Faith Domergue, Jeff Morrow, and Rex Reason in This Island Earth (1955)

Brian Keith, Kim Novak, Guy Madison, Kerwin Mathews, and Alvy Moore in 5 Against the House (1955)

It's a Timeline of Ancient Western History, listing 200+ Films, mostly Italian and Hollywood Productions from the 50s and 60s.                                                                                                                                                                                                       Peplum spans the mythological beginnings of the Ancient World and the fall of Civilization at the hands of the Barbarians. Watch it chronologically unfold, up until 1099 AD.                                                                                                                                  Soon, Atlantis is a sunken ruin. Babylon fights, but cannot halt the incoming Deluge. Great, peplum-clad Heroes bring progress to the Greeks. Hercules, Samson & Goliath campaign in the Promised Land. We see the decadence of the Roman emperors, with their cruel gladiatorial games. The Christians rise from rags to riches. Then, the barbarous Hordes will sack Rome repeatedly. There are many interwoven threads, long-winded and colorful, in the fabric of this peplum collection. Huns, Avars and Saracens despoil Europe. Rome is stripped of all. Then, the Vikings will open up America and Russia for further exploitation. Vae victis! Roman yarn intertwine with strands spun by vengeful Norns. At last, Peplum-clad Heroes spring forth from Hell in resurrected christian triumph. The Crusaders stand in liberated Jerusalem, at the twilight of ages.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 After the conclusion of these events, the peplum of antiquity would be refashioned. For another hundred years or so, that passé, loose tunic would linger on among the less fashionable. However, from the 12th century onward, we see more fitted garments starting to be worn by the European Aristocracy, causing a break with 12 000 years of peplum history, as dutifully recorded here.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                1914 marked, among other fateful events, the return of the peplum. This was the release year of Cabiria, an Italian silent proto peplum, set in ancient Carthage and the first of its kind in cinema. Peplum-draped pop culture would have its cinematic Renaissance in the decades that followed. By the mid-1960s, it was time to wrap up though – on short notice, the Italian peplum had metamorphosed into the Spaghetti western of epic soundtrack fame. Until then, an impressive amount of pepla had been made. Much peplum was shown as part of double features at the drive-in theaters in America.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     After the decline and fall of classical style peplum, a previously marginalized subcategory of peplum would gain prominence. By the 80s, Conan the Barbarian brought us fantastical pepla from the Dark Ages. Predictably, the barbarian peplum was only to be a short and trashy thing. 

The legacy of peplum, I suppose, lies in continuing the tradition to make new mythology. The lively peplum matter billowed out and was at best loosely fixed to the Greco-Roman corpus. Historical figures and mythical archetypes could be given atributes relevant to modern man. Eternal human nature gave rise to cravings, which were transplanted to myth and fitted to the modern sensibilitets of the era.

Events have been dated meticulously. The fates of peoples irrevocably intertwined. This Chronicle of the Age of Peplum is complete.

Peplum: The Chronological Threads of Ancient History

Wenn nicht anders angegeben ist der Film auf Deutsch

Can there even be a thing like 'nearly good B-pictures'? At first I wasn't so sure either. But after years of watching B-movies, more often than not I stumbled across a B-picture which I wouldn't exactly consider to be a good (or even brillant) one. On the other hand it didn't reach the absolute bottoms of z-grade moviedom that connoisseurs of this kind of pictures are used to either. It was simply a movie which, in terms of B-pictures, was competently done, had all those ingredients we love so much in this kind of movies, yes, possibly it was even done bad for all the right reasons. But nevertheless, it didn't click with me, didn't offer that special something which makes B-pictures so enjoyable. What you can expect on this list are B-pictures which are not bad per se, they are more like near misses which can still offer plenty for the B-movie fan. Especially if you are a fan of a certain subgenre, actor or whatever. So have fun browsing through the nearly, but not quite, good B-pictures of the 1960s.

If you're up to it, don't hesitate to leave a comment.

PS: The movies are sorted by year and not necessarily by my preference. This list is by no means complete as I will add new worthwhile films as I stumble across them.

Movies about great women in history -  All kind of movie: biopic, documentary, fiction/ bad ones and good ones, etc... This list has no particular order. I choose not only the most famous ones. My selection is based in some cathegories:  1 - women artists: writers, musicians, painters, actresses, dancers, etc 2 - women in politics: queens, leaders, warriors, revolutionaries 3 - women scientists and philosophers 4 - feminists 5 - ordinary but brave/engaged women (category with almost unknown women) 6 - or only (not so)famous women with interesting profiles or that were beyond their time. 

List under construction: I accept suggestions.

Films set in the classical age of the ancient world, Greek, Romans and other civilizations.  Excludes fantasy film such as greek mythology.

Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Tony Curtis, John Gavin, Charles Laughton, Jean Simmons, and Peter Ustinov in Spartacus (1960)

Miranda Richardson in A Dance to the Music of Time (1997)

In this list I will list all the films I have watched.

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