Movie review - "Gold for the Caesars" (1963) **

Jeffrey Hunter and Ron Randell from King of Kings star in this peplum allegedly directed by Andre de Toth but apparently more by the second unit director. There's a gorgeous French girl and the setting and story aren't bad, a little like The Land of the Pharoahs - Hunter is a slave architect helping build a gold mine for his Roman overlords, Randell is a centurion but he's not the main villain the proconsul is (Randell should've played that role). Randell has a fight with Hunter's BFF while Hunter takes on the proconsul. Decent action and production values. Set just before Trajan came to power, and in Spain. They fight the Celts.

Movie review - "Atlas" (1961) ** (re-viewing)

 Roger Corman's attempt to jump on the peplum bandwagon suffers from a lack of extras and genuine spectacle, as he himself admitted. There's too many scenes which look cheap - battles, crowd scenes. These are inherently expensive.

It's a shame because the film has a lot going for it. The basic story is good - Frank Wolff cons Michael Forrest (Atlas) to fight for him, and Forrest falls for Wolff's gal, Barbara Mouris. Woff is superb - hugely pleased with himself, evil, clever, sly. Forrest is okay a bit bland - the plot requires him to be an idiot for act two. Mouris is very good as a gangster's moll, basically - leggy, warm, fun, smart, haunted.

I did like the battle at the end from the US shot bits where Dick Miller can be seen fighting a few times.

Movie review - "Amazons of Rome" (1961) **

Account of Cloelia, who fought the Estrucans - I'm not super familiar with it though I have heard of Horatio at the bridge and he's in this too. But mainly its Cloelia being captured by Etruscans who are fighting Rome, falling for a Barbarian general, escaping with women, returning to fight.

The leads of this are remarkably odd for a peplum - Louis Jourdan as an Etruscan allied barbarian bent on invading Rome, Sylvia Syms as Cloelia. Jourdan looks especially odd. He's always snacking on an apple which is an actor's choice but grates.

Syms has a plucky boyishness which actually sells the character - a little more realistic than the usual statuesque maiden. And while she moons over Jourdan she gets to do more action than him. It's a better role than most of her "girl" parts in British films.

Movie review - "Messalina" (1960) ***

Very silly and a lot of fun - everything you want from an Imperial Roman court peplum, with Belinda Lee having a high old time as the famous empress, who goes through her tropes: milk baths, seducing soldiers, assassinating people, plotting coups. It's one of her best parts and she's very enjoyable.

Out of the other cast there is a dutiful soldier and some decent nobles, and a pure slave girl (at least I think she was a slave girl), plus imitations of Claudius and Narcissus which adds to camp value. There's a decent budget, impressive action and production values. Maybe three stars is too high but it seriously ticks all the boxes.

Movie review - "Joseph and His Brethren" (1962) **

The story is very satisfying - it has a marvellous end. They were always talking about making a version in the 50s with Louis B Mayer and Rita Hayworth.

This has Geoffrey Horne who had a good role in Bridge on the River Kwai and vanished into... this. Sets and costumes fine. It feels directed by the 1st AD but was actually Irving Rapper, one of those directors who obviously needed the studio system.

Presumably he's why the cast is so strong - Felix Alymer as Joseph's dad, Robert Morley as Potiphar and Belinda Lee as the skanky wife. Morley is miscast but he and Lee are badly missed in the second half.

Movie review –“David and Goliath” (1960) **

I admit I only saw this because Orson Welles was in it but it’s not bad. The real title should be David and Saul, because it’s more about their relationship – but then Goliath has more box office potential. It turns the famous story into a peplum –so instead of David being a young boy as he’s usually depicted, he’s of bodybuilding age (played by someone called Ivo Payer). After his girlfriend is killed – struck by lightning in a storm (I’m not kidding) – he goes to the city and Saul hires him as a harpist… which I thought happened after he beat Goliath (but I checked – I was wrong). 

Anyway, he has a tricky relationship with Jonathan, Saul’s son, and a sweet romance with Saul’s daughter Michal despite being lusted after by Saul’s sluttish daughter. Then he fights and beats Goliath. The climax consists of Saul’s mean Prime Minister trying to assassinate David – but being saved by Saul, which seems weird. 

Some bright colours and spectacle and dubbed voices – a typical example of the genre. Peter Bogdanovich in his interview book with Orson Welles asked Welles if he directed some of it, in particular an early scene where the camera passes by some columns as Saul appears and Welles said yes. This was released in the US by Embassy.

Script review – “Conan the Barbarian” by John Milius (and Oliver Stone) (draft from 1980)

Milius bounced back from the poor box office performance of Big Wednesday with this entertaining epic. His ability to write in different styles (provided those styles were masculine adventure tales) is well demonstrated here with hims easily and skilfully switching into “sword and sandal” mode. This is a lot of fun, with plenty of action, flowery prose and enjoyably over-the-top-yet-just-right dialogue; it's a pity he never made any more films along this line.

