Sandokan Fights Back (1964)

Original title: Sandokan Alla Riscossa

Pirate/Exotic adventure. Italy/West Germany. Starring Ray Danton, Guy Madison, Mario Petri, Alberto Farnese & Raf Baldassarre. Directed by Luigi Capuano.

Elephant Video (UK). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

I love the Sandokan adventures but this one didn't do much for me. Also, Ray Danton is a lame Sandokan compared with Kabir Bedi, or even Steve Reeves. 2/5

Three Giants for Rome (1971)

Original title: Il Ritorno del Gladiatore Più Forte del Mondo

Peplum. Italy. Starring Brad Harris, Massimo Serato, Raf Baldassarre, Michel Lemoine & Maria Pia Conte. Directed by Bitto Albertini.

Empire (Holland). English dubbed. Fullscreen. Unfortunely the first 5 minutes of this tape are taped over... anybody have a DVD-R? (or even better; a new tape?)

Hercules in the Haunted World (1961)

Original title: Ercole al Centro della Terra

Peplum. Italy. Starring Reg Park, Christopher Lee, Leonora Ruffo, George Ardisson, Ida Galli, Rosalba Neri & Raf Baldassarre. Directed by Mario Bava & Franco Prosperi.

EVC (Holland). English dubbed. Letterboxed (slightly). By adjusting your TV settings you could get a pretty good widescreen.

Wonderful, trippy gothic-peplum! Bava demonstrates again his ability to create gold from nothing - this low budget film looks like a mega-budget epic and is hands down THE most visually imaginative peplas around. According to me and many others this is about as good as the genre gets! 5/5

Get Mean (1976)

Western /Adventure/Peplum (!!). Italy. Starring Tony Anthony, Raf Baldassarre, Diana Lorys & Lloyd Battista. Directed by Ferdinando Baldi.

VCL (Sweden). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Mindboggling "western". You could write an essay about how dumb this film is but let me just conclude that the gunman Tony Anthony is hired to protect the princess of Spain (!) from vikings (!!) and a moorish warlord (!!!) with a Caligula complex and his hunchbacked sidekick! I wonder what they were smoking when they wrote this (admittedly fun) film? 3/5

Hercules in the Haunted World (1961)

Original title: Ercole al Centro della Terra

Peplum. Italy. Starring Reg Park, Christopher Lee, Leonora Ruffo, George Ardisson, Ida Galli, Rosalba Neri & Raf Baldassarre. Directed by Mario Bava & Franco Prosperi.

DVD: Fantoma (USA). English dubbed. Widescreen. Excellent quality!

Wonderful, trippy gothic-peplum! Bava demonstrates again his ability to create gold from nothing - this low budget film looks like a mega-budget epic and is hands down THE most visually imaginative peplas around. According to me and many others this is about as good as the genre gets! 5/5

Erik the Conqueror (1961)

Original title: Gli Invasori

Peplum/Vikings. Italy/France. Cameron Mitchell, George Ardisson, Alice Kessler, Ellen Kessler, Raf Baldassarre & Joe Robinson. Directed by Mario Bava.

DVD: Anchor Bay (USA). English dubbed. Widescreen. Excellent quality.

Excellent, beautifully shot viking epic! Looks much more expensive than it really was. One of Bava's best non-horror films. 4/5

Thor the Conqueror (1983)

Original title: Thor il Conquistatore

Fantasy. Italy. Starring Conrad Nichols, Malisa Longo, Maria Romano, Raf Baldassarre & Christopher Holm. Directed by Tonino Ricci.

VTC (Sweden). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

The dumbest, cheapest, crappiest, most moronic sword and sorcery flick imaginable. It's not without a certain Grade Z appeal though. Who could resist lines like "the woman is weak, Thor - take her!" (it's one of the most unashamedly sexist - even pro-rape- films in history and all the funnier for it) or "centuries from now this will be called a Horse". This swedish video release states that "Leading man Conrad Nichols has a disarming charm behind his muscles" on the cover, possibly the biggest lie in video cover history. While one of the worst films on this blog, Thor is not without its entertainment value and should be watched at least once. 2/5

Zambo (1972)

Original title: Zambo, il Dominatore della Foresta

Jungle adventure. Italy. Starring Brad Harris, Gisela Hahn, Daniele Vargas & Daniele Vargas. Directed by Bitto Albertini.

