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

Hercules Unchained (1959)

Original title: Ercole e la Regina di Lidia

Peplum. Italy/France/Spain. Starring Steve Reeves, Sylva Koscina, Sylvia Lopez, Gabriele Antonini, Patrizia Della Rovere, Mimmo Palmara & Daniele Varga. Directed by Pietro Francisci.

Standard Video )Holland). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

The follow-up to Francisci's Hercules is even better than the first one. Essential viewing. 4/5

The Last Days of Pompeii (1959) + Gli Ultimi Giorni di Pompei (1913)

Original title: Gli Ultimi Giorni di Pompei

Peplum. Italy. Starring Steve Reeves, Christine Kaufmann, Fernando Rey, Mimmo Palmara & Carlo Tamberlani. Directed by Mario Bonnard & Sergio Leone.

Marketing Film (Germany). English/german/italian language options. Widescreen. Very good quality. This 2-disc edition also includes the 1913 silent Gli Ultimi Giorni di Pompei (sadly no english options there).

Well made, glossy peplum with impressive earthquake FX by Leone. 3/5

Herod the Great (1959)

Original title: Erode Il Grande

Historical. Italy/France. Starring Edmund Purdom, Sylvia Lopez, Massimo Girotti, Sandra Milo, Ettore Manni, Alberto Lupo & Sylva Koscina. Directed by Viktor Tourjansky.

Video King APS (Denmark). English dubbed. Widescreen.

This historical spectacle is noteworthy for the excellent performance by Purdom as the paranoid and half-mad king Herod. The dramatic ending have an almost Bava-esque gothic horror feel. Above average stuff by a director who've been around since the silent days. Appears to have had pretty high budget for an italian production. This 30 year old danish VHS looks like a blu-ray compared to pan-and-scanned, piss quality UK DVD I had earlier. 3/5

Cavalier in Devil's Castle (1959)

Original title: Il Cavaliere del Castello Maledetto

Sword. Italy. Starring Massimo Serato, Luisella Boni, Pierre Cressoy, Livio Lorenzon,
Carlo Tamberlani & Luciano Marin. Directed by Mario Costa.

Video For Pleasure promo (Holland). English dubbed. Widescreen.

Colorful, fast-paced and all around fun swashbuckler made just the way you want 'em. Recommended! 4/5

Hercules Unchained (1959)

Original title: Ercole e la Regina di Lidia

Peplum. Italy/France/Spain. Starring Steve Reeves, Sylva Koscina, Sylvia Lopez, Gabriele Antonini, Patrizia Della Rovere, Mimmo Palmara & Daniele Varga. Directed by Pietro Francisci.

DVD: Concorde (Germany). English or german language options. Widescreen. Nice quality.

The follow-up to Francisci's Hercules is even better than the first one. Essential viewing. 4/5

Goliath and the Barbarians (1959)

Original title: Il Terrore dei Barbari

Peplum. Italy. Starring Steve Reeves, Gabriele Tinti & Chelo Alonso. Directed by Carlo Campogalliani.

Medusa Video (Sweden). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

Steve Reeves fights some raiding mongolians. I remember it as a pretty dull affair but I think I will have to give it another chance on DVD some day... 2/5

The Kings of France (1959)

Original title: I Reali di Francia

Sword. Italy. Starring Rik Battaglia, Chelo Alonso, Gérard Landry, Livio Lorenzon, Liana Orfei & Carlo Tamberlani. Directed by Mario Costa.

EKO (UK). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

I had a really hard time sitting through this film, due to the completely worthless dubbing. Two or three bored dubbers do all the voices with a complete lack of feeling - and you could still hear the italian dub in the background! My grade represents this crap version of the film. 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

The Son of the Red Pirate (1959)

Original title: Il Figlio del Corsaro Rosso

Pirate yarn. Italy. Starring Lex Barker, Luciano Marin & Sylvia Lopez. Directed by Primo Zeglio.
NK Video (Greece). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Classy pirate film starring adventure hero Lex Barker. Jolly good fun all the way! 4/5

Goliath and the Barbarians (1959)

Original title: Il Terrore dei Barbari

Peplum. Italy. Starring Steve Reeves, Gabriele Tinti & Chelo Alonso. Directed by Carlo Campogalliani.

Wahlters Video (Sweden). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Steve Reeves fights some raiding mongolians. I remember it as a pretty dull affair but I think I will have to give it another chance on DVD some day... 2/5