Month: October 2022

What made HERCULES (1958) so popular?

One of the aspects of the PEPLUM genre which irks me is  the dismissive attitude of the success of HERCULES (1958). Many say that it became popular because of clever marketing by Joseph E. Levine. The  marketing aspect for the U.S. release might be one of the reasons but not the only reason. This claim basically says the movie is worthless and that it didn’t have any redeeming qualities.

I’ll be writing about this for an article in the soon to be published magazine of BY THE GODS!.

What do you think made this movie such a success? The movie rivalled along much bigger Hollywood movies.

What is it just clever marketing? The movie is just darn good? The casting of Steve Reeves as Hercules?

Steve Reeves as Hercules and crew of the Argonaut.

MARCO POLO (1962) Blu-ray…

KINO LORBER has announced the upcoming release of MARCO POLO (1962) starring Rory Calhoun and Yoko Tani (above) on Blu-ray. The movie will be available early 2023. It will be the US print, with opening credits in English, as opposed to KINO LORBER’s version of SAMSON AND THE 7 MIRACLES OF THE WORLD, which didn’t have a genuine new transfer of the US version but a Fan Dub they created. Hugo Fregonese is credited for the English version while Piero Pierotti is credited for the Italian one. Can’t wait to see this.

From the KINO LORBER Facebook account:

The release will only include one cut. The credits on our master are in English and Hugo receives directing credit, so I’m sure it’s not the Italian version where Piero is credited as the director. The running time is 104 minutes and 13 seconds.