For more than 10 years now, fantasy film fans have been feasting at a smorgasbord. Scarcely a month seems to pass without the release of a colorful CGI fantasy film set in a magical Medieval or mythic past. It's a wonderful time for us fans, but let us not forget an earlier era, another time and place, a span of just five years in which - literally - hundreds of fantasy films were produced for eager audiences.
The time was 1959-1964. The place was Italy.
The first of these "sword-and-sandal" pictures (known as "
pepla" pictures in Italian, "peplum" for the singular) were set in classical Greece or Rome, but many later ones were set in fantasylands like
Atlantis or Metropolis, where magic mixed with technology in
Michael Moorcock style. The obvious inspirations for pepla were American drama-epics like
The Ten Commandments(1956) or
Spartacus (1960). Some bigger-budget pepla like
Last Days of Pompeii(1959) tried to become drama-epics in the American vein. But the more typical - and more fun - pepla had a different mode.
Instead of trying to move us with profound drama steeped in history, most pepla tried to excite us with lavish sensuality steeped in fantasy. The appeal is visceral. Some fans have likened the greatest pepla to beauty contests whose main purpose is to showcase gorgeous male and female bodies wearing as little clothing as possible. The heroes are simple musclemen - played by bodybuilders - who rarely wear shirts. The heroines are simple maidens arrayed in colorful dresses. The villains are scheming aristocrats. The villainesses are evil queens and princesses who brew love potions and perform sexy dances.
Alongside the displayed bodies are other sensuous appeals: verdant landscapes, towering sets, and physical combat (including gore). Character development and court intrigue are minimized. Cinematic stylization is almost non-existent. Pacing is slow. Fifty years after these films were made, we can still enjoy the beauty and the action - if we permit a little silliness and camp into the mix.
I've found just two well-informed articles about pepla posted online, the first from Brian Bankston ("venoms5") on his
Cool Ass Cinema website, December 23th, 2009. Bankston distinguishes between the more realistic pepla featuring gladiators and the more fantastic pepla featuring super-strong musclemen ("fusto" in Italian). I focus mostly on these latter pictures. Bankston recommends
watching the pictures for spectacle, for "100% pure peplum popcorn entertainment," and I concur.
The second article comes from Timothy Young on his
Mondo Esoterica website, posted 2011. Young defines the subgenre as I do, with emphasis on "musclebound fantasy hero films." His article is systematic and easy to follow. Check out
his brief history of the subgrene, and note how his list dovetails with Bankston's and with my own.
Now I'd like to recommend 12 good pepla, but first I'd like to mention 10 prominent pepla patterns. Enjoy these patterns as you enjoy the movies.
1. CITIES ARE EVIL
Civilization and sophistication are associated with corruption and selfishness. By contrast, rural peasant folk are sensitive and sincere.
2. TESTS OF STRENGTH
Some pepla heroes can think and plan, but most simply use brute force to save the day. Watch for arena contests where the hero must prove his strength.
3. TORTURE SCENES
Some tortures are extreme tests of strength. Other tortures depict our heroes and heroines chained, whipped, stretched, and sometimes scarred or burned.
4. SEXY DANCES
An evil (but often sympathetic) queen or princess may perform a dance. Or a dozen sexy ladies may perform at court to amuse a decadent king. In some pepla, 60s pop music accompanies the dances!
5. LIONS
Don't be surprised when our hero is attacked by one or more lions in the course of his quest. Often, he will strangle a lion to prove his strength.
6. CHEAP MONSTERS
A monster may appear at the climax, but it will probably look shoddy and fake. Hopefully it will look funny.
7. WATERFALLS AND CAVES
If you watch enough of these movies, you'll start to see the same falls and caves over and over. Symbolically, waterfalls are associated with love, while entering a cave could mean a journey into the subconscious.
8. SECRET PASSAGES
Caves often harbor secret passages. So do the fortresses and palaces to which our intrepid heroes must gain entrance.
9. SECRET IDENTITIES
Twin princesses unknowingly separated at birth... old kings in disguise... soldiers masquerading as merchants... devious spies, turncoats, and informants... yes, you'll find all these and more.
10. CLIMACTIC NATURAL DISASTERS
That tall tower you've been admiring for 90 minutes now? That impregnable fortress? That mighty statue? Don't get too attached to it, since there's a good chance that an earthquake/flood/hurricane/eruption will crush it to pieces before our story is out.
So here are my 12 recommendations. I've written more extensively on each of these pictures in my
Claws & Saucers guidebook, but I hope you'll enjoy my brief descriptions below.
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