VCI (Greece). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Very nice jungle adventure! 4/5

The Executioner of Venice (1963)

Original title: Il Boia di Venezia

Sword. Italy. Starring Lex Barker, Guy Madison, Alessandra Panaro ,Mario Petri, Alberto Farnese & Raf Baldassarre. Directed by Luigi Capuano.

Force Video (USA). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Quite good little costume adventure in which Barker and Madison are pitted against each other. 3/5

Ulysses Against Hercules (1962)

Original title: Ulisse contro Ercole

Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Georges Marchal, Mike Lane, Alessandra Panaro, Gabriele Tinti, Raf Baldassarre, Gianni Santuccio & Yvette Lebon. Directed by Mario Caiano.

Star Video (Finland). English dubbed. Fullscreen. US TV-version.

I only needed to hear the "Mighty Sons of Hercules"-song in the beginning to get in a good mood from this film. A really pulpy and entertaining peplum with some fantastic ingredients, my favorites being the vulture-people and their bigbreasted queen (who of course falls in love with both Hercules and Ulisses). The non-plot is basically that Hercules is on a mission from the gods to find and capture Ulisses for blinding the Cyklops. Ulisses outsmarts Hercules and manages to escape, encounters some fantastic creatures or evil queens, is captured again, outsmarts Hercules, escapes, encounters creatures etc. in absurdum. Of course the two heroes finally becomes the best of friends and joins forces to defeat the evil king Lagos (wonderfully played by Gianni Santuccio), a sweaty, sickly and rambling madmen who likes to torture women and uses his army of neanderthal men to pillage the nearby villages in quest for total power. Silly fun. 3/5

Slave of Rome (1961)

Original title: La Schiava di Roma

Peplum. Italy. Starring Guy Madison, Rossana Podestà, Mario Petri, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart & Raf Baldassarre. Directed by Sergio Grieco & Franco Prosperi.

VPD (UK). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

Erik the Conqueror (1961)

Original title: Gli Invasori

Peplum/Vikings. Italy/France. Cameron Mitchell, George Ardisson, Alice Kessler, Ellen Kessler, Raf Baldassarre & Joe Robinson. Directed by Mario Bava.

All World Video (Greece). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Excellent, beautifully shot viking epic! Looks much more expensive than it really was. One of Bava's best non-horror films. 4/5

Zan, King of the Jungle (1969)

Original title: Tarzán en la Gruta del Oro

Jungle adventure. Spain/Italy/Puerto Rico. Starring Steve Hawkes, Kitty Swan, Krista Nell, Jesús Puente, Fernando Sancho, Raf Baldassarre & Ugo Sasso. Directed by Manuel Caño.

VTC (Sweden). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

The first, and best of the string of cheap, unauthorized Tarzan films that was produced in Spain during the late 60s/early 70s (here Tarzan was called Zan in most countries due to legal matters). Great fun all the way - Steve Hawkes is the coolest Tarzan, Kitty Swan the best jungle girl, the music is great and everything moves a long at fast pace (Umberto Lenzi's script throws in everything from amazons too men in gorilla suits). Recommended. 4/5

Queen of the Tartars (1960)

Original title: La Regina dei Tartari

Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Chelo Alonso, Jacques Sernas, Mario Petri, Piero Lulli, Raf Baldassarre, Philippe Hersent & Andrea Scotti. Directed by Sergio Grieco.

Delta Video (Holland). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

This one was quite a surprise! It's kinda like the first 10 minutes of a sword and sorcery flick, where a bunch of barbarians dressed up as Manowar pillage some village, but for 90 minutes. It even features a man in a bear costume! The tartar queen is really a kick-ass girl, who takes no crap and is a better leader than the men (ps! she's really cute too). I wouldn't go an call it feminist masterpiece, but well... it's about as feminist as the peplum genre gets (remember this is the genre where women with black hair are automatically cunning and evil). Great peplum with lots of charm! 4/5

Luana, the Girl Tarzan (1968)

Original title: Luana la Figlia delle Foresta Vergine

Jungle adventure. Italy. Starring Mei Chen, Glenn Saxson, Evi Marandi & Raf Baldassarre. Directed by Roberto Infascelli.

Trix Video (Sweden). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Zambo, King of the Jungle (1972)

Original title: Zambo, il Dominatore della Foresta

Jungle adventure. Italy. Starring Brad Harris, Gisela Hahn, Daniele Vargas & Daniele Vargas. Directed by Bitto Albertini.

Wahlters Video (Denmark). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

Very nice jungle adventure! 4/5

Here's the swedish video cover from Crown Video (don't know any collector who has the actual cassette):