Ulysses (1954)

Original title: Ulisse

Peplum. Italy. Starring Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Silvana Mangano, Rossana Podestà, Piero Lulli & Andrea Aureli. Directed by Mario Camerini & Mario Bava.

Alfa-Panorama Film & Video (Finland). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Solid Cinecittà adaption of Homeros epic, with the manly Kirk Douglas as Ulysses. 3/5

Haci Murat (1967)

Adventure. Turkey. Starring Cüneyt Arkin, Sevda Ferdag & Muzaffer Tema. Directed by Natuk Baytan.

Kalkavan Video (Germany). Fullscreen. Turkish language.

Black and white historical adventure with a fresh-faced Cüneyt Arkin. Not the best of its kind but the energic fight scenes makes it pretty fun viewing. 3/5

The Secret Seven (1963)

Original title: Gli Invincibili Sette

Peplum. Spain/Italy. Starring Tony Russell, Helga Liné, Massimo Serato, Gérard Tichy, Livio Lorenzon & Cris Huerta. Directed by Alberto De Martino.

Delta Video (Holland). English dubbed. Letterboxed (slightly). 

A simple but entertaining boys' adventure with lots of charm. Watch seven men defeat an whole army! 3/5

Erik the Viking (1965)

Original title: Erik, Il Vichingo

Peplum/Vikings. Italy. Starring Giuliano Gemma, Gordon Mitchell, Eleonora Bianchi, Eduardo Fajardo & Carla Calò. Directed by Mario Caiano.

Parade (Italy). Italian language. Fullscreen.

This is what happened when the vikings first discovered America according to the folks at Cinecittà. Their guess is as good as anybody's I guess... If you can accept Gemma as a viking chieftain (I have no objections!) this is a fun, minor viking peplum. Gordon Mitchell clearly enjoys himself in another villanois role. One of few italian viking films NOT to star Cameron Mitchell. 3/5

Gladiators Seven (1962)

Original title: I Sette Gladiatori

Peplum. Italy/Spain. Starring Richard Harrison, Livio Lorenzon, Loredana Nusciak & Gérard Tichy. Directed by Pedro Lazaga.

NS (Taiwan). English dubbed. Fullscreen.

Above average gladiator flick, quite fun! 3/5

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: 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

Fall of Rome (1963)

Original title: Il Crollo di Roma

Peplum. Italy. Starring Carl Möhner, Ida Galli, Andrea Aureli, Loredana Nusciak, Nando Tamberlani & Jim Dolen. Directed by Antonio Margheriti.

DVD: Odeon (Greece). English dubbed. Widescreen. Good quality.

Reasonable entertaining "meet and potatoes" peplum that gets the job without overachieving. Margheriti of course can't help to bring his modelkit along, and thank God for that! 3/5

The Secret Seven (1963)

Original title: Gli Invincibili Sette

Peplum. Spain/Italy. Starring Tony Russell, Helga Liné, Massimo Serato, Gérard Tichy, Livio Lorenzon & Cris Huerta. Directed by Alberto De Martino.

Delta Video (Holland). English dubbed. Widescreen.

This was a nice surprise - what I thought would be yet another copy of the Richard Harrison dud The Invincible Gladiator turned out to be the very rare The Secret Seven - and it's a good one too! A simple but entertaining boys' adventure with lots of charm. Watch seven men defeat an whole army! 3/5

Original title: Maciste, Gladiatore di Sparta

Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Mark Forest, Marilù Tolo, Elisabetta Fanti, Claudio Undari & Jacques Stany. Directed by Mario Caiano.

EVC (Holland). English dubbed. Widescreen.

The gladiator Maciste, played by Mark Forest, fights a gorilla and saves some christians from the evil and cunning roman emperor. One of the more entertaining christians Vs. Praetorians flicks out there. 3/5

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

Hercules Against Moloch (1963)

Original title: Ercole Contro Molock

Peplum. Italy/France. Starring Gordon Scott, Alessandra Panaro, Rosalba Neri, Arturo Dominici, Michel Lemoine, Geneviève Grad & Jany Clair. Directed by Giorgio Ferroni.

