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Upcoming Blu-rays…

A new batch of Blu-rays will be released soon or early next year, most of them from KINO LORBER. They are all US releases.

GOLIATH & THE VAMPIRES (1961) starring Gordon Scott. The Blu-ray will be released as SAMSON VS THE VAMPIRES…why? I dunno. The prints currently available are mostly poor so a nice Blu-ray of this title is highly anticipated.

THE WAR LORD (1965) starring Charlton Heston. Excellent movie. Looking forward to this.

RASPUTIN – THE MAD MONK (1966). Maybe my favourite Christopher Lee / Hammer movie.

THE PERILS OF GWENDOLINE IN THE LAND OF THE YIK YAK (1984),  or just GWENDOLINE, starring Tawny Kitaen. Story starts in contemporary times and ends up in a lost civilization with female gladiators and a chariot race with women in lieu of horses. The second half is a must see for PEPLUM fans. For those who don’t know, boatload of female flesh and Brent Huff as the sole provider of male flesh. The emphasis is on nudity. Excellent soundtrack. Totally silly and yet entertaining. From the Just Jaeckin, director of EMMANUELLE (1974).

THE MAGIC SWORD (1962) starring Gary Lockwood. Classic film.

COBRA WOMAN (1944) starring Maria Montez, Sabu and Jon Hall. Can’t wait to see this!!! Love this movie! Incredible Technicolor.

THE WONDERS OF ALADDIN (1961) starring Donald O’Connor. This release will be interesting. I must say that I’m not a big fan of it but maybe the Blu-ray treatment will change my mind. There’s really good stuff in it but the story is lacking. I’m still happy for its BR release.

New batch of PEPLUM figurines

I came across a vast array of elaborate figurines of characters based on recent PEPLUM movies. TROY (2004), 300 (2006),  and 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (2014). There are even more figurines for other titles, such as HERCULES (2014).

Over $300 for some figurines.

Above and below: Figurine of Eric Bana as Hector from TROY (2004).

Above and below: Brad Pitt as Achilles from TROY (2004). Thank Zeus they didn’t use the blue costume.

Based on 300: RISE OF AN EMPIRE (2014)

Who’s going to buy these? Is there such a big demand?

Them blue costumes in TROY…

As a PEPLUM fan I come across many comments (from fans and non-fans) about the costumes men wear in those productions, including the tiny tunics heroes wore. Personally, I never had an issue with any of them…until TROY (2004)

Above and below: Brad Pitt, as Achilles, sporting some truly unflattering costumes.

Not to be outdone, Orlando Bloom (Paris) and Eric Bana (Hector) also wore some unflattering costumes. The one on Bloom doesn’t look as bad as the one on Bana, which makes him look like he’s got cleavage with the tank top style drooping on him. The costumes might be authentic to a certain extent but nope, they’re not good. Never came across such costumes in old PEPLUM movies.

THE LOVES OF HERCULES…monster show!

Halloween week at BY THE GODS!

The fun thing about PEPLUM movies are the many monsters and creatures that appear in them even if the movie itself is not considered a horror movie. Something like PERSEUS THE INVINCIBLE or MEDUSA VS THE SON OF HERCULES. Or even any Ray Harryhausen movie filled with animated monsters. THE LOVES OF HERCULES (1960) is another of such movie. It’s a veritable monster show.


Hercules (Mickey Hargitay) fights the Hydra


There’s this monster at the very end of the movie.

And these men turned into killer trees…with Jayne Mansfield in the clutches of killer branches.

Rejoice…THIEF OF BAGHDAD in HD!

Great news on the Blu-ray front:  THIEF OF BAGHDAD (1961)  starring Steve Reeves, Giorgia Moll, Hedy Vessel and Arturo Dominici will finally get a proper HD transfer. This has been a long time coming. All DVD releases were terrible, which horrible pan & scan or faux widescreen aspect ratios, and murky image quality. This is one of my most sought after titles and it’ll be available in Germany. I’ve already ordered it. This Blu-ray also has the Italian, German and English audio. This is a great Christmas present. In fact, the movie has a very Christmassy feel to it so hopefully I’ll receive before the holidays. Thanks to Chris for this tip.

Link to Amazon.de : THIEF OF BAGHDAD

Check out the screengrabs.

How a Mark Forest movie became a Giuliano Gemma one…

HERCULES AGAINST THE SONS OF THE SUN (1964) is one of Mark Forest best PEPs. It’s colourful, action packed and the setting is sorta original. Giuliano is barely featured in the movie’s posters. Well, when the film was re-released in the 1970s all reference to Mark disappeared. It became a Giuliano Gemma movie. Giuliano is on the movie but he’s not the main star. Mark was. But by the 1970s, Mark had disappeared from the world of acting and Gemma was a popular star, thanks mainly to his Spaghetti Westerns. Even the VHS home release had Giuliano on the cover. Mark is nowhere to be seen.


ULYSSES in HD

I recently posted about getting the Blu-ray version of ULYSSES (1954), wondering which one to get: the German print or Japanese print. Well, someone (Alan) sent me a link to a HD version of a TV broadcast of the movie in France. It is gorgeous. Makes the movie look like a million bucks. I’m still wondering which Blu-ray to get but in the meantime this one will suffice. It’s only in French with no other language available. Starring Kirk Douglas, Sylvana Mangano and Umberto Silvestri. These screenshots don’t do it justice.

Cinematic confusion…the saga continues

Ebay seller mis-identifies movie and identifies Helga Liné as Hélène Chanel! The photos are from MISSIONE SABBIE ROVENTI (1966) with Howard Ross (aka Renato Rossini).

Another one I came across on eBay:

Portuguese DVD for FURY OF HERCULES which stars Brad Harris but they used a photo of Gordon Scott’s head. That’s NOT his body. So, Gordon Scott is now a substitute for Steve Reeves and Brad Harris.

Hercules board games

Unbeknownst to me, there are (or were) some board games based on Hercules.

This one is called FEATS OF HERCULES and it’s from the 90s. Funny enough, it’s in Greek! Can’t find an English version of this.

Board game based on the animated movie from Disney. It’s a board game for kids.

I’m still trying to figure out what this game is. It’s called ‘THE LABOURS OF HERCULES: Taming the beast within’ puzzle game. There are 4 different packs.

This one looks the most interesting. The creators are Chinese but text is in English. According to a board games website, the game was never published but one set is available on eBay. There are videos on Youtube about it.