It deals with some recognisable Milius themes: a hero who becomes a legend, his lover is from a different race and she dies, there are colourful characters along the quest, weapons are awesome, bravery and honour is cool. There is also a king who complains about this new cult, and how the younger generation are all on drugs and in his day people wanted to be heroes.

Full of striking visual images: Conan biting the neck of the vulture while tied to the tree, the snake that turns into an arrow, the transition of time on the wheel of pain, the witch who changes shapes. The story is simple and effective - but it is a bit repetitive: four times Conan charges the enemy fortress (to steal some jewels, then to kill Doom, then to rescue the princess, then to kill Doom again), and there’s a lot of decapitations.

Movie review – Hercules #1 - “Hercules” (1957) **

The film that kicked off the late 50s/60s peplum cycle, and made a fortune for producer Joe Levine, who earned millions from his aggressive marketing of the film. Steve Reeves has a great star entrance – pulling up a tree and throwing it in front of a runaway chariot containing a pretty princess (whose skirt always seems to be about to blow up.)

The plot borrows cheerfully from the Jason and the Argonauts saga – there are a heap of subplots involving Laertes, Ulysses, Jason. Of course there are also Amazons. Indeed sometimes Hercules really gets shunted to the side. But it’s not hard in hindsight to see why this was popular with kids (though it is striking to imagine how popular it was) – there is heaps of action, colourful locations (ancient ruins, waterfalls, underground caverns, etc), scantily clad men and women, even a dinosaur type creature. No one looks very Italian.

Movie review – Hercules #2 - “Hercules Unchained” (1959) **

Hercules helped make a star of Steve Reeves and a fortune for Joe Levine, so it was no surprise to see the two of them reunite for this sequel which has Hercules gets involved in a dispute over who should rule Thebes. Sylvia Koscina also returns as his wife, as does director Pietro Francisci. There’s high production values, nice photography and location work, plenty of action and muscle men and curvaceous girls – it’s good entertainment for kids (Mario Bava was director of special effects).

The story has a flaw – most of the running time concerns Hercules losing his memory and living with a hot princess who loves him (the scriptwriters raid liberally from The Odyssey); then he escapes from the land 20 minutes to go and goes off to rescue his wife, which feels like an add-on part.

Reeves isn’t that good to be honest – I mean, he looks the part with the physique and beard, but he doesn’t have much personality (the eyes aren’t very animated). Also it’s laughable when he emotes. This was the last time he played Hercules – other actors took over for the sequels, although Reeves continued making swashbucklers for a number of years.

Movie review – “Atlas” (1961) **

Roger Corman is fond of saying it’s best to make a low budget movie by telling a story that suits the budget – not trying to take a big budget story and faking it. He says he learnt this lesson the hard way, using this, The Undead and Saga of the Viking Women as examples. This especially cries out for a large budget – there are scenes upon scenes which cry out for extras and production value: Atlas fighting an opponent in a Colosseum, ambush sequences, soldiers hailing leaders (this is particularly laughable), battle sequences, Atlas’ final battle, dance sequences, etc. They try to cover it in the script with lines like “the countryside has been decimated” and “our soldiers have been weakened” and Corman does everything he can – keeping shots tight, using sound, keeping the camera moving - but it doesn’t work.

It’s a shame because the film has a lot going for it. The story is a decent one – a tyrant is involved in a siege and persuades them to agree to settle it by single combat; he persuades Atlas to fight on his behalf; Atlas then finds out his boss is a baddy and joins the other side. (Charles Griffith, who wrote the script, was best known for oddball humour but he was also good on structure.)

There’s also two strong performances from Frank Wolff as the tyrant (cheerful, sly, intelligent and attractive) and Barboura Morris as a femme fetale who turns good (sexy, leggy). Michael Forrest copped criticism as Atlas for being skinny but there’s no reason why a more lithe, sinewy warrior wouldn’t have worked as opposed to a muscle man (eg Brad Pitt in Troy). The problem with Forrest’s performance isn’t his physique it’s his stuff, unvinvolving performance (the Fabian haircut doesn’t help).

Movie review – “Duel of Champions” (1964) **

Alan Ladd’s biographer claimed this was the worst film he ever made. Like many a fading star, Ladd was enticed over to Italy to make a sword and sandal film. (Helping sweeten the pot was the fact that the director would be Terence Young, with whom Ladd had made The Red Beret.) Too fat and puffy to play a gladiator, Ladd plays a Roman officer fighting the Barbarians – and you know something he seems a lot more animated than he does in several of his final films. Maybe it’s the period setting. And his blonde looks suit being a Roman general. (cf The Black Knight)

This has impressive production values and some decent action sequences, particularly Ladd being thrown down a pit with a dog. It also has a good story – Rome and Alba keep fighting so they decide to sort things out by getting a couple of key soldiers duel. Alan Ladd is the hero Horatio (I assume the same guy who defended the bridge but we don’t see that here); he is thought to have abandoned his troops in a battle, causing his fiancée to marry someone else – so when he comes back he gets to be bitter at a woman in typical Ladd style.

