Musings!

Jacques Sernas and Belinda Lee in GODDESS OF LOVE (1957) 

HERCULES (1958) became a huge hit around the world in 1958/1959. It created a new genre, the musclemen movies, along with being the first Hercules movie, the first movie about the Argonauts, etc. All shot in widescreen and with a bountiful of fleshy beautiful people in it. It became a game changer. But prior to HERCULES, there were a handful of other movies from Italy which, though not as big as the Steve Reeves movie, showed the future of the genre. GODDESS OF LOVE was one of them. Aside from fans of PEPLUM movies like me, this movie is totally forgotten today but back then there was a lot of talk about how sexy the movie was, including the original Italian movie poster. Jacques Sernas just starred in the big Hollywood epic HELEN OF TROY (1956) basically almost playing the same role in this movie. The emphasis of the movie was on sex or the sexiness of its cast. The story was secondary. The movie was shown at the Venice Film Festival. Lee began an affair with a prince during the making of the movie. Yes, it was all about sex!