Musings! (04-20)

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

Time off!

The one week I took off was much needed. It felt like a month, not a week. I love doing this blog and I've been doing it for over 10 years. The one problem I've noticed about doing blogs (I have other blogs than those dedicated to the PEPLUM genre) is that moment you stop updating them, views disappear fast and sometimes they don't come back...at all. The attention span of people is very short and it doesn't take much for followers to move on and go elsewhere. It's the one thing that's truly annoying about maintaining a blog. I do it because I have fun doing it but maintain it...or else I'm history. I might have to take a month off at one point, in order to jump start several projects I have...but thinking about it worries me.


New acquisitions

As you might have heard already, I've recently got two new Blu-ray releases, HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN (1961) and DUEL OF THE TITANS (1962) German Blu-ray edition. I got these during my time off. Both have issues, with the CAPTIVE WOMEN being the most problematic but I'm still happy for their releases. Tomorrow I'll post my side-by-side overview of CAPTIVE WOMEN. 


Identify the movie!

Can you identify the movie from this scene?

Cinematic Confusion

Can you guess what's the original title of this VHS release? THE INVINCIBLE GLADIATORS is the VHS title of THE INVINCIBLE BROTHERS MACISTE (1964). The photos on the back are from the movie but the cover has very little to do with the movie itself. In fact, part of the artwork is a copy of MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE (1987) with Dolph Lundgren. I have to get this cover.


Misspelled Credits

One of the odd aspects of the PEPLUM genre are the misspellings seen in opening credits. Like Cinematic Confusion, it's a fact of the genre one has to deal with. Here's one from the US release of HERCULES, SAMSON AND ULYSSES (1963). Can you spot the misspelling in this set of credits? I already posted this at PEPLUM Channel Facebook page.

Streaming Services

As more and more PEPLUM movies become available in HD, the one place where they show up are streaming services, mainly in Europe. I highly doubt that majority of PEPLUM movies will ever be release on Blu-ray so one has to accept this. The title above is TRIUMPH OF THE TEN GLADIATORS (1964) starring Helga Liné, Emilio Messina (right), Frank Oliveras and Romano Giomini (behind Helga). It's from a Spanish streaming service. The image is beautiful and it's taken from the HD print they have. The print itself is one of the best looking HD prints I've seen, certainly the colours, which are vivid and makes the movie stand-out. This print makes the new HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN Blu-ray release look tired, old and ugly. Why or why can't we get such beautiful prints in English here?

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This summer things will change a bit, hopefully for the better. The pandemic is still going strong here in Canada but if it's like last year, cases and deaths should go down during the summer months. Expect a few things taking shape during those months.

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I want to create a Twitter account celebrating the 'queens' of PEPLUM movies, like the MACISTE one I created which is popular. But I'm waiting until that account gets over 200 followers to create the one for actresses of the PEPLUM genre.

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Future Musings:

- List of PEPLUM books

- List of movies available in HD / Blu-ray

- PEPLUM Museum?

- A new Twitter account for actresses of PEPLUM movies?

- a Tik Tok PEPLUM TV account?