Month: May 2021

The GOLIATH AND THE VAMPIRES Kino Lorber saga comes to an end…

The never-ending saga of the GOLIATH AND THE VAMPIRES (1961) Kino Lorber Blu-ray release has been shelved indefinitely. KL announced the tentative release back in November 2019 and has been delayed repeatedly up until they couldn’t pretend anymore. I’m not surprise about this announcement. I’ve chronicled the entire saga since day one here at BTG so this announcement is not a shock. Disappointment, yes, but shock, no. It seems those who have the rights to the movie didn’t want KL to get their hands on it. So, it boiled down to a rights issue. I hope Kino Lorber, which is a great distributor, learns a lesson here. Don’t announce a release if the legalities haven’t been fully finalized.

Artus Films to release two titles…in DVD format…

Artus Films is churning some interesting titles, including THE MIGHTY CRUSADERS (1958) starring Sylva Koscina and Gianna Maria Canale, REVENGE OF THE CRUSADER (1964) starring Alberto Lupo and Stephen Forsyth. Those were announced months ago but now they added two new titles to their roster: TIGER OF THE SEVEN SEAS (1962) starring Gianna Maria Canale, and THE LION OF ST MARK (1962) starring Gordon Scott and Gianna. Both movies directed by Luigi Capuano. No information yet on the audio options (if English will be included).

Update: Amazon.fr has both movies listed and audio options are limited to  Italian and French only, no English.

I wonder why so many European distributors are suddenly releasing titles on DVD and not on BD. I’m happy for these releases but HD is the way of the future.

As I already noted here at BTG, Artus Films is also scheduled to release both Steve Reeves’ HERCULES movies on Blu-ray.

Not many titles in the foreseeable future…

If you check Blu-ray.com, there are *no* upcoming PEPLUM titles listed. Not one. SAMSON VS THE VAMPIRES is still missing in action but that’s been on-going for nearly a year and a half. The only new titles are from Germany in a two pack DVD set with REVENGE OF THE GLADIATORS (1964) starring Mickey Hargitay, and SEVEN REBEL GLADIATORS (1965) starring Roger Browne. Both films will only have German audio option.

THE SIGN OF THE CROSS 1944 re-release

Cecil B. DeMille’s THE SIGN OF THE CROSS (1932) was a rare PEPLUM movie of the 1930s. It was a success and 11 years later, the movie was re-released for the second time (it was also re-issued in 1938). New footage was added to the 1944, which can be seen in the trailer posted below. For decades, this version was the only version available. The original pre-code 1932 cut, with all the naughty stuff, was too racy once the Hayes code was set in place. All the cuts scenes were eventually restored in the 1990s and the 1944 version disappeared even if for many people it was, with the WW 2 angle, the one they saw on television.

The question is: will this 1944 version ever be available again?

The only solution to THE BIG FISHERMAN dilemma

Disney has stated that they will never release THE BIG FISHERMAN (1959) on DVD or Blu-ray, or even make it available for streaming or cable in its original widescreen format in the United States. Ever. So what’s the solution? Whether one is a fan of it is not important. Removing a movie from circulation is wrong but Disney has no interest in it. Fortunately, the movie is available in an odd Italian DVD set. It includes the 4:3 version in English (horrible print) and a widescreen print only in Italian. A Fan Dub is in oder I guess but in the meantime what’s the solution? My most excellent source of PEPLUM movies already got a working set of English subtitles for the widescreen Italian version. Voila!

It’s odd that one has to watch a Hollywood movie in a language other than English to be able to see it but there’s nothing one can do about it. Oddly enough, watching this PEPLUM movie in Italian actually makes it more ‘authentic’.

Susan Kohner and Howard Keel in this hard to find movie.

Herbert Lom and Martha Hyer