The English dub of ATTILA (1954)…

There are too many PEPLUM movies released with an English dub version that are still missing. Recently, the English dub of SEVEN SLAVES AGAINST ROME (or Seven Slaves Against the World), one I’ve been looking for for since 2007, surfaced recently. It was quite amazing. The source was a fellow in the UK who works on Fan Dubs and enjoys/is inspired by my work. It shouldn’t be this way but alas, the PEPLUM genre gets very little respect and this is the result.

One movie with big stars, ATTILA (1954), with Anthony Quinn, Sophia Loren, and directed by Pietro Francisci, has an English version but so far there’s only ONE source for it. I have the VHS copy from the UK and that’s it. I got it decades ago from ATLAS VISUALS, a trading website which had so many rare titles but eventually disappeared after some shady goings-on with the site. This copy is the only one out there. The English version of ATTILA hasn’t even been shown on TCM or even included in the Sophia Loren boxset, which I bought, and even though her other movies have the English Dub, ATTILA is in Italian only.

There’s an (unofficial?) DVD (below) from the UK which has the Italian version and it has the English print as extra but the copy on it is from the same source, the VHS one I got from ATLAS VISUALS.

So, hopefully, the English version, in which we hear Quinn’s voice but Sophia was dubbed by someone else, will surface one day…Blu-ray, streaming, whatever. Considering the star power, I’m surprised it hasn’t happened yet.

New COLOSSUS OF RHODES Blu-ray from France…

There’s a new Blu-ray release of THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES (1961). It’s from France. I have to say that the HD prints I’ve seen of other Blu-ray releases haven’t enthralled me. Can this one be better?

The cover art is different.

The release has no French dub. Only in Italian with French subtitles. It’s so odd.

PDF Lists of titles…

I’ve been doing the PEPLUM blog for 15 years and this one for a while now and trying to maintain a good idea of the many movies out there is difficult. My collection is sorta sorted but there’s no clear order in that I need to arrange everything (I have titles spread out on multiple different external hard drives). I’m not disciplined enough to keep tabs. Thankfully, my very helpful contact in Europe does keep his titles and versions with 5 different lists on PDF.

The lists include PEPLUM; ADVENTURE; SWORD & SORCERY; FILMS IN ANTIQUITY and a list of Adult PEPLUM movies. These list are very helpful. Since I trade with this fellow, I have a lot of the same titles and versions…but not all of them. He still has versions I don’t have and vice versa. But having these lists have helped me a lot with the blogs. I began making DIFFERENT TITLES years ago, before I got these lists but once I got them they became indispensable. These lists are *not* for sale. They’re just reference.

Different versions of ATTILA (1954)

 

Different versions of ROLAND THE MIGHTY (1956)

Those NERO AND POPPEA – An Orgy Of Power Blu-rays…

I watch any kind of PEPLUM themed movies, including those adult ones from the 1970s and 1980s. I will buy any Blu-ray as long as the price is reasonable but the prices for the German NERO AND POPPEA – AN ORGY OF POWER (1982) Blu-rays are ridiculous. I know they have limited appeal and therefore they are limited prints and to recoup the price of these they need to jack up the prices but 54 Euros? Wow! I mean, the price of seeing these movies back in the day at adult theatres was something like 3 bucks. There are a handful of different covers and media books. The English track is included in all versions.

A nice and delicate scene from the movie!

BY THE GODS! magazine no 4…

I’m currently working on the 4th issue of BY THE GODS! magazine. I won’t set a date when it will be available since every time I tried that before something happened and I had to delay the release date. Here’s an incomplete cover preview. This will be issue #1 of 2025 but the 4th overall printed magazine.

 

New batch of German DVDs…

I know, DVDs are passé but there are so few PEPLUM movies on Blu-ray that DVDs are, for the most part, still a thing. And I got a good batch here. When I mean New I don’t mean they are new releases but new to my collection.

COLOSSUS OF ROME (aka Hero of Rome); THE TROJAN HORSE and THE CENTURION (aka Conqueror of Corinth). This is a DVD pack. Good news: all DVDs have English audio! Bad new: the image quality of CENTURION and TROJAN HORSE are not really good. I bought this pack for TROJAN HORSE and CENTURION. The image quality of COLOSSUS OF ROME is excellent but I already had this DVD.

Amazon.de

GOLIATH AND THE SINS OF BABYLON – German audio; HERCULES THE INVINCIBLE – German and Italian audios; TWO GLADIATORS – German audio.

The image quality of these three DVDs are excellent with TWO GLADIATORS being my favourite.

Richard Harrison and Giuliano Gemma in TWO GLADIATORS.

And last but not least:

THE LAST ROMAN and THE LAST ROMAN Part 2 DVD set. German audio only. It’s great to have both films together.