Musings! (03-30)

Searching far and wide for all things PEPLUM! Luciano Marin and Steve Reeves in GOLIATH AND THE BARBARIANS (1959)

Keeping track of new stuff

I recently got the new Spanish Blu-ray of ANTHAR THE INVINCIBLE (1964). I already posted about it at the BY THE GODS! blog. I'll go over it soon. There's not much to write about so don't expect an extensive review/overview as the one I gave to THE WONDERS OF ALADDIN.

So, this new Blu-ray is added to my collection. It keeps on growing. I'll have to update my PEPLUM Movie Collection page.

Here's the small list of new DVDs and Blu-rays I've acquired since making that page on my collection.

BLU-RAYS

ANTHAR THE INVINCIBLE - Spanish BR with Italian and Spanish audio; Italian, Spanish and English subtitles

MESSALINA French Blu-ray - Italian, French and English audio

THE WONDERS OF ALADDIN - Blu-ray US

THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES - Blu-ray USA

THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES - German Blu-ray

NEW DVDS

THE SILVER CHALICE - Korean DVD

CORIOLANUS - HERO WITHOUT A COUNTRY - Spanish DVD

79 AD: THE DESTRUCTION OF HERCULANEUM - German DVD

APHRODITE - GODDESS OF LOVE - Sinister Cinema DVD - Italian with English subs. Awful.

GOLGOTHA - Sinister Cinema DVD

SPARTACUS - SINS OF ROME - Sinister Cinema DVD

Cinematic Confusion

This VHS cover is truly confusing. Not only is the title confusing (WAR IN CARTHAGE) but the photos are not from the movie itself. The photo on the left is John Drew Barrymore from THE PHARAOHS' WOMAN (1960) and the other one is a mystery. It looks like THE AVENGER (1962) but there's no scene like that in that movie. Maybe it's a publicity shot with unknown actors. The movie itself, if you haven't figured it out yet, is CARTHAGE IN FLAMES (1960). Nothing like the photos here.


Identify the movie!

Can you identify the PEPLUM movie from this screengrab? It's a popular PEPLUM movie, not an obscure one so you most likely seen this. What I find interesting with this shot is the statue of the elephant is a matte painting or added later optically. 


Have you seen this?

HERAKLES (1962). A short film directed by Werner Herzog, his directorial debut. It's an experimental film with a PEPLUM twist. It shows some of the 'labours' of HERCULES in modern times. The photo of the bodybuilder on the wall is Paul Wynter, who starred in a couple of PEPLUM productions. There are some clips of Wynter in competition. The bodybuilder featured in the short film was Reinhard Lichtenberg (below), the then Mr Germany. Werner was only 20 years old when he made this movie. The version I embedded here is not the original version. You can view the original version here (for some reason it's age-restricted).

It fun to see the influence of the PEPLUM genre inspiring other works of art.

Movies I watched...

I watched:

THE MERCENARIES in Italian. I posted about this title last week. 

SAMSON AND THE 7 MIRACLES OF THE WORLD in Italian.

Michèle Girardon stars in ANTHAR

ANTHAR THE INVINCIBLE Blu-ray...in Italian with English subtitles.

I have to say that ANTHAR holds up well today. It almost looks like it was shot yesterday. 

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I also watched part of THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (1964) and noticed the Messina brothers, Roberto and Emilio, are in it. They're in the background, with Christopher Plummer and Anthony Quayle in the foreground. They're not listed anywhere for this movie so another PEPLUM TV first!

Future Musings:

- A PEPLUM TV forum?

- List of PEPLUM books

- List of movies available in HD / Blu-ray

- PEPLUM Museum?

- A new Twitter account for actresses of PEPLUM movies?