Ulysses (1954)

Original title: Ulisse

Peplum. Italy. Starring Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Silvana Mangano, Rossana Podestà, Piero Lulli & Andrea Aureli. Directed by Mario Camerini & Mario Bava.

Alfa-Panorama Film & Video (Finland). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Solid Cinecittà adaption of Homeros epic, with the manly Kirk Douglas as Ulysses. 3/5

The Legions of Cleopatra (1960)

Original title: Le Legioni di Cleopatra

Peplum/Historical. Italy/France/Spain. Starring Linda Cristal, Ettore Manni, Daniela Rocca & Andrea Aureli. Directed by Vittorio Cottafavi.

NS (Korea). English dubbed. Fullscreen. Poor print - but at least it's in english, unlike the great-looking but french dubbed dutch tape. If I were more technical i'd try to make a composite...

Hannibal (1960)

Original title: Annibale

Peplum/Historical. Italy. Starring Victor Mature, Gabriele Ferzetti, Milly Vitale, Rik Battaglia, Terence Hill, Andrea Aureli, Bud Spencer. Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer & Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia.

DVD: Minerva (Greece). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Bigscale historical epic on medium budget (somewhere between Cottafavi and Ben Hur). Pretty good film - even though the unnecessary love story drags a lot and the film cheats us out of the stampeding war elephants.! Actor Victor Mature looks like a beefed-up Björn Ranelid, right down to the lips... (only funny for swedes) 3/5

Fall of Rome (1963)

Original title: Il Crollo di Roma

Peplum. Italy. Starring Carl Möhner, Ida Galli, Andrea Aureli, Loredana Nusciak, Nando Tamberlani & Jim Dolen. Directed by Antonio Margheriti.

DVD: Odeon (Greece). English dubbed. Widescreen. Good quality.

Reasonable entertaining "meet and potatoes" peplum that gets the job without overachieving. Margheriti of course can't help to bring his modelkit along, and thank God for that! 3/5

Devil's Cavaliers (1959)

Original title: I Cavalieri del Diavolo

Sword. Italy. Starring Frank Latimore, Gianna Maria Canale, Anthony Steffen & Andrea Aureli. Directed by Siro Marcellini.

Worldwide Video (Holland). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Very dated and stiff costume adventure with lots of jolly (read: annoying) song and dance numbers. 2/5

Duel of the Champions (1961)

Original title: Orazi e Curiazi

Peplum. Italy. Starring Alan Ladd, Robert Keith, Luciano Marin, Andrea Aureli & Franca Bettoia. Directed by Ferdinando Baldi & Terence Young.

EVC (Holland). BETA. English dubbed. Letterboxed.

Fine, medium-budget peplum with fading american moviestar Alan Ladd (who looks way too old for the hero part). 3/5

Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules (1962)

Original title: Maciste Contro i Mostri

Peplum. Italy. Starring Reg Lewis, Margaret Lee, Luciano Marin, Andrea Aureli & Birgit Bergen. Directed by Guido Malatesta.

Pepikahs Video (Greece). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

This is one of those craptastic low budget peplum/fantasy cheeze-fests that italians cranked out like crazy during the early sixties (often starring C-list "actors" like Dan Vadis and Kirk Morris) and that have entertained ten year olds and immature B-movie buffs like myself ever since. Noone would mistake this for a good movie, but it's a minor classic of its kind. It's about our hero Maciste ("Maxus" or "Hercules" in some prints) who basically just walks around in stoneage and slays some monsters, rights a few wrongs or fights a bunch of evil cavemen who likes to kidnap blond cuties in fur bikinis and perfect make-up. What more do you need when Reg Lewis is simply the perfect sword and sandal cheeze hero? Why? He throws a mighty fine boulder, sports a bloody rockabilly due that could only have been made in heaven and delivers his lines with the bombastic and smug diginitide of a peplum God! Why he only got to put on the loin-cloth in this one Cinecittà role I will never understand... 4/5 (entertainment value)

Hannibal (1960)

Original title: Annibale

Peplum/Historical. Italy. Starring Victor Mature, Gabriele Ferzetti, Milly Vitale, Rik Battaglia, Terence Hill, Andrea Aureli, Bud Spencer. Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer & Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia.

Standard Video (Holland). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

Bigscale historical epic on medium budget (somewhere between Cottafavi and Ben Hur). Pretty good film - even though the unnecessary love story drags a lot and the film cheats us out of the stampeding war elephants.! Actor Victor Mature looks like a beefed-up Björn Ranelid, right down to the lips... (only funny for swedes) 3/5

Brennus, Enemy of Rome (1963)

Original title: Brenno il Nemico di Roma

Peplum. Italy. Starring Gordon Mitchell, Massimo Serato, Tony Kendall ,Ursula Davis, Carla Calò & Andrea Aureli. Directed by Giacomo Gentilomo.

Venus Video (Greece). English dubbed. Widescreen. Nice print!