Sunrise Tapes (Holland). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

Good peplum with some nice gothic horror influences. 3/5

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

Catherine of Russia (1963)

Original title: Caterina di Russia

Historical/Drama. Italy/France. Starring Hildegard Knef, Sergio Fantoni, Giacomo Rossi-Stuart & Milly Vitale. Directed by Umberto Lenzi.

Worldwide Video (Holland). English dubbed. Widescreen.

Not bad historical drama. 3/5

The Barbarians (1987)

Fantasy. Italy/USA. Starring Peter Paul, David Paul, Richard Lynch, Eva La Rue & Michael Berryman. Directed by Ruggero Deodato.

DVD: Stormovie (Italy). English or italian language. Widescreen. A very dissapointing DVD release, looks like it was sourced from VHS. Well, at least we can finally see it in full widescreen...

Without the darling bodybuilder twins Peter and David Paul (the barbarian brothers!) this movie would have been pure shit, but since they're in most scenes and steals all of them, I really like it! Still, hardly one of Deodato's most inspired moments as a director. 3/5

Duel of the Champions (1961)

Original title: Orazi e Curiazi

Peplum. Italy. Starring Alan Ladd, Robert Keith, Luciano Marin, Andrea Aureli & Franca Bettoia. Directed by Ferdinando Baldi & Terence Young.

EVC (Holland). BETA. English dubbed. Letterboxed.

Fine, medium-budget peplum with fading american moviestar Alan Ladd (who looks way too old for the hero part). 3/5

Warlords of Atlantis (1978)

Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Adventure. UK. Starring Doug McClure, Peter Gilmore, Cyd Charisse, Shane Rimmer & John Ratzenberger. Directed by Kevin Connor.

Thorn-Emi (Sweden). English language. Fullscreen.

Entertaining brittish fantasy flick. 3/5

Top Line (1988)

Sci-Fi/Indiana Jones-copy etc. Starring Franco Nero, Deborah Moore, William Berger, Mary Stavin & George Kennedy. Directed by Nello Rossati.

SHV (Japan). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

Bizarre, but enjoyable hybrid film that throws in a little bit of everything: sci-fi, action, adventure, horror, fantasy, stolen ideas from Indiana Jones and even the goddamned Terminator! A fun 90 minutes. 3/5

Raiders of the Magic Ivory (1988)

Original title: I Predatori della Pietra Magica

Action/Indiana Jones-rippoff. Italy. Starring Christopher Ahrens, James Mitchum & Clarissa Mendez. Directed by Tonino Ricci.

HMV Movies (Japan). English dubbed. Letterboxed.

Curious mixture of Rambo-style shoot 'em up action and Indiana Jones shenanegans with a little bit of sci-fi/fantasy thrown in for good measure. Cheap but not badely made... quite entertaining actually! 3/5

Maciste Contre la Reine des Amazones (1973)

Jungle adventure/Amazons/Erotica. France. Starring Val Davis, Lina Romay, Robert Woods, Kali Hansa & Alice Arno. Directed by Jesus Franco.

VML (Holland). French language. Letterboxed.

Sexy amazon cheapie by the king of euro-sleaze, Jess Franco. Silly fun. Don't be fooled by the Maciste-title though, it has nothing at all to do with the peplum series - in fact it's more a sleaze film than even an adventure film. 3/5

La Esclava Blanca (1985)

Jungle adventure. Spain. Starring Lina Romay, Mabel Escaño, Conchita Montes & Agustín Gil. Directed by Jesus Franco.

Video Fantasia (Spain). Spanish language. Fullscreen.

A couple of young newlyweds on honeymoon-safari are kidnapped by their guides and encounter savages, a gold treasure, a kung fu-kicking Lina Romay and much more... Very releaxed and entertaining no budget Franco flick, my favorite of his 1980s jungle adventures. 3/5