but some I don't know, like the Korean ones.

ROME AGAINST ROME
THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII
HERO OF BABYLON (NEVER WORKED)
CONQUEROR OF ATLANTIS
TERROR OF THE BLACK MASK
LIVIA - VIRGIN FOR THE EMPEROR
WAR OF THE ZOMBIES
HERCULES OF THE DESERT

I bought this from TCM and it's not an official release. It's a Fan Dub and the audio was taken from the Fan Dub I created and uploaded to Youtube at one point.

THE MIGHTY URSUS - Above
TOTO CONTRO MACISTE
ATLAS IN THE LAND OF THE CYCLOPS
WAR OF THE TROJANS (FRENCH)
THE LAST GLADIATOR
HERCULES AGAINST MOLOCH
FALCON OF THE DESERT
AVENGER OF THE SEVEN SEAS
URSUS AND THE TARTAR PRINCESS
MORGAN THE PIRATE
DACII
HERCULES CHALLENGES

LOL!

THE INVINCIBLE BROTHERS MACISTE - Above


VIDEO SEARCH OF MIAMI:

This was the very first place I got PEPLUM movies after the WARRIORS 50 pack, consisting mostly of TV broadcasts or dupes of DVDs. This place had tons of stuff. Unfortunately they were closed down after they began selling dupes of recent movies. I quickly moved on to other places like ATLAS VISUALS.

QUEEN OF BABYLON
SAMSON AND THE MIGHTY CHALLENGE
REVOLT OF THE SLAVES
MACISTE IN HELL
HERO OF BABYLON
SIGN OF THE GLADIATOR
WARRIOR AND THE SLAVE GIRL

(NOT PEPLUM: CLOCKWORK TERROR)



TRADES VIA DVDrs

Too many to mention. Hundreds of titles. A lot of these have two DVDrs or double-sided DVDrs per slip cover. After purchasing the WARRIORS 50 pack, I continued my collection with these and eventually moved on to better, more legit stuff. Some really rare titles or editions, including THE MIGHTY URSUS version I used to make a Fan Dub which was then copied by someone else and sold as legit (as I explained above). All of the places where I got these have been closed down or they've stopped trading, including ATLAS VISUALS which had TONS of rare titles.

Many of these are also just DVDrs of movies I recorded myself from various TV broadcasts.

****If you don't see a title amongst my DVD collection above, it's most likely I already got it from these trades and dupes.


VHS-

I have a small collection of titles on VHS. I could expand it since these are so cheap on eBay but for now I just buy these for the cover/artwork. I have Something Weird VHS tapes in this which I've also posted in the SW category above.

RASPUTIN
SPARTACUS (2 CASSETTES)
FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (2 CASSETTES)

I love this cover. The head of Richard Harrison with the body of Arnold.

MESSALINA VS THE SON OF HERCULES (THE LAST GLADIATOR) - Above
ROMAN SCANDALS
OUTLAW OF GOR

Legit release?

REVOLT OF THE SLAVES - Above
MARS - GOD OF WAR

Preeminent Steve Reeves 1950s triple feature?

HERCULES - All above
HERCULES UNCHAINED
ATHENA

Odd cover (duplicate of Steve Reeves but different face). Odd title variation. Just odd...which is stuff I like collecting. The cover looks nothing like the movie.

MARS - GOD OF WAR - Above


My digital set-up:

As I stated at the start of the article, the bulk of my collection is digital and stored on multiple external hard drives. In the above photo, the three hds with the blue lights and the two black ones on the left side, resting horizontally, all contain PEPLUM movies. The first one is a ten terabytes hd and there's only two terabytes of space left! Even if the capacity of these external hds is large, they fill up pretty quickly not only because of the amount of movies but with the new releases in high definitions, well I'll run of space soon and will need to buy more. I'm in the process of transferring all titles to that 10 TB hd and it's a slow process. I have to make sure not to accidentally delete some titles during the long process, which, unfortunately has happened before.

****Also, creating Fan Dubs need a lot of space and these external hds are needed for such work.

Below is a screenshot of how I list titles. As you can see, each title has a folder and within each folder are often multiple versions of a title. I have thousands of copies of PEPLUM movies. The list below is a work in progress.

Non-PEPLUM collections-

I don't just collect PEPLUM movies but other kind of films, many which have some sort of connection to the genre. I have hundreds of DVDs (which I want to get of but no one wants...). There's a Ken Clark movie. And HATCHET FOR THE HONEYMOON starring Stephen Forsyth, who appeared in REVENGE OF THE CRUSADER, and directed by Mario Bava. Then there's JULIET OF THE SPIRITS, directed by Fellini and it stars a boatload of familiar PEPLUM stars.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this glimpse of my collection. Needless to say, I love PEPLUM movies.