News

There’s something inherently poetic about the muscle-clad man from Thal, Austria, who once dreamed of lifting not just weights but entire destinies. Indeed, we’re talking about Arnold Schwarzenegger: he isn’t just a name; it’s an emblem carved into the cultural psyche of America, stitched somewhere between the American Dream and a classic 80s VHS shelf.

Yes, he’s a US citizen, naturalized and fiercely patriotic, but that’s only the headline. The true story of how he came to America is laced with sweat-drenched ambition, immigrant wisdom, political metamorphosis, and cinematic firepower. From gym floors to gubernatorial forums, Schwarzenegger’s life is a paradox: equal parts muscle and mind.

As he said on The View, immigrants must treat the country like houseguests, “keep things clean.” That being said, let’s dissect how this Austrian oak planted himself firmly into American soil and why it matters now…...

Peacock's series, Those About To Die, has revitalized the sword and sandal genre for the first time in at least a decade. This specific genre, which often blends history, epic legends and war, and fantastical elements, has had a few glorious decades in cinematic history, especially in the '60s, '80s, and 2000s. This show will have a lot to live up to, especially when the trope has been far more successful in film than in TV shows.

In modern pop culture, no sword and sandal movie is quite as well-known as Gladiator, which is praised for its action-packed storyline and Russell Crowe's portrayal as the gladiator Maximus. These films aren't necessarily known for capturing historical legends and events with accuracy and grace. However, there are many outside of this iconic 2000s film that honor the intense, epic narratives and heroes the unique genre is known for. The...

Netflix's Arnold sees Schwarzenegger recall his experience watching the movie that changed his life and inspired his bodybuilding journey. Arnold's three episodes explore Arnold Schwarzenegger's journey from bodybuilding champion to unlikely movie stardom and even more unlikely political career. Arnie first got into bodybuilding as a young man, using it to transform his body and pursue his dreams of heading to America. Arnold displays his single-minded focus on becoming the "best," and how he helped bring the sport into the mainstream.

Of course, it also helped Schwarzenegger make the move into movies too. The charisma Arnold displayed in the documentary Pumping Iron helped him land roles like Conan The Barbarian, and from there he became one of the biggest movie stars in the world. Netflix's Arnold docuseries focuses on several key turning points in his life, but arguably one of the most important is when he went to...

Netflix's Arnold sees Arnold Schwarzenegger reflecting on his bodybuilding career, but how many competitions did he actually win? Arnold's first episode finds Schwarzenegger recounting his childhood growing up in the town of Thal in Austria, and how seeing the fantasy epic Hercules And The Captive Women (Aka Hercules and the Conquest of Atlantis) as a teenager would change his life. This starred bodybuilder Reg Park, winner of several Mr. Universe titles, and the young Arnie would later find an American muscle magazine that revealed Park's fitness program.

Schwarzenegger then used Park as his "blueprint" for where he wanted to go in life and quickly began training to become a bodybuilder. Arnold is now considered one of the most important figures in the history of the sport and helped bring it mainstream acceptance during the '70s. Bodybuilding also helped Arnold's movie career, and he officially retired from bodybuilding following a 1980 Mr.

This debut feature of muscleman favorite Reg Park is one of the better sword ‘n’ sandal epics; it has good action and a terrific villainess in Fay Spain. The okay story is Benoit’s L’Atlantide, re-shaped to fit the fad for all things Hercules. The Film Detective’s disc is the Woolner Bros.’ American release, trimmed by half a reel and given an entirely new audio mix. It’s still an impressive show.

Hercules and the Captive Women

Blu-ray

The Film Detective

1961/ 1963 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / 95, 101 min. / Street Date April 13, 2021 / Ercole alla conquista di Atlantide, Hercules Conquers Atlantis / 24.99

Starring: Reg Park, Fay Spain, Ettore Manni, Luciano Marin, Laura Efrikian, Enrico Maria Salerno, Ivo Garrani, Gian Maria Volontè, Mario Petri, Salvatore Furnari, Maurizio Coffarelli, Nicola Sperli.

Cinematography: Carlo Carlini

Film Editor: Maurizio Lucidi

Original Music: Gino Marinuzzi Jr., Armando Trovajoli

Written by Vittorio Cottafavi, Sandro Continenza, Duccio Tessari, Nicolò Ferrari using a...

The Film Detective (Tfd), a classic media streaming network and film archive that restores and distributes classic films for today’s cord-cutters, wholly owned by Cinedigm (Nasdaq: Cidm), announces the collector’s release of Hercules and the Captive Women (1963), coming to Blu-ray and DVD April 13.

The latest special-edition release from vintage film champion Tfd, this epic sword-and-sandal adventure stars Reg Park and Fay Spain, with direction from Vittorio Cottafavi. Originally released in 1961 as Ercole alla conquista di Atlantide in Italy, Hercules and the Captive Women is the version edited for the U.S., released for audiences in 1963.

Action-packed from the beginning, Hercules (Park) first encounters Ismene (Altan) when he must save her from a shape-shifting creature. Victorious, Ismene brings Hercules home to Atlantis where they come face to face with Ismene’s mother, the evil Queen Antinea (Spain), prepared for battle to end her pursuit of world conquest.

The release...

Mario Bava excelled with at least five super sword ‘n’ sandal pictures — shooting two Hercules classics and directing two viking sagas in addition to this eye-popping mix of mythology and horror. Forget warring armies and casts of thousands. Bava places Reg Park, Christopher Lee, and several beautiful Italo actresses within his weird visual world of and hallucinatory imagery: swirling mists, intensely physical actors and retina-burning color. Kino’s disc carries three discrete versions on two discs, and a gotta-hear commentary by Tim Lucas. On your next trip to The Underworld, remember Not to trust what you see! Trust instead, uh, trust your … oh, just use the Force!

Hercules in the Haunted World

Blu-ray

Kino Classics

1961 / Color / 2:35 widescreen / Hercules in the Center of the Earth, Hercules in the Haunted World, Vampire gegen Herakles (Germany/Italy 86 minutes) / Ercole al centro della Terra / Street Date October 8, 2019 / available through Kino Lorber / 29.95

Starring: Reg Park,...

With October officially in full swing, we have a new crop of horror and sci-fi home media offerings coming out this week which would all make for some prime Halloween season viewings. Warner Bros. is bringing everyone’s favorite demonic doll to both Blu-ray and DVD for Annabelle Comes Home, Rlje Films is releasing the psychological thