Looking for…

I’m looking for a copy of the Finnish VHS tape of THE DEVILS OF SPARTIVENTO (pictured). The VHS tape was in English and it’s out there but where. If you know someone who has a copy, please post info in the comment section.

I’m also looking for a Scandinavian copy (Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish, etc) of THE SEVEN REVENGES starring Ed Fury. Also in English.

 

SUDAN on Blu-ray…

Nothing much on the BR front. The one interesting title, and it’s a pretty cool one, comes from the new Maria Montez – Jon Hall BD set. The set, which will be released in July, includes WHITE SAVAGE, GYPSY WILDCAT and SUDAN. Of course, their bigger titles, like COBRA WOMAN, ARABIAN NIGHTS and ALI BABA AND THE FORTY THIEVES, have all been available on BD already. So this set is not the top Montez – Hall titles but it’s still great news. SUDAN is a pretty cool movie. Buying the set just for that title will be worth it.

Jon Hall and Maria Montez

Price drop on SON ODF SAMSON Blu-ray…

The upcoming SON OF SAMSON Blu-ray from Kino Lorber has just gotten a price reduction at Amazon. It was priced as $24.95 before but now sells for $17.99. That’s a pretty good deal. If you haven’t pre-ordered it yet, do it now and support PEPLUM movies. Official release date: May 10.

AMAZON.COM

Mark Forest and Chelo Alonso

The CALIGULA Blu-ray Bundle…

Severin has a CALIGULA Blu-ray bundle. A two pack with CALIGULA: THE UNTOLD STORY (1982), directed by Joe D’Amato, and CALIGULA AND  MESSALINA (1981), directed by Bruno Mattei. Now I’m aware that these types of ‘x-rated’ PEPLUM movies are not for everyone but it’s still part of the genre, at one extreme. Besides, the Mattei epic uses a lot of scenes from old PEPLUM movies in it which is always fun to spot.

I have a brief overview of CALIGULA AND MESSALINA at PEPLUM TV blog.

CALIGULA Blu-ray bundle at Severin

SON OF SAMSON pre-order…

SON OF SAMSON Blu-ray release by KINO LORBER is now available for pre-order at Amazon. This is great news.

SON OF SAMSON BD @ AMAZON

The BD is still available for pre-order in Canada but there’s still two months left so I’ll wait and see.

Below is the official artwork of the release. Looks great.

This Blu-ray release is a complete opposite of the KL attempted release of the ill-fated GOLIATH AND THE VAMPIRES.

Are you ready for 4K?

Are you ready for PEPLUM movies in 4K?

There are already titles, all of them from Hollywood, that are available in 4K, such as SPARTACUS (1960) and THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956). See Youtube video linked above. The scene they used for the comparison (below) is not impressive. I see some different, mostly clarity, or less fuzzy, but of all the scenes they could have used from THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, they used that one? Mind boggling. Oh well…

 

As usual, Hollywood big titles are getting the 4K treatment first. There are few PEPLUM movies from Italy on Blu-ray so the prospect of seeing HERCULES (1958) in 4K are not in the immediate future.

About that SON OF SAMSON Blu-ray…

Kino Lorber has announced that they will have a Blu-ray release of SON OF SAMSON (1960) starring the late Mark Forest. This is great news! It seems now that distributors in North America have finally realized of the many beautiful prints in HD broadcasted on TV or from streaming services in Europe. Oddly enough, an HD print, in English and the original cut in Italian, are already available on the internet. I have both copies. They are stunning. The English copy is 85 minutes long while the uncut Italian one with English subs is 94 minutes. Adding these two new copies to my collection, I now have 11 different versions of this movie, including one from RAI which is also very nice.

Thanks to info from my friend in Europe, SON OF SAMSON is already available in HD on Amazon in the UK so these copies on the internet are most likely from this source. The screenshot above is from the copy I have. But where does the original Italian one, with English subs, comes from? It’s odd that the announcement from Kino Lorber coincided with the availability of this movie at one movie website (which shall remain nameless…to protect them). Regardless, if the Kino Lorber release is from the same source, it will be amazing. It’s one of the rare occasions when the Blu-ray of a PEPLUM movie will become available in North America before Europe.

And yes I will buy the Kino Lorber Blu-ray once it’s released.