Happy Easter!

 From KING OF KINGS (1961)

BY THE GODS! Spring 2024 magazine

BY THE GODS! Spring 2024 issue can now be purchased.

Get it while it's hot!

BY THE GODS! Spring 2024 edition

By JS Davidson

52 pages, published 3/7/2024

Magazine on the PEPLUM genre! For those who love movies with stories set in the past, such as Biblical, Epic or the Greco-Roman kind, this magazine covers it all.

Image of the week!

 Hercules (Reg Park) battles Proteus in HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN (1961)

Lobby Cards Set: THE LOVES OF HERCULES (1960)

Italian lobby cards set (fotobusta) of THE LOVES OF HERCULES starring Jayne Mansfield, Mickey Hargitay and others. This is a colourful movie and the set reflects this. I like it. I'm a bit confused on the LE QUATTRO FATICHE DI ERCOLE part. I mean, the original title is there, GLI AMORE DI ERCOLE, so what's up with the additional title? Cinematic Confusion! Good set.

Musings!

Champion gladiator (Pietro Ceccarelli) is about to fight with Revak (Jack Palance) in REVAK THE REBEL (1960)

This is an odd PEPLUM movie within the genre itself. It's feels like a TV production. The aspect ratio is not widescreen but shot in Academy aspect ratio (with a faux widescreen during projection in cinemas...?), perfect for TVs back then. The posters say it's in Eastmancolor while others say Technicolor. The movie has several different poster artwork with a lot of them directly copying the artwork of posters for other movies. They actually use the English audio of the English speaking cast, which is very odd for an Italian production. The entire 'modest' production itself is odd. The dialogue is often unintentionally hilarious. Some of the costumes are the worst I've seen in any PEPLUM movie. It's stands out from the rest of the pack...but not necessarily in a good way. It's still entertaining but...it's an odd one alright.

Behind-the-Scenes

Photographer Ken Whitmore taking a portrait of Charlton Heston as Moses on the exterior set of THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956).

Clip of the week: THE MIGHTY URSUS (1961)

Ursus (Ed Fury) is with his long lost wife to be, Attea (Moira Orfei). They're both interrupted by the evil Setas (Luis Prendes) who reveals the truth...

HD Alert!

Scenes from GOLIATH AND THE SINS OF BABYLON (1963)

HD copy of this fun PEPLUM movie. Again, this is from a streaming service in Europe. It's not available anywhere on Blu-ray, which is annoying since the movie looks spectacular in HD. Mark Forest and José Greci are in the image above.

Note: because of the lack of PEPLUM movies released on Blu-ray, HD Alert! will be appear once a month.

Giuliano Gemma and José Greci.

Vintage Article

A rare article on Gordon Mitchell. From a French magazine. I posted this years ago at BY THE GODS! blog. They described Mitchell as frightening. Images are from FURY OF ACHILLES (main image) and ATLAS IN THE LAND OF THE CYCLOPS (smaller image).

Musings!

Daniela Rocca in COLOSSUS AND THE AMAZON QUEEN (1960)

Daniela plays a leader of Amazons. According to myth, Amazons were one-breasted women. Removing one breast is kinda gruesome but in this movie, thanks to some clever costumes, the Amazons have one breast hanging out while the other is camouflaged, giving the illusion of being one-breasted. I really like this. Quite ingenious. This movie is fun to watch, for many reasons. The excellent sets are from SIEGE OF SYRACUSE (1960). Like almost all Amazon movies, it's a 'Battle of the Sexes' story as I wrote in the latest issue of BY THE GODS!

PEPLUM Movie Poster

Japanese re-release poster of CLEOPATRA (1963) 

This is from the 1977 revival. I love Japanese posters.

BY THE GODS! Spring 2024 magazine

BY THE GODS! Spring 2024 issue can now be purchased.

Get it while it's hot!

BY THE GODS! Spring 2024 edition

By JS Davidson

52 pages, published 3/7/2024

Magazine on the PEPLUM genre! For those who love movies with stories set in the past, such as Biblical, Epic or the Greco-Roman kind, this magazine covers it all.

Image of the week!

Marcus Tiberius (Brad Harris) is among the survivors of an erupting Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD: THE DESTRUCTION OF HERCULANEUM (1962)

At the movies...

SPARTACUS (1960) premiere at the Pantages theatre in Los Angeles.

