Monday, March 18, 2024

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. 

Sunday, March 10, 2024

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!"

Friday, March 8, 2024

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. 

Thursday, March 7, 2024

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)

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

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.




Tuesday, March 5, 2024

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.

Monday, March 4, 2024

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.

Friday, March 1, 2024

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.

Thursday, February 29, 2024

Musings!


Amazons (including Moira Orfei) find an injured and weak Hercules (Mickey Hargitay) after he fought with the Hydra in THE LOVES OF HERCULES (1960)

This is a good scene in a somewhat goofy movie. I like this movie and watched many times but it's a real cartoony Hercules but this scene has some dramatic weight. The Amazons are always fun to watch in a PEPLUM movie. Even though I doubt Amazons would be dressed as glamorous as them. Moira was a statuesque presence and the actress made many PEPLUM movies and, in my opinion, is one of the big 'Queens' of the genre. This was her first PEPLUM film. She's like the female Mimmo Palmara. She reportedly told the camera and lightning crew to film her better than Jayne Mansfield, who's the female lead. I posted about this battle almost 10 years ago.

Behind-the-Scenes


 Rossana Podesta and Kirk Douglas relaxing on the set of ULYSSES (1954)

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Tuesday, February 27, 2024

HD Alert!


Malcolm McDowell as Caligula in CALIGULA (1979)

At last years Cannes Film Festival, a new cut of CALIGULA, called THE ULTIMATE CUT, was shown. I got a copy of this cut in HD. It was released on Blu-ray in Spain in January 2024. This cut is apparently totally different. 

“Another feat is that not a single shot from the original film was used, which makes “Caligula – The Ultimate Cut” a completely new feature film.”

So they had 96 hours of footage and re-edited a brand new film out of that. 

Tinto Brass, the director, is apparently getting ready to sue Penthouse Films over this new cut

Seriously, I don't know how many cuts this film has. I can't keep track.

 

BY THE GODS! magazine and more...

Some might wonder where's BY THE GODS! magazine issue number 2. It's completed. But there has been changes made to it.

The magazine will be published quartely from now on. So this new issue will be for January/February/March. Issue number 3 should be available at the end of April in the middle of May.

This issue has 52 pages (covers included) which is more than issue #1. Since there'll be less issues per year and it has more pages, the price will go up one dollar. But MagCloud has a lot of specials so it's nothing really.

I thought that people wouldn't want to pay for the magazine 6 times a year at that price. So, a comprise is made. Less issues but more pages. In addition, I have new upcoming projects, including a couple about PEPLUM stuff, and they would compete with BTG! It would be too much.




I have to get a printed copy of it and once I made corrections after reading the printed copy, the magazine will become available for purchase. It's a process. I don't want to publish something with a lot of mistakes.

This issue has been fun to make. I enjoyed the whole process.



For those who didn't buy the first issue, you can buy it here.


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The other issue going on right now is with GOOGLE. Unless you live under a rock, the whole disastrous GEMINI AI situation has exploded and has revealed a totally ideologically captured mega-company. Google's AI supresses everything it believes to be incorrect. This includes blogs like mine, which is not only hosted with Google but the search results of m blog have been all over the place. Technically speaking, my blog is/was shadow banned and GEMINI is most likely the reason behind this since Google uses their AI for their entire infrastructure. 

This thing has created a host of problems which I'm still trying to figure out what to do about it. It might affect the future of the blog. Anyway, we'll see about it but this GEMINI AI thing is unreal.

Monday, February 26, 2024

Musings!


Bathing beauties in THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956) 

It's not a PEPLUM movie without a Bathing Beauty scene and this one is a Bathing Beauty scene on steroids. It's not just one lovely lady but a bunch of them. This is the scene right before baby Moses is found drifting on the Nile. I like this movie and have watched it many times but the one thing I dislike about it is the studio-bound sets. This looks like inside a studio. There's just no ways about it. Looking at it, it's difficult to figure out what time of the day it's taking place. Imagine if it had been shot outside. Oh well...

PEPLUM Movie Posters


French poster of ROLAND THE MIGHTY (1956)

Super colourful poster. I like it. Rosanna looks a bit like she belongs in a Tim Burton movie though. In GammaScope. 

Friday, February 23, 2024

Image of the week!


Pharaoh Nemorat (Corrado Pani) has designs on Shila (Debra Paget) in CLEOPATRA'S DAUGHTER (1960).