Category: hercules

The German Gladiator DVD 2-pack…

As I stated in my last post, the German Gladiator 2-pack was canceled and I was refunded. I didn’t return it or ask for a refund. It most likely was lost during the terrible floods that besieged Germany. So I re-ordered it and I finally got it today. Is it worth buying? For those who only watch movies in English…no. It’s not worth it. There’s only the German dubs in this pack. Not even the Italian versions are included. And there’s no English dub as well. For me, as a PEPLUM mega fan, I’m glad I bought it even though it’s pretty much the same as what’s available out there. Here’s a quick round-up. The size of the screenshots reflect the differences in resolution.

SEVEN REBEL GLADIATORS

The movie is the same as the Italian DVD but at a higher resolution and in German only.

José Greci. The prints are identical but the German one is at a higher resolution.

The runtime between the two prints are virtually the same, minus a minute or so with the German print. 1024×572 is the resolution, which is higher than the print from the Italian DVD.

Note: I incorrectly named this movie as SEVEN SLAVES AGAINST ROME in previous posts. I corrected it.

 

REVENGE OF THE GLADIATORS

Now this one IS different than what’s available out there but it closely resembles the Italian copy I have from an Italian TV broadcast. The German print from the 2-pack is overly saturated and not as sharp.

Rodalno Lupi and Renato Baldini. The German print has more info on the left side but less on the right side than the Italian one.

The runtime is very different. As usual, the German print is cut. Its runtime is 82 minutes (PAL) while the Italian copy is 93 minutes (also PAL). That’s a whopping 11 minutes removed from the German print. I have to check it out further to see what was cut. The resolution for the German print is at 1000×428. Again, this resolution is higher than the one from the Italian TV broadcast.

Note: the runtimes posted at the Amazon.de page are incorrect.

HERCULES and HERCULES UNCHAINED in 4K…

Regular reader Joe mentioned that HERCULES (1958) and HERCULES UNCHAINED (1959) are available on Youtube in 4K. He provided the links to two separate channels. The prints there are pretty good. Are they truly 4K though?

The versions available at the Youtube channel are:

HERCULES is the International English version, available on the French DVD. It’s not the Avco Embassy English dub.

As for HERCULES UNCHAINED, it’s from the German DVD. Many scenes are cut, including Ulysses telling Hercules he’s fighting Antaeus, which are identical to the cuts found on this German DVD.

Both movies were uploaded to their respective channels yesterday!

Thanks to Joe for the quick updates on these uploads.

The GOLIATH AND THE VAMPIRES Kino Lorber saga comes to an end…

The never-ending saga of the GOLIATH AND THE VAMPIRES (1961) Kino Lorber Blu-ray release has been shelved indefinitely. KL announced the tentative release back in November 2019 and has been delayed repeatedly up until they couldn’t pretend anymore. I’m not surprise about this announcement. I’ve chronicled the entire saga since day one here at BTG so this announcement is not a shock. Disappointment, yes, but shock, no. It seems those who have the rights to the movie didn’t want KL to get their hands on it. So, it boiled down to a rights issue. I hope Kino Lorber, which is a great distributor, learns a lesson here. Don’t announce a release if the legalities haven’t been fully finalized.

Comparison between the new HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN Blu-ray…

I’ve made an extensive comparison of the new HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN (1961) Blu-ray with two other versions. It’s at the main PEPLUM TV blog.

Read the review here:

Article of the week: HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN (1961) Blu-ray review

HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN Blu-ray pre-order…

HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN (1961) Blu-ray is now available for pre-order.

AMAZON.COM

AMAZON.CA

The official page includes beautiful screenshots of this upgrade. As stated at the website, the new 4K transfer is from a 35 mm print, not a Technirama print.

They even restored the original US trailer.

This looks like a great release!

The Film Detective

HD releases of…HERCULES (1958) and HERCULES UNCHAINED (1959)…(update)

Lo and behold, two new HD releases of HERCULES  and HERCULES UNCHAINED by Artus in France.

(The problem, I can’t find these releases anywhere, including at Artus’ website or even Amazon. I’m trying to figure out what’s going on here.)

I just got news that these might be available in May. The ‘sold out’ notice is not an actual current status of the product.

Here are covers of these releases. They both come with booklets, and a Blu-ray disc and a standard DVD. No English tracks though.

HERCULES (1958)

HERCULES UNCHAINED (1959)

Here’s the link to the website.

It says that they’re already sold out for both titles (in red at the bottom left corner).

If anyone out there has more info on these releases please leave a comment.

Year in review…

BY THE GODS! shorts

There’s so much to say about 2020…but I’ll spare you all of the bad stuff.