Musings!

Maciste (Kirk Morris) looks on as the couple (Vira Silenti and Angelo Zanolli) are tormented by a witch hunt in MACISTE IN HELL (1962)

One of the biggest criticism this movie gets is Maciste appearing in 17th century Scotland in a loincloth of sorts (just go to IMDb to read reviews there). In this scene, no one questions him or his appearance. For many, they ridicule the movie just on this point alone. Personally, I think it works beautifully. It's obvious the director, Riccardo Freda, played with this perception aspect, in a brilliant manner. We see Maciste this waay but maybe the people around him saw Maciste differently. In my opinion, this is one of the reasons which makes this film so great. The contrast between Maciste and his surroundings works.

Behind-the-Scenes

Pascale Petit, still in costume, and fiancee Gianni Esposito eating at the Cinecitta restaurant during the filming of A QUEEN FOR CAESAR (1962). According to captions, Pascale was filming the last scenes of the movie on that day. Beautiful couple.

Clip of the week: GOLIATH AND THE DRAGON (1960)

Goliath (Mark Forest) to the rescue! With Broderick Crawford + cast. 

BY THE GODS! Spring 2024 edition

BY THE GODS! Spring 2024 issue can now be purchased.

BY THE GODS! Spring 2024 edition

By JS Davidson

52 pages, published 3/7/2024

Magazine on the PEPLUM genre! For those who love movies with stories set in the past, such as Biblical, Epic or the Greco-Roman kind, this magazine covers it all.

SPFX DEPT.

Scenes from SALAMMBO (1960; aka The Loves of Salammbo)

The view of Carthage from the desert. Carthage was a sea port and it looked quite different than this, apparently. Anyway, I like films that give a sense of place for the story, no matter how brief the scenes are. The matte work is nice but could have been more cool if it wasn't so far off in the distance. 

Then & Now: Kirk Morris

Kirk in SAMSON AND THE SEA BEAST (1963); a recent photo of Kirk

Below: there's a tribute to Kirk Morris in the Spring 2024 issue of BY THE GODS! Click here to purchase it.

 

Musings!

Gordon Scott and Gianna Maria Canale in THE LION OF ST MARK (1963) 

Solid action/adventure film: great cast, production, music, script. It's always nice to see a good old action movie done well. This was one of Scott's more solid outings. It's not the first film to star Scott and Canale together. Canale was good in it as well. She did a bunch of Swashbuckler type of movies which was uncommon for women back then. She's good in all of them. There's a Blu-ray from Germany but I haven't bought it yet. When the cost of shipping is more than the product itself, well, I'm not buying it.

PEPLUM Movie Poster

Original Italian poster of TWO NIGHTS WITH CLEOPATRA (1954) 

Typical Italian collage design. I like it. 

PEPLUM Break!

I take a break roughly every two months so this is that time again.

In the meantime, you can buy both of the BY THE GODS! magazines. See link below.

So stay tuned!

I'll leave you now with King Leonidas (Richard Egan) from THE 300 SPARTANS (1962), saying "From this wall, we do not retreat!"

BY THE GODS! Spring 2024 edition

BY THE GODS! Spring 2024 issue can now be purchased.

BY THE GODS! Spring 2024 edition

By JS Davidson

52 pages, published 3/7/2024

Magazine on the PEPLUM genre! For those who love movies with stories set in the past, such as Biblical, Epic or the Greco-Roman kind, this magazine covers it all.

Image of the week!

 Maciste (Mark Forest) in action in SON OF SAMSON (1960)

Lobby Cards Set: TRIUMPH OF HERCULES

Italian lobby cards set (fotobusta) of TRIUMPH OF HERCULES (1964) starring Dan Vadis, Marilù Tolo, Moira Orfei and others. Nice colourful set. Everything is there, including the Golden Warriors. 

Musings!

Bella Cortez and Gordon Mitchell in ALI BABA AND THE SEVEN SARACENS (1964)

The original Italian version was a Sinbad movie renamed and re-titled Ali Baba since the movie basically takes place entirely on land. Sinbad adventures don't necessarily need to be a '7 SEAS' adventure, as I posted in my magazine, but it's odd that we never see a ship or the ocean in this. Changing it to Ali Baba sorta made sense. The timeline of the US version, and presumably all English versions released, had an incorrect timeline. I posted about this 11 years ago. I have many different versions of this film. And yet, not one copy in HD. 

