Peplum films (Film Guide)

Source: Wikipedia. Commentary (films not included). Pages: 65. Chapters: Atlas (film), Attack of the Normans, Brennus, Enemy of Rome, Cabiria, Cleopatra's Daughter, Colossus and the Headhunters, Conqueror of Atlantis, Conquest (1983 film), Constantine and the Cross, Coriolanus: Hero without a Country, Damon and Pythias (film), David and Goliath (1960 film), Demetrius and the Gladiators, Devil of the Desert Against the Son of Hercules, Duel of Champions, Erik the Conqueror, Esther and the King, Fire Monsters Against the Son of Hercules, Fire Over Rome, Gladiator of Rome, Goliath and the Barbarians, Goliath and the Dragon, Guerra di Troia, Hannibal (1959 film), Hercules (1958 film), Hercules (1983 film), Hercules and the Conquest of Atlantis, Hercules and the Princess of Troy, Hercules and the Tyrants of Babylon, Hercules in the Haunted World, Hercules in the Valley of Woe, Hercules the Avenger, Hercules the Invincible, Hercules Unchained, Hercules vs. the Moon Men, Hero of Rome, Il vecchio testamento, I grandi condottieri, L' Assedio di Siracusa (film), La donna dei faraoni, Maciste, Maciste alla corte del Gran Khan, Maciste contro il vampiro, Maciste il vendicatore dei Mayas, Minotaur, the Wild Beast of Crete, Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules, Nefertiti, Queen of the Nile, Nel Segno di Roma, Pontius Pilate (film), Revolt of the Praetorians, Romolo e Remo, Samson and His Mighty Challenge, Sette contro tutti, Sodom and Gomorrah (1963 film), Sword-and-sandal, Theodora, Slave Empress, The Avenger (1962 film), The Centurion (1961 film), The Colossus of Rhodes (film), The Fury of Achilles, The Giant of Marathon, The Last Days of Pompeii (1959 film), The Magnificent Gladiator, The Revenge of Spartacus, The Sons of Hercules, The Triumph of Hercules, Ulysses (1955 film), Una regina per Cesare, Vaincre à Olympie, Vulcan, Son of Giove, War Gods of Babylon. Excerpt: The Peplum (or pepla plural), also known as sword-and-sandal, also fusto (after an Italian word for 'he-man') is a genre of largely Italian-made historical or Biblical epics (costume dramas) that dominated the Italian film industry from 1958 to 1965, eventually being replaced in 1965 by the "Spaghetti Western". The pepla attempted to emulate, or compete with, the big-budget Hollywood historical epics of the time, such as Spartacus, Samson and Delilah and The Ten Commandments (just as the Spaghetti westerns were imitations of the Hollywood Western). The terms "peplum" (referring to the togas or robes which the ancient Romans wore) and "sword-and-sandal" were used in a condescending way by film critics. Italian director Vittorio Cottafavi called the genre "Neo-Mythology". While Hollywood filmmakers, such as D. W. Griffith with his 1916 Intolerance, peopled their historical epics with dramatic conflicts and realistic protagonists, many of the Pepla merely took a real historical or Biblical event and used it as a backdrop for a simplistic (albeit engrossing), comic book-like heroic adventure tale. The pepla are a specific class of Italian adventure or fantasy films that have subjects set in Biblical, medieval or classical antiquity, often with contrived plots based very loosely on mythology, legendary Greco-Roman history, or the other contemporary cultures of the time, such as the Egyptians, Assyrians, Etruscans, etc. Most pepla featured a supernaturally strong muscleman as the protagonist, such as Hercules, Samson, Goliath, Ursus or Italy's own popular folk hero Maciste. These supermen...