Category: Blog

New German Blu-rays have arrived…

I received the three German Blu-rays last Friday. I got to look at them for a while and I’m pleased with all of them. The BDs are:

Steve Reeves (or Giovanni Cianfriglia…) in THE SON OF SPARTACUS (1962)

Fausto Tozzi and Christine Kaufmann in a familiar setting in CONSTANTINE AND THE CROSS (1961)

Massimo Serata in THE GOLDEN FALCON (1955)

The best of the three is THE SON OF SPARTACUS since it includes the English audio. A definite plus but the image is also excellent. The other two are missing the English dubs and the image quality is good but a bit murky. The super widescreen of THE GOLDEN FALCON is impressive. I wish all these BDs had the English audio but alas it’s often something too hard to ask for.

I’ll have more detailed overviews of each release soon.

GOR German Blu-rays…

Germany seems to love the GOR movies starring Urbano Barberini. Even if the movies have yet to appear in any BD or DVD formats in the US, the German market is overflowing with them.

Here are 4 Blu-ray editions to select from:

This is the new Blu-ray release with both GOR and OUTLAW OF GOR. Release April 2023.

Blow are three different collectors covers of the same edition released one year ago.

This one claims to be uncut and it includes the Blu-ray and DVD discs.

And last…the DVD release.

Does anyone out there bought all different editions and what differs from one another?

Batch of new titles on Blu-ray…

A batch of new Blu-ray releases of PEPLUM titles from Germany has been announced. Getting all of these will be costly as Amazon Germany adds Shipping & Handling.

THE MONGOLS – In German and Italian only

Link

THE LION OF ST MARK – In German and English

Link

CONSTANTINE AND THE CROSS – In German and Italian only!

Link

THE SON OF SPARTACUS (aka The Slave) – In German, Italian and English!

Link

THE GOLDEN FALCON – In German only

Link

And there’s the HANNIBAL Blu-ray I already mentioned before. There’s also a new boxset of GOR and GOR II from Germany that was released in January.

Ed Fury, R.I.P.

Ed Fury, one of the original PEPLUM stars of the 1960s, died on February 24. He was a young 94 years old. Ed starred as Ursus in 3 movies, THE MIGHTY URSUS (above and below), URSUS IN THE VALLEY OF LIONS and URSUS IN THE LAND OF FIRE. He also starred in a few other PEPLUM productions. For a full list of his movies, visit the main PEPLUM TV blog.

PEPLUM TV

Are US prints of PEPLUM movies gone for good?

With the recent Kino Lorber Blu-ray release of MARCO POLO (1962), something seems to be missing: US prints of PEPLUM movies. The new MARCO POLO BD is the International English Dub with the Angelo Lavagnino score, not the US print with opening credits reflecting the changes to it and no Les Baxter score. The US print, againt, is M.I.A.. I’m happy there are Blu-ray releases of PEPLUM movies but the missing US versions is a sad reality. Aside from HERCULES IN THE HAUNTED WORLD (below), starring Reg Park, there hasn’t been a decent HD print of a US version ever. Yes, the recent HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN Blu-ray release is the US version but the print is terrible. No US version of SAMSON AND THE SEVEN MIRACLES OF THE WORLD and now MARCO POLO. I sense a bad trend.

HANNIBAL Blu-ray…

German Blu-ray edition of HANNIBAL (1959) starring Victor Mature and Rita Gam, will be available in 2023.

Here’s the brief info on it:

Theatrical version (German & US version identical), uncut , 2 discs, BD (2x), contains bonus disc, extras in HD (partly), media book

It’s being sold as a Bud Spencer – Terence Hill movie. Hill’s role is extensive but Spencer’s role is almost a cameo.