Behind-the-Scenes

Mario Petri, Gloria Milland and Gordon Mitchell at a cocktail party for the premiere of FURY OF ACHILLES (1962)

BY THE GODS! Spring 2024 edition

BY THE GODS! Spring 2024 issue can now be purchased. Discount below is valid until March 8.

Get 20% off. Use code: MAR202024

BY THE GODS! Spring 2024 edition

By JS Davidson

52 pages, published 3/7/2024

Magazine on the PEPLUM genre! For those who love movies with stories set in the past, such as Biblical, Epic or the Greco-Roman kind, this magazine covers it all.

Clip of the week: SAMSON (1961)

A caged Samson (Brad Harris) gets the point in this wild Feat of Strength! 

Just received in the mail...

I received the printed copy of BY THE GODS! magazine Spring 2024 issue in the mail. It's beautiful. I've noticed things I need to correct. It should be available to buy tomorrow or Friday. You can buy it now.

Note: I recently found out that social media platforms like X (or Twitter), Facebook and Blogger shadow bans a website, like this blog, when links for something to sale are posted too often. My blog WAS shadow banned when I began selling BY THE GODS! magazine in October of last year. I posted the link to MagCloud once or twice a week. That's not a lot. I wasn't spamming my blog. I'll try to avoid this this time. Anyway, just keep that in mind when I'll start posting links to this issue soon.

SPFX DEPT.

Scenes from BEN-HUR (1959)

I already posted about special effects from BEN-HUR here at the blog. But those were the spectacular scenes. Here are two scenes with matte paintings for regular scenes showcasing the Jerusalem cityscape. Nice. Very believable. Matte artist: Matthew Yuricich.

Same set, different films!

Two different movies with the same set!

PEPLUM movies are known for recycling stuff, wether they are scenes from others movies or props. There's nothing wrong with re-using props and sets. Here's an example. Above is full view of the set from THE SON OF CLEOPATRA (1964) starring Livio Lorenzon and below is the same set in REVENGE OF THE GLADIATORS (1964) starring Mickey Hargitay. There are slight differences including the pyramids in the background in SON OF CLEOPATRA which isn't in REVENGE OF THE GLADIATORS. Other differences are statue and curtains but the rest is the same, including the plants. 

 

 

Above: Livio Lorenzo in THE SON OF CLEOPATRA. Below: Mickey Hargitay in REVENGE OF THE GLADIATORS.

Musings!

Alessandra Panaro is in a tight situation in THE SECRET MARK OF D'ARTAGNAN (1962)

Torture scenes are common in PEPLUM movies. It's one of the most predictable things when watching them. The majority of the folks being tortured are men but there's quite a few PEPLUM movies with women being tortured. This is definitely one of the best or should I say worse? Anyway, the movie is vey well made and is, in general, quite family friendly, but then there's this scene and we're in almost horror territory. This happens a lot. Movies can go from quaint to shocking in a nano second. 

PEPLUM Movie Poster

Original US poster of HERCULES AND THE BLACK PIRATE (1964)

Cinematic Confusion! 

Ok, the US title for this movie is nothing but confusing. As one can see, the title of the US theatrical release was HERCULES AND THE PIRATES. The original Italian title is SANSONE CONTRO IL CORSARO NERO, which translates as SAMSON AGAINST THE BLACK CORSAIR. Or Pirate. Singular. The US title removes the word BLACK and what was singular is now plural. But the title for TV broadcast in the US was HERCULES AGAINST THE BLACK PIRATES. But the title is, like I wrote above, should be HERCULES AGAINST THE BLACK PIRATE. Singular. 

Another weird thing: AIP would always rename Italian movies, certainly when MACISTE was in the title, as HERCULES, SAMSON, ATLAS or GOLIATH. Now that the original Italian title actually has SAMSON, they still re-titled it. lol! I have no idea why these AIP titles often went against the actual title. Poster itself is quite modern in design, including the clear fonts. Nice.

Image of the week!

Cleopatra (Claudette Colbert) is made 'Queen of the Desert' in CLEOPATRA (1934)

MUSCLES Inc

AMERICAN APOLLO magazine with Steve Reeves on the cover as Hercules. From 1959. A lot of bodybuilding and physique magazines of the time promoted the release of HERCULES.