Wonderful peplum that really showcases Gordon Mitchell strenghts in roles like "ruthless warrior chief"! Very well made, very entertaining... and surprisingly violent and dark in tone for a sword and sandal flick (even the kid hero dies!). One of my personal favorites, highly recommended! 4/5

Queen of the Pirates (1961)

Original title: La Venere dei Pirati

Pirate yarn. Italy/West Germany. Starring Gianna Maria Canale, Massimo Serato, Scilla Gabel, Livio Lorenzon, Paul Muller, Moira Orfei & Andrea Aureli. Directed by Mario Costa.

Original Video (Greece). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Gianna Maria Canale is great as the masked female pirate in this fun, colorful pirate swashbuckler. Another Costa winner. I don't know if it's healthy for an adult male to be so exited over this type of pulp adventure film for kids, but I don't care! 4/5

Hero of Babylon (1963)

Original title: L'eroe di Babilonia

Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Gordon Scott, Geneviève Grad, Andrea Scotti, Moira Orfei, Mario Petri, Piero Lulli & Andrea Aureli. Directed by Siro Marcellini.

Collection Video Films (Greece). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Gordon Scott + the usual peplum bit players star in this mediocre effort. 2/5

Hercules and the Black Pirate (1964)

Original title: Sansone Contro il Corsaro Nero

Peplum/Pirate yarn. Italy. Starring Alan Steel, Rosalba Neri, Piero Lulli & Andrea Aureli. Directed by Luigi Capuano.

DVD: Retromedia (USA). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Fun mixture of sword and sandal and pirate film. 3/5

The Mysterious Swordsman (1956)

Original title: Lo Spadaccino Misterioso

Sword. Italy. Starring Frank Latimore, Fiorella Mari, Gérard Landry & Andrea Aureli. Directed by Sergio Grieco.

Video Art (Greece). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Dated, uninteresting swashbuckler with Frank Lantimore. Avoid if you're not a fanatic. 2/5

Hannibal (1960)

Original title: Annibale

Peplum/Historical. Italy. Starring Victor Mature, Gabriele Ferzetti, Milly Vitale, Rik Battaglia, Terence Hill, Andrea Aureli, Bud Spencer. Directed by Edgar G. Ulmer & Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia.

DVD: VCI (USA). English dubbed. Widescreen. Reasonable quality.

Bigscale historical epic on medium budget (somewhere between Cottafavi and Ben Hur). Pretty good film - even though the unnecessary love story drags a lot and the film cheats us out of the stampeding war elephants.! Actor Victor Mature looks like a beefed-up Björn Ranelid, right down to the lips... (only funny for swedes) 3/5

The Legions of Cleopatra (1960)

Original title: Le Legioni di Cleopatra

Peplum/Historical. Italy/France/Spain. Starring Linda Cristal, Ettore Manni, Daniela Rocca & Andrea Aureli. Directed by Vittorio Cottafavi.

GMV (Holland). French language with dutch subtitles. Widescreeen.

Goliath at the Conquest of Damascus (1965)

Original title: Golia alla Conquista di Bagdad

Peplum/Arabian adventure. Italy. Starring Rock Stevens, Mario Petri, Helga Liné, Arturo Dominici, Piero Lulli, Andrea Aureli & Daniele Vargas. Directed by Domenico Paolella.

EVC (Holland). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

I prefer the un-PC Goliath Against the Arabs-title, but it seems to restricted to this video release, so... Anyway, a watchable but unexeptional arabian peplum best saved for a rainy day. 2/5

Maciste il Vendicatore dei Mayas (1965)

Peplum. Italy. Starring Kirk Morris, Barbara Loy & Andrea Aureli. Directed by Guido Malatesta.
AVO Film (Italy). Italian language. Fullscreen.

Incredible, intoxicating Grade Z peplum, which consists mostly of scenes from Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules and Colossus and the Headhunters (and probably some other peplum I can't place) and some badly shot new footage with B-list peplum star Kirk Morris. As you may have guessed it all makes no sense whatsoever. 3/5 (entertainment value)

Goliath at the Conquest of Damascus (1965)

Original title: Golia alla Conquista di Bagdad

Peplum/Arabian adventure. Italy. Starring Rock Stevens, Mario Petri, Helga Liné, Arturo Dominici, Piero Lulli, Andrea Aureli & Daniele Vargas. Directed by Domenico Paolella.

EVC (Holland). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

I prefer the un-PC Goliath Against the Arabs-title, but it seems to restricted to this video release, so... Anyway, a watchable but unexeptional arabian peplum best saved for a rainy day. 2/5

Devil's Cavaliers (1959)

Original title: I Cavalieri del Diavolo

Sword. Italy. Starring Frank Latimore, Gianna Maria Canale, Anthony Steffen & Andrea Aureli. Directed by Siro Marcellini.

Video Alsen (Greece). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Very dated and stiff costume adventure with lots of jolly (read: annoying) song and dance numbers. 2/5

Hercules Against Rome (1964)

Original title: Ercole contro Roma

Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Alan Steel, Wandisa Guida, Andrea Aureli, Daniele Vargas, Livio Lorenzon & Carlo Tamberlani. Directed by Piero Pierotti.

Video Screen (Holland). Italian with dutch subtitles. Fullscreen.