Category: hollywood

Updates on two things!

First thing: I bought a lot of Blu-rays and DVDs from Amazon.de and expected them a few weeks ago but everything has been delayed. I bought them in early October and I’m supposed to receive them one month later, November 6 (if things go according to plan). I’m not happy about this. It’s one of the reasons for the lack of posts here at BY THE GODS!

Second thing: BY THE GODS! magazine. There’s a slight delay. It’s nearly completed but personal stuff kept me away from completed earlier. It will be available most likely in early November.

BY THE GODS! post goes viral…

Looking at the stats for the blog, I saw that one post was getting tons of clicks. So, I had to look for it. Here’s the source of the many clicks.

What’s highlighted in blue is a link to the article here at BY THE GODS!

Here’s the link to the BTG article!

Of all things from this blog, this is the one post that goes viral. It’s so odd since this information is publicly known for a long time. Oh well…

New SLAVE QUEEN OF BABYLON German Blu-ray…

A German release of SLAVE QUEEN OF BABYLON is now available. You can choose your store of choice but they have it at Amazon.de

I like this film and I already have a HD copy of it but I wonder how good the new release is. The movie was already available on Blu-ray but the quality was disappointing. Hopefully this new release the transfer is better. Unfortunately, no English track including. Only Italian and German.

There are two different covers to choose from.

The cover above is an amalgamation of poster art taken from SAPPHO THE VENUS OF LESBOS (the fighting men with Kerwin Mathews) and JOURNEY BENEATH THE DESERT aka ANTINEA – L’AMANTE DELLA CITTA.

Oddities in CONSTANTINE AND THE CROSS…

While examining the new German Blu-ray version of CONSTANTINE AND THE CROSS (1961), I’ve noticed many particularities. The movie was heavily cut not just for the US version but the French and German versions differ greatly from the uncut Italian version. It’s not just missing scenes but same scenes but shot differently. I’ve seen this in other movies such as QUEEN OF BABYLON (1954), in which a US version was filmed and edited that’s different to the Italian (European) version but this one is simply odd. Take the scene at Monte Gelato waterfalls. The new Blu-ray includes the uncut Italian version and also a DVD-quality version that’s in German. The Monte Gelato scene in both versions are basically the same but shot differently. With Fausto Tozzi and Christine Kaufmann.

Same scene, shot differently: notice how the towel is different. How the placement differs. How he hold is clothes. It’s very odd when one notices it. It’s the same scene but it’s also not the same. Even the clarity is different. BTW, this scene is cut from the French version.

The German and US versions are the Irving Rapper directed/edited one while the uncut Italian version was directed by Lionello De Felice. This is the  main explanation but if the scene is basically identical why film it twice? Anyway, with QUEEN OF BABYLON, the Italian/European version felt like a rough cut while the US version felt tighter and more direct. The same thing can’t be said with CONSTANTINE AND THE CROSS. It’s more sprawling and has so many different sets and situations but the movie sorta feels, in both the uncut De Felice and Irving Rapper versions, cobbled together.