Caesar the Conqueror (1962)

Original title: Giulio Cesare, il Conquistatore delle Gallie

Peplum/Historical. Italy. Starring Cameron Mitchell, Rik Battaglia, Dominique Wilms, Carlo Tamberlani, Carla Calò & Bruno Tocci. Directed by Tanio Boccia.

Fine (Korea). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

I'm obviously better at buying new copies of this film than at actually sitting down and watching it...

Original title: La Guerra di Troia

Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Steve Reeves, John Drew Barrymore, Edy Vessel, Arturo Dominici, Lidia Alfonsi, Mimmo Palmara & Carlo Tamberlani. Directed by Giorgio Ferroni.

Sunrise Tapes (Holland). English dubbed. Letterboxed. Dig the waltzing Reeves dental work on the (über-gay) cover.

Well-made, above average sword and sandal spectacle with Steve Reeves. 3/5

Caesar the Conqueror (1962)

Original title: Giulio Cesare, il Conquistatore delle Gallie

Peplum/Historical. Italy. Starring Cameron Mitchell, Rik Battaglia, Dominique Wilms, Carlo Tamberlani, Carla Calò & Bruno Tocci. Directed by Tanio Boccia.

Megastar Video (Holland). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

The Colossus of Rhodes (1961)

Original title: Il Colosso di Rodi

Peplum. Italy/Spain/France. Starring Rory Calhoun, Georges Marchal, Lea Massari, Mimmo Palmara, Ángel Aranda, Carlo Tamberlani & Nello Pazzafini. Directed by Sergio Leone.

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

Leone's directional debut is a really good, intriguing peplum with excellent FX and productions values (I suspect that the film was a lot cheaper than it looks though). My only complaint: Calhoun, while a reasonably good lead, is not buff enough to make it as a Hercules-type hero. 4/5

The Trojan War (1961)

Original title: La Guerra di Troia

Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Steve Reeves, John Drew Barrymore, Edy Vessel, Arturo Dominici, Lidia Alfonsi, Mimmo Palmara & Carlo Tamberlani. Directed by Giorgio Ferroni.

DVD: New Entertainment (Germany)English/german language options. Widescreen. Nice quality.

Well-made, above average sword and sandal spectacle with Steve Reeves. 3/5

Caesar the Conqueror (1962)

Original title: Giulio Cesare, il Conquistatore delle Gallie

Peplum/Historical. Italy. Starring Cameron Mitchell, Rik Battaglia, Dominique Wilms, Carlo Tamberlani, Carla Calò & Bruno Tocci. Directed by Tanio Boccia.

DVD: Historical Cinema Collection (Greece). English dubbed. Widescreen. OK quality.

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

Samson (1961)

Original title: Sansone

Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Brad Harris, Alan Steel, Serge Gainsbourg, Luisella Boni, Carlo Tamberlani & Mara Berni. Directed by Gianfranco Parolini.

RHV (Italy). English/italian language options. Widescreen. Very good quality.

Brad Harris hero has no connection to the longhaired biblical except for the name in this pretty entertaining peplum. Watch out for Serge Gainsbourg as the weasly villian! 3/5

The Trojan War (1961)

Original title: La Guerra di Troia

Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Steve Reeves, John Drew Barrymore, Edy Vessel, Arturo Dominici, Lidia Alfonsi, Mimmo Palmara & Carlo Tamberlani. Directed by Giorgio Ferroni.

Epic Home Video (South Africa). English dubbed. Widescreen. Very good quality. Selltape or possibly a bootleg.

Well-made, above average sword and sandal spectacle with Steve Reeves. 3/5

Caesar the Conqueror (1962)

Original title: Giulio Cesare, il Conquistatore delle Gallie

Peplum/Historical. Italy. Starring Cameron Mitchell, Rik Battaglia, Dominique Wilms, Carlo Tamberlani, Carla Calò & Bruno Tocci. Directed by Tanio Boccia.

Athens Video Club (Greece). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

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

79 A.D

Original title: Anno 79: La Distruzione di Ercolano

Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Brad Harris, Susan Paget & Carlo Tamberlani. Directed by Gianfranco Parolini.

Preview Video (UK). English dubbed. Fullscreen. Long 2 hour version.

The Old Testament (1962)

Original title: Il Vecchio Testamento

Biblical/Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Brad Harris, Mara Lane & Carlo Tamberlani. Directed by Gianfranco Parolini.

Videoklubben (Sweden). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Boring biblical peplum, shot back-to-back with 79 A.D. Parolini should have brought the trampolines and fantastic supermen to ancient Rome! 2/5

The Giant of Metropolis (1961)

Original title: Il Gigante di Metropolis

Peplum. Italy. Starring Gordon Mitchell, Bella Cortez, Liana Orfei, Carlo Tamberlani & Leopoldo Savona. Directed by Umberto Scarpelli.

DVD: Retromedia (USA). English dubbed. Fake "letterbox". Pretty terrible quality.

Somebody here obviously liked the 1930s Flash Gordon serials when they were kids... A wonderful sci-fi peplum! Deserves a much better release than this crap DVD. 4/5

Zorro at the Spanish Court (1962)

Original title: Zorro alla Corte di Spagna

Zorro adventure. Italy. Starring George Ardisson, Carla Calò, Tullio Altamura, Livio Lorenzon, Alberto Lupo,Carlo Tamberlani & Maria Grazia Spina. Directed by Luigi Capuano.

Wahlters Video/Cinehollywood (Sweden). Letterboxed. Very dark print.

Naive Zorro adventure. It was a long time since I saw it but I remember not thinking too much of it. 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

The Lion of Thebes (1964)

Original title: Leone di Tebe

Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Mark Forrest, Yvonne Furneaux, Massimo Serato, Pierre Cressoy, Alberto Lupo, Rosalba Neri & Carlo Tamberlani. Directed by Giorgio Ferroni.

King Movies (Holland). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

Fine peplum. 3/5

The Old Testament (1962)

Original title: Il Vecchio Testamento

Biblical/Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Brad Harris, Mara Lane & Carlo Tamberlani. Directed by Gianfranco Parolini.

World Home Centre Video (Holland). English dubbed. Fullscreen. My copy has some sound problems.

Boring biblical peplum, shot back-to-back with 79 A.D. Parolini should have brought the trampolines and fantastic supermen to ancient Rome! 2/5

79 A.D. (1962)

Original title: Anno 79: La Distruzione di Ercolano

Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Brad Harris, Susan Paget & Carlo Tamberlani. Directed by Gianfranco Parolini.

Lightline Video (Holland). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Duel at the Rio Grande (1963)

Original title: Il Segno di Zorro

Zorro adventure. Spain/Italy/France. Starring Sean Flynn, Helga Liné, Folco Lulli, Carlo Tamberlani, Mario Petri & Piero Lulli. Directed by Mario Caiano.

Star Video (Finland). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

Fake Zorro film (the hero hardly ever wears the mask) starring Erroll Flynn's son Sean - a better journalist than an actor who died as a Vietcong POW documentaring the war. The movie plays more like an american western with some swordfights: passable entertainment, but not much more. 2/5