Category: blu-ray

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.

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!

About those new HERCULES Blu-rays from Artus Films…

I got the new Blu-rays of HERCULES (1958) and HERCULES UNCHAINED (1959) last week. They are combo Blu-ray and DVD. The packaging for both is stellar and the HERCULES package includes an amazing booklet. The packaging/booklet: 10 out of 10.

With that being said, there’s nothing else worth mentioning. The prints on those Blu-rays are identical to the problematic Japanese Blu-rays. Well, they’re not Japanese but those prints first appeared in Japan and have basically been the same prints recycled ever since. I already wrote extensively about those Japanese BDs and I have nothing else to add. It’s a major disappointment but not unexpected. There were rumours that the Artus Films’ prints were from Britain but this was obviously false.

So, to recap: the Japanese BDs were first with these blah HD prints. Then came copies from a RAI HD streaming service. Then I recently got the Spanish Blu-ray of HERCULES UNCHAINED and now I have these two. They’re all the same. It seems I’m repeating myself. As a collector, I’m ok with having these and I’m aware people in France won’t buy the Japanese BDs but also as a collector,  I’m over it. I’m not buying anything related to the two Steve Reeves classics unless they’re clearly different/better prints.

New (old) stuff…

I purchased 2 DVDs and 1 Blu-ray from Spain. 2 very good purchases. One meh.

 

Chelo Alonso and Mark Forest in SON OF SAMSON

The SON OF SAMSON (1960) Blu-ray is excellent and has the English audio. Grainier and slightly darker than the KINO LORBER US Blu-ray release.

Steve Reeves in THE GIANT OF MARATHON

THE GIANT OF MARATHON (1959) DVD is disappointing. It’s in widescreen but 4:3 format, which means those black bars above and below the dark and murky widescreen image. Spanish audio only.

The biggest surprise was the HERO OF BABYLON (1963) DVD, titled as EL SACRIFICIO DE LAS ESCLAVAS. The quality is excellent. Best copy of this movie anywhere and I have a lot of versions of this title. Italian and Spanish audios only.

Geneviève Grad (above) and Gordon Scott (below) in HERO OF BABYLON (1963)

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.

Update on the HERCULES / HERCULES UNCHAINED Artus Films Blu-rays…

It seems that Artus Films got a hold of better prints than the first time they tried to get HERCULES (1958) and HERCULES UNCHAINED (1959) released a couple of years ago. These prints are from the UK. So a French distributor will release Blu-rays of these films in French and not English from prints from the British Film Institute?

Here’s a screenshot of the information at a movies forum.

New to the collection!

At the beginning of November, I went on a break!  The first on this break my main computer crashed. I’m still in the process of recuperating everything from it. It’s going to take some time. Just before my computer crashed, I received a new batch of title I bought at Amazon.de. I’m very happy with it even though there’s always some confusion in regards to the differences of these German Blu-rays. They have multiple versions of the same titles, some with a ‘mediabook’ and some without, with different prices. It’s sometimes hard to figure what is what.

Fortunately, all my movies are stored in external hard drives and nothing was lost. But with the main computer down, and only working with old laptops, finishing BY THE GODS magazine was delayed, yet again. This is just an update to say that new posts will comes in the future but for now I’m still in recovery process.