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 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

Sodom and Gomorrah (1962)

Biblical. USA/Italy/France. Starring Stewart Granger, Stanley Baker, Rik Battaglia, Pier Angeli, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart, Anthony Steffen, Gabriele Tinti & Daniele Vargas. Directed by Robert Aldrich & Sergio Leone (uncredited).

Wahlters Video (Sweden). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

This biblical film is not badly made, and has a fairly high budget (a real Hollywood director, a fading american movie star and all), but it's a little too stuffy and preachy for my taste. I guess it's a trapping of the genre and that biblical films simply isn't my thing. In this flick I rooted for the decadent sodomites and not the goody-two-shoes christians. The destruction scenes were pretty impressive though - engineered by Sergio Leone no less. 2/5