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

Sword of Sherwood Forest (1960)

Robin Hood adventure. UK. Starring Richard Greene, Sarah Branch, Peter Cushing, Richard Pasco & Oliver Reed. Directed by Terence Fisher.

DVD: Sony (UK). English language. Widescreen.

Carthage in Flames (1960)

Original title: Cartagine in Fiamme

Peplum/Historical. Italy/France. Starring Pierre Brasseur, Terence Hill, Daniel Gélin & Anne Heywood. Directed by Carmine Gallone.

DVD: Sunfilm Entertainment (Germany). English or german language options. Letterboxed. Good quality.

War and intrigue between Carthage and Rome. OK but not the most exiting peplum in the world. 2/5

Goliath and the Dragon (1960) + Conqueror of Atlantis (1965)

Original title: La Vendetta di Ercole

Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Mark Forest, Wandisa Guida, Gaby André & Broderick Crawford. Directed by Vittorio Cottafavi.

DVD: Something Weird (USA). English dubbed. Widescreen. Nice quality. Edited US version. This DVD also includes Alfonso Brescia's highly entertaining 1965 peplum Conqueror of Atlantis in which Kirk Morris romances a princess and fights a mad sorcerer, robot-men and a bunch of arabs! Conqueror is presented in a watchable fullscreen print. (4/5)

Good, clean Cottafavi fun with Mark Forest! 4/5

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.

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

Mistress of the World (1960)

Original title: Die Herrin der Welt - Teil I

Exotic adventure. West Germany/Italy/France. Starring Lino Ventura, Gino Cervi, Sabu & Martha Hyer. Directed by William Dieterle.

EK Video (Greece). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Revenge of the Barbarians (1960)

Original title: La Vendetta dei Barbari

Peplum. Italy. Starring Anthony Steel, Daniela Rocca, Robert Alda & Arturo Dominici. Directed by Giuseppe Vari.

Inter-Ocean Video (UK). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

Kinky, and surprisingly good, peplum melodrama! 3/5

Cleopatra's Daughter (1960)

Original title: Il Sepolcro dei Re

Peplum/Romance. Italy/France. Starring Debra Paget, Ettore Manni, Corrado Pani, Erno Crisa & Rosalba Neri. Directed by Fernando Cerchio.

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

Worthless peplum melodrama. 1/5

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

Messalina (1960)

Original title: Messalina Venere Imperatrice

Peplum/Historical. Starring by Belinda Lee, Giulio Donnini, Arturo Dominici, Ida Galli & Giuliano Gemma. Directed by Vittorio Cottafavi.

DVD: E-M-S (Germany). English/german language options. Widescreen. Very good quality.

This 'risque' historical epic must have been considered pretty daring at its time, but today it feels very dated and tame. Not one of Cottafavi's best. 2/5

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

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.

Carthage in Flames (1960)

Original title: Cartagine in Fiamme

Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Pierre Brasseur, Terence Hill, Daniel Gélin & Anne Heywood. Directed by Carmine Gallone.

VTC (Sweden). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

War and intrigue between Carthage and Rome. OK but not the most exiting peplum in the world. 2/5

Esther and the King (1960)

Biblical/Historical. Italy/USA. Starring Joan Collins, Richard Egan, Denis O'Dea, Rik Battaglia, Gabriele Tinti, Rosalba Neri & Daniela Rocca. Directed by Raoul Walsh & Mario Bava.

Spectrum (Denmark). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Goliath and the Dragon (1960)

Original title: La Vendetta di Ercole

Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Mark Forest, Wandisa Guida, Gaby André & Broderick Crawford. Directed by Vittorio Cottafavi.

Videoscope (Holland). English dubbed. Letterboxed. A pretty dark print.

No matter what the cover says this is not the 1958 Hercules starring Steve Reeves, but pulp genius Vittorio Cottafavi's fun Goliath and the Dragon (the european Vengeance of Hercules-version, not the US cut) with Mark Forest. 4/5

The Barbarian (1960)

Peplum. USA/Italy. Starring Jack Palance, Milly Vitale & Richard Wyler. Directed by Rudolph Maté.

GeBe Video (Sweden). English language. Fullscreen.

One of very few american imitations of the sword and sandal genre. Unexeptional, but not bad film shot in Italy. Jack Palance is not the obvious choice for a Hercules-like role, but he gives another quirky performance and comes out likeable as the hero Revak. 3/5

The Loves of Hercules (1960)

Original title: Gli Amori di Ercole

Peplum. Italy. Starring Mickey Hargitay, Jayne Mansfield, Massimo Serato & Moira Orfei. Directed by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia.

Eagle 6 (Holland). English dubbed. Letterboxed. The print is a little too bright, but still better than all the other videos i've seen (swedish and brittish).

The then married team of blond bombshell Jayne Mansfield (playing two roles: blond when she's the "good" girl and with a black wig when she's "bad" - there's some peplum logic for you) and hungarian bodybuilder/showman/actor Mickey Hargitay (who thankfully dubs himself with his thick eastern-european accent) fight an evil queen, a hydra, a bull, amazons who turn men to trees etc. Very silly stuff but it will leave you with big smile on your face and a warm, bubbly feeling inside. If you want a really cheezy, daft peplum this one and Hercules Against the Moon Men are about as fun as they come! Did you know that Arnold Schwarznegger played Mickey Hargitay in an early 80s TV-movie? 4/5