There are a number of key supporting characters played by unknowns and at times it’s a bit hard to remember who is who. (Ladd’s daughter Alana has a small role.) There is a really off subplot about Ladd’s sister who is kidnapped and raped by an Alban – then falls in love with him. Still, I don't know if it's the worst film Ladd ever made - at least he's well cast and it doesn't feel as depressing as his later Hollywood films.

Movie review - "Colossus and the Amazon Queen" (1961) **1/2

"Peplums" were a genre of films known in English as “sword & sandal films”, where scantily clad muscly men and nubile women would fight and romance in the ancient world (Rome, Greece, etc). The word “peplum” was the name of a diminutive skirt usually worn by men in these films. Ever since Quo Vadis (1912), peplum films had been a staple of the Italian film industry, rather like the Western in America - and like the Western they enjoyed peaks and crests of popularity. 

The best-known peplum cycle started with Hercules (1957), starring American bodybuilder Steve Reeves. The film was bought for $120,000 by promoter Joe E Levine who spent several times that publicising its release in the US; to everyone’s surprise, it became a major success, grossing $20 million. A boom promptly followed: from an estimated 16 peplums made in Italy from 1952 to 1958, 42 were made from 1958 to 1959, and 200 were made from 1959 to 1964.

 Although Italy was the largest cinema market outside the USA and Italian films accounted for over half the local box-office, Italian filmmakers were increasingly aiming their movies towards the international market – and this meant international stars. By April 1961 it was estimated over 60% of the name players in Italian films were foreigners: Britons and Americans comprising 40%, Frenchmen 22% and Italians 38% (this was not limited to peplum films, but other genres as well). Hollywood actors who appeared in peplums were usually people whose careers were on the way up or on the way down: Yvonne de Carlo, Anita Ekberg, Hildegard Neff, Anne Heywood, Rossano Brazzi, Anthony Quinn, Kirk Douglas, Edmund Purdom, John Barrymore Jnr, Lex Barker, Victor Mature, and Orson Welles. Later on Cornel Wilde, Vincent Price, Jack Palance, Stewart Granger, Alan Ladd, Joan Collins, Rhonda Fleming, Debra Paget, Jeanne Crain, Jayne Mansfield, Victor Mature, Ernest Borgnine, Anthony Steel, and Keenan Wynn also starred in peplums. 

Colossus and the Amazon Queen had two American stars: first of all Rod Taylor, who was not a major name at the time but had still been in a number of big-budget studio films; and Ed Fury, a body builder turned actor who had appeared in such works as Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954) and Wild Women of Wongo (1958). 

The film tells the story of two Trojan War veterans, the fast-talking Pirro (Taylor) and the muscular Glauco (Fury), recruited by two tradesmen to guard the cargo of a ship headed for a secret island destination. The “cargo” turns out to be the crew (including Pirro and Glauco), who have been sold into slavery to the Amazons, a civilisation where the women have the military and political power and the men worry about housework and what they are going to wear. Pirro and Glauco become romantically involved with two women who are each vying to be the next Queen of the Amazons; they end up helping the Amazons fight off some pirates and all ends happily. 

The film is certainly cheesy and amateurish, with some shocking continuity and a central thesis that many will find annoying (i.e. that women, no matter how strong and independent, can’t help liking those cute guys). But it is all good natured, the role reversing gags give the film a lot of funny, albeit politically incorrect, humour – it is hard to believe this was ever a drama - and the cast really embrace the spirit of it all. Rod himself is in top form as the smart-aleck Piro; it is a shame he could not have played more parts along this line in Hollywood for he had a gift for broad comedy.

Movie review - "The Arena" (1974) **1/2

New World try a variation on the women in prison film by having women in prison in Ancient Rome. A bunch of ladies are imprisoned as slaves by Romans (in particular one black and one white); they are bought by a gladiator owner who is having trouble entertaining the jaded crowd with his men gladiators, so he eventually gets the women to fight.

The women in prison influence is notable in a few scenes - the obligatory initiation shower sequence, a fight in the "mess hall", an escape sequence - but it's better as a gladiator movie, with a rousing climatic fight that is the best thing about the film.

The two main gladiators are the regal, former high priestess of something or other Bodicia (Margaret Markov) and Pam Grier, who really looks like she would have made a good gladiator. Markov and Grier work well together and there is a nice scene where Grier is forced to kill a fellow female gladiator or be killed in turn; also good is when Markov and Grier's love interests both get killed on the same day. 

Worst scene: the bitch gladiator (a Roman) ends up pack raped. (There's too much rape and sexual assault, as there was in many of these films - something people who seek to rehabilitate 70s cinema seem to forget). 

Directed by Steve Carver and producer by Mark Damon, former star of Fall of the House of Usher.