This blog was created in preparation for a new project, mainly a magazine, or zine, named BY THE GODS!. But the pandemic happened and everything was put on hold until further notice. Hopefully 2021 will be better than 2020 in regards to everything, including this much delayed project.

There were other disappointments, including the long announced but still missing Blu-ray of SAMSON AGAINT THE VAMPIRES. There’s no need for me to go over it again now since I wrote a couple of articles on this m.i.a. BR.

Link

The best news for the PEPLUM genre were HD TV broadcast/streaming service of PEPLUM movies from mainly Italy, and some from France. A dozen or so titles have suddenly popped up and most of them are beautiful, certainly CONQUEROR OF CORINTH (1961; aka The Centurion) with Gianna in HD.

But recent announcements of new Blu-ray releases have sorta been disappointing as well, with the delayed release of the German BR of DUEL OF THE TITANS and the inclusion of MST3K in the upcoming US Blu-ray of HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN. I mean, why?

Also, Warner Archives have announced new titles for January, and not one single PEPLUM movie listed, or even action movie.

Oh well…good riddance to 2020.

More Blu-rays…

Four new titles on the Blu-ray front:

First, SODOM AND GOMORRAH (1962) – German release. This is good news in that the regular DVD from Germany for this movie had many issues. So a brand new pristine print, hopefully uncut, is a welcome addition to the ever growing list of PEPLUM titles going BR. For now, there’s no cover or any images from this print. Directed by Robert Aldrich and Sergio Leone, though some dismiss this, saying it’s an Aldrich movie all the way. Starring Daniele Vargas and Scilla Gabel (above), among many other familiar PEPLUM actors.

Second, IRONMASTER (1983), directed by Umberto Lenzi. I’m happy about this BR release. I like this movie and seeing in HD will be cool. One of the better PEPLUM movies of the 1980s starring George Eastman, Sam Pasco, Elvire Audray, and veteran PEPLUM actors Benito Stefanelli, Nello Pazzafini, and Giovanni Cianfriglia. Release date: April 13, 2021.

Third, also from Germany, DUEL ON THE MISSISSIPPI (1955) will be released on Blu-ray. Some say this is not a PEPLUM but there’s Lex Barker, there are sword fights in it, and it was directed by William Castle. That’s enough for me. I hope the print will be better that the photos provided at the website.

It was also announced that HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN (1961) will be released on Blu-ray by The Film Detective. I’m not familiar with that company and from reading about them on forums, the prospect doesn’t seem to be that great. From what I’ve read, the version will be the US theatrical cut which is shorter than the original cut known in English as HERCULES CONQUERS ATLANTIS. It’s seems that the print is from a new 4K restoration, which is great news. STUDIOCANAL, the French distribution/production company owns the movie and they usually have great transfers. Unfortunately, STUDIOCANAL are also very strict and the chances of this new copy uploaded to Youtube without some sort of restrictions seems unlikely.

I’m wondering: does STUDIOCANAL also have the US print of this, which has soundtrack bits from CREATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON? Anyway, this is welcome news. The sad part of this release is that it won’t contain the original European cut, instead it’ll have the MST3K episode with the movie. Why would they do this?

To be released on April 13, 2021.

HERCULES AND THE CAPTIVE WOMEN

New batch of HD prints!

There’s a current batch of PEPLUM titles now available in HD. These titles are not available on Blu-ray but were broadcast in HD or are available for streaming. This bodes well for the genre. Titles long left in obscurity now look absolutely amazing! Looking forward to more titles in the future.

Above and below: CLEOPATRA’S DAUGHTER (1960) starring Debra Paget and Corrado Pani. The most stunning HD print of a PEPLUM title, even surpassing the equally stunning German Blu-ray of THIEF OF BAGHDAD (1961) starring Steve Reeves. I’m just amazed by the clarity of the image. This movie has not been released on BR but is available as a streaming title in Italy.

Above and below (2): Another beautiful print of a favourite movie of mine, ULYSSES AGAINST HERCULES (1962) starring Georges Marchal. Not as stunning as CLEOPATRA’S DAUGHTER or THIEF OF BAGHDAD it’s still great to see.

ULYSSES AGAINST HERCULES was filmed on the Canary Islands. As the image above shows, the image quality is not as perfect as CLEOPATRA’S DAUGHTER.

Above and below: SULEIMAN THE CONQUEROR (1961), starring Giorgia Moll and Alberto Farnese (above) is hard to get movie and previous prints were always disappointing. Not anymore. Though not super pristine as other prints (as the below screengrab shows), is a definite improvement over other releases. Worthy of a Fan Dub.

And last but not least. A recent showing of SON OF SAMSON (1960) on the Italian network, RAI. The image is stunning. Unfortunately, the aspect ratio is not full 1920×1280 HD. It, and Mark, still look great though.