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 in a post 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!"

Image of the week!

Atlas (Kirk Morris) fights with the 'Keeper of the Cave' (Nello Pazzafini) in ATLAS AGAINST THE CZAR (1964)

BY THE GODS! Spring 2024 issue

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.

At the movies...

The premiere of HERCULES in Boston summer 1959.

Musings!

Alan Steel, as Hercules, using a hanging pole (crossbeam) as a weapon in HERCULES AND THE MASKED RIDER (1963)

This only happens in PEPLUM movies, 😂 which is why I love this genre. I have this movie in quasi-HD. Sadly, the file is corrupted by digital artifacts throughout. I could have done a Fan Dub but the file is unusable. Notice the RAI logo on the top right. That's the channel where the movie played. Alan is one of my favourite PEPLUM stars. He's always fun to watch.

Behind-the-Scenes

Yvonne de Carlo, Jorge Mistral, Massimo Serato and Rossana Rory on the set of THE SWORD AND THE CROSS (1958; aka Mary Magdalene)

Clip of the week: THE LOVES OF HERCULES (1960)

Hercules (Mickey Hargitay) takes matters into his own hands!  From HD source.

HD Alert!

Scenes from VULCAN - THE SON OF JUPITER (1962)

That's Iloosh Khoshabe (back) as Vulcan and Bella Cortez as Etna. Below is Gordon Mitchell as Pluto and Furio Meniconi as Jupiter

This HD copy is beautiful. It does have some issues in some scenes but overall it's a vast improvement over the old prints. The one issue about this production is the cheap looking set of Mount Olympus (below). Well, now we can see it the cheap set in HD! I like this movie. It's very colourful and the cast is good looking/sexy. From a Spanish streaming service.
 

New X accounts!

Here's a list of links to X (formerly Twitter) accounts. Please follow them.

I've created two new X accounts.


 SEMIRAMIS X account 

https://twitter.com/semiramisbc

Dedicated to Queens of PEPLUM cinema!



MEN OF PULP X account

https://twitter.com/menofpulp

New AI generated retro images of Men's Magazines of the past. Totally new recreations and also vintage covers.


The two old X accounts:


PEPLUM TV X account

 

https://twitter.com/PEPLUM

Main X account linked to PEPLUM TV blog.



Maciste X account 

 

https://twitter.com/MacisteMe

Dedicated to Heroes of PEPLUM cinema.

Musings!

Sappho (Tina Louise) and fellow students sneak about in SAPPHO - THE VENUS OF LESBOS (1960; aka The Warrior Empress)

A fun film which literally has everything in it. It's still pretty much missing in action. Aside from a TV broadcast in the US, an old copy I had years ago and it's the one available everywhere on the internet now after I uploaded to Youtube, the movie is forgotten. It was never released on DVD or broadcast in a nice widescreen copy anywhere in Europe. Anyway, here's a little test: above is a photo is from a Black & White lobby card. 

Above is a colour lobby card. 

 

This is a colourized version of the black and white photo made at a website which adds colour to old B&W photos.

These are the actual colours in the movie. 😂

BY THE GODS! Spring 2024 issue

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.

PEPLUM Movie Poster

British poster of TRIUMPH OF THE TEN GLADIATORS (1964) 

Maybe not the greatest art but at least we know the movie was released in cinemas in Britain, obviously with an English dub. 

Image of the week!

A pensive Goliath (Gordon Scott) plans a counter-attack after his village was burned down in GOLIATH AND THE VAMPIRES (1961)

Lobby Cards Set: HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD (1961)

Italian lobby cards set of HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD starring Reg Park, Leonora Ruffo and Christopher Lee. Beautiful and colourful set. I believe there are more cards since Italian sets were big but this collection is pretty good. 

Musings!

Deborah Kerr and Robert Taylor in QUO VADIS (1951) 

The odd thing about this spectacular epic is the two leads 'romantic' relationship. It doesn't work. Oddly enough, the actors' individual performances are good but the romantic aspects fall flat. It' not really believable. It's really the only big liability of this often maligned film. Maybe the actors didn't get along. I don't know but this problem is often seen in other PEPLUM movies with boring romantic plot lines of the lead characters. 

Behind-the-Scenes

Richard Burton hands his cigarette to a crewmember on the set of ALEXANDER THE GREAT (1956)

Clip of the week: THE LION OF THEBES (1964)

Arian (Mark Forest) is up for some wrestling! With Yvonne Furneaux + cast. Mark's stuntman is Giovanni Cianfriglia.

 

SPFX DEPT.

Scenes from KING OF KINGS (1961)

Two scenes with excellent matte paintings. The one on top is one of the best mattes I've ever seen in a movie. It's almost seamless. The one below is also very good, in a very subtle way. A small group of matte painters are responsible for the few but excellent work in this epic from Hollywood.

Vintage Article

Small article on Chelo Alonso and her emerging career. It lists a couple of PEPLUM films including ATTACK OF THE MOORS (1959).

Musings!

Maciste (Kirk Morris) fights a troll-like creature who creates the thunders in MACISTE IN THE VALLEY OF THE THUNDERING ECHOES (1964)

Sorry about the murky screenshot. There aren't any clear copies out there. I like this Kirk Morris movie. It's definitely one of my favourite of his. The entire movie is fun but this ending, which many might find goofy, really makes it memorable. I wish the fights were longe and a bit more violent but they're still fun to watch. Those troll-like creatures are original. A very colourful PEPLUM movie.

PEPLUM Movie Poster

German poster of HERCULES (1958) 

The German title translates as THE INCREDIBLE ADVENTURES OF HERCULES. A nice photo montage.

BY THE GODS! Spring 2024 issue

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!

Kira (Rosalba Neri) is about to heal a wound on Seymuth (Mimmo Palmara) with a scorching hot iron in KINDAR THE INVULNERABLE (1965)

MUSCLES Inc

 A 57 year old Steve Reeves on the cover of Muscle & Fitness (May 1983)

Musings!

Kirk Morris, as Hercules, and Andrea Scotti in CONQUEROR OF ATLANTIS (1965) 

This scene happens at the beginning of the movie. Hercules wears his usual clothes (or lack thereof). Once the adventure starts, Hercules ditches the short toga and wears anachronistic pants. I like this movie but this is the only big error in it. Hercules should have remained as he was at the beginning. It reminds us he's Hercules, you know, who's not your average man. It was sign that the PEPLUM genre was slowly dying off.

Behind-the-Scenes

Richard Egan and Rudolph Maté have a chat on the set of THE 300 SPARTANS (1962)

I just found a website that colourizes old B&W photos. So I tested it with this photo. It's nice but Richard's uniform is red not the blueish one the site used. I still like it.
 

Clip of the week: ZORIKAN THE BARBARIAN (1964)

Zorikan (Dan Vadis) is a bad man! 

 

BY THE GODS! excerpt

Gordon Scott and Jacques Sernas in GOLIATH AND THE VAMPIRES (1961)

I will posts excerpts of BY THE GODS! magazine from time to time, as a preview of sorts. Here, I wrote about this movie and even this part of the movie to explain how a movie can have more than one genre. Sernas' character looks like he's straight out of a FLASH GORDON comic book. This movie is a mash-up of different elements to create a fun and action packed movie.

You can buy BY THE GODS! Spring 2024 issue at this link.

 

Same posts, different websites

I posted this article back on April 17, 2919.

Who wore it best?

Usually it's a showdown between two celebs but this time it's four (there's actually another one but they altered the necklace too much to be included):

1 - Sophia Loren in ATTILA (1954)

2 - Irène Tunc - APHRODITE - GODDESS OF LOVE (1958)

3 - Anouk Aimée in SODOM & GOMORRAH (1962)

4 - Linda Cristal in THE PHARAOHS' WOMAN (1960)

So who wore that necklace the best?

Anyway, someone took this post and uploaded to their website and instagram. I came upon this totally by accident.

They gave credit to this website at their website but they didn't link it directly to the post, which makes the credit pointless. I won't link this to their website. 

While they didn't give any credit on their Instagram post which got over 11,000 likes (and most likely more views). Here's a screenshot of their instagram post.

 

So many steal stuff from my blog. Not cool.

Musings!

Ricardo Montalban and Carmen Sevilla in DESERT WARRIOR (1957)

This movie is always under the radar. I don't know why since the production, the cast, the widescreen cinematography, the stunning locations, the fast pace, all make for one entertaining film. It's one of the first big European adventures shot in widescreen. Everything about is top of the line and yet no one knows about it. I'm probably the only one who repeatedly wrote about it. I even made the first Fan Dub of it. Oh we'll...I need this in HD. It will be stunning!

PEPLUM Movie Poster

Spanish poster of SPARTACUS - SINS OF ROME (1953) 

Beautiful poster.

Image of the week!

Hercules (Steve Reeves) starts hearing voices after drinking from the Waters of Forgetfulness in HERCULES UNCHAINED (1959)

VHS Covers: TWO NIGHTS WITH CLEOPATRA (1954)

VHS covers of TWO NIGHTS WITH CLEOPATRA (1954)) starring Sophia Loren and others. Good selection but with average covers. No Cinematic Confusion. The US yellow one is funny. 

 

US VHS cover with racy image of Sophia taken for movie.

 

Another US VHS cover. The front cover is funny but at least the photos on the back are from the movie. 

 

Italian VHS package.

 

German VHS cover. Title is different than theatrical release.

 

VHS cover from FRANCE. 

Musings!

Spartacus (Massimo Girotti) saves Amytis (Ludmilla Tchérina) in SPARTACUS - SINS OF ROME (1953)

There are Fan Dubs (fan adding audio to film) and there are Fan Subs (fan adding subtitles). And now there are Fan Colour: someone adding colour to a Black & White movie. This rxcellent movie is in Black & White and someone decided to colourize it. The screenshot above is taken from it. You can find it on Youtube. The image is murky and mostly messed up but it's nice to see some scenes in colour. I personally dislike colourization because most of them are terrible but when it's done right, like the one for THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII (1935), it's nice to see. I posted screenshots of it here on the blog.

Behind-the-Scenes

Gianna Maria Canale and Georges Marchal have a chat on the set of THEODORA - SLAVE EMPRESS (1954). This is the massive chariot race set. I posted this photo at a *new* X account dedicated to actresses of the PEPLUM genre. Click here to view and please follow the account.