Joan Collins in a publicity photo for LAND OF THE PHARAOHS
It's Joan's birthday today. She's 80 years old. I'd love to interview her for her PEPLUM roles. Joan was 22 years old when she made this Film. Happy birthday Princess Nellifer.
Thursday, May 23, 2013
PEPLUM Cliché : Orgies/Pagan Feasts
The quintessential cliché in a PEPLUM film: orgies or pagan feasts. These scenes were big draws back in the day. They even mentioned these moments on their movie posters. I posted most of these at PEPLUM X yesterday but thought it was too good not to post it here.
Reposted at the PEPLUM Clichés page
The greatest orgy in PEPLUM history? From THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
Reposted at the PEPLUM Clichés page
A devilish looking orgy from HELEN OF TROY (1956)
A civilized feast in ALEXANDER THE GREAT; Danielle Darrieux is courted by handsome suitors
The wild feast/orgy in JULIUS CAESAR AGAINST THE PIRATES
The boring and sedated orgy in CONAN THE BARBARIAN
Gina Lollobrigida provides some excitement during a ritualistic feast in SOLOMON & SHEBA
An orgy in THE LAST ROMAN
The greatest orgy in PEPLUM history? From THE TEN COMMANDMENTS
A publicity photo for SODOM & GOMORRAH
Introducing Isabelle Corey...
PEPLUM star Isabelle Corey's first appearance in front of a camera. Isabelle's film career lasted 5 years but she appeared in several PEPLUM films including APHRODITE GODDESS OF LOVE, HEAD OF A TYRANT and THE LAST OF THE VIKINGS.
Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Photo of the Day
Yesterday I posted a pic of women bound to poles well today it's Mimmo bound to pole in the middle of some alligator (or crocs) infested waters. This is a good scene. And Mimmo is pectacular.
Titra Sound studios
Titra studios were a big post production sound studio (in New York city, as the credits says) and one can see their name on certain films. Not all PEPLUM films were dubbed by them. There were different studios, including many in Italy, but Titra dubbed big titles like GOLIATH & THE SINS OF BABYLON (above) and GOLIATH VS THE DRAGON (below).
From Wikipedia:
"Titra Sound studios is an American dubbing studio. The studio was responsible for dubbing numerous foreign films, including Mothra vs. Godzilla 1964 as well as the Speed Racer cartoon series (produced in Japan) and the original Ultraman TV series.
Among the many actors who worked for the studio were Peter Fernandez and the future Barney Miller star Hal Linden."
Sword of Rome board game
Here's a board game about the conquest of Italy called SWORD OF ROME. I never played it but it looks like the RISK board game.
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Photo of the Day
Filmed at Tor Caldana location (see previous post), this scene is sorta oddly serious compared to the rest of the lightweight Hercules adventure. In this scene Livio and the villains try to determine who is the real Queen and no one wants to divulge her identity so they're forced to stand attached to the poles overnight and the next day they whip the women who all start to claim they are the Queen (a la "I am Spartacus!").
What movie?
Can you identify the movie from this screenshot?
(I should have included this example for the Landscape post...)
MURENA comic
The French (and Belgians) really love their PEPLUM adventures and the endless number of adult-oriented comic books are a testament to this love. Here's another comic called MURENA in its original edition but called SWORDS OF ROME in the English translation above (great cover!). The comic includes full nudity but had to be altered for the English edition. You can view the uncensored version at PEPLUM X.
This is a censored example of the artwork
Monday, May 20, 2013
Photo of the Day
Julie Newmar in an improbable dance sequence from SERPENT OF THE NILE
There are a lot of anachronistic elements in this dance sequence but regardless, overlooking those details the dance itself is, hmm, showy and sexy but, in the end, tacky. Julie's dance in SLAVES OF BABYLON is one of the best and is light years more believable than this one. Both SLAVES and SERPENT were directed by William Castle!
Movie Poster Mondays
French poster for THE SON OF CAPTAIN BLOOD
Sean Flynn following in his father's footsteps.
Sean Flynn following in his father's footsteps.
HERCULES AND THE MASKED RIDER - Alan Steel vs Mimmo Palmara
One of the fights between two Italian PEPLUM legends; uploaded to my new PEPLUM TV channel
Sunday, May 19, 2013
Photo of the Day
Hercules gets guidance from his father Zeus in the TV cartoon show THE MIGHTY HERCULES
Give me this clean-line animation over the stuff made today. I also like how the show based the look on the typical Greek style and not some bastardization (even though I'm not against alterations) which doesn't look like anything remotely Minoan, Greek or Hellenistic. I'd love to see a full featured film with this look.
The double becomes a PEPLUM star!
Scilla Gabel was a stand-in/body double for Sophia Loren for several of the latter's films. Sophia's star, in the US and around the world, really rose with the release of BOY ON A DOLPHIN. Everyone talked about the underwater swimming scenes in which Loren would appear climbing on a boat all wet. Well those underwater scenes, except for those of Sophia filmed in a studio, were done with Scilla Gabel (see below) so part of Loren's glory should have went to Scilla. Tired of being just a body double Scilla started getting roles and eventually appeared in many PEPLUM films and became a PEPLUM star in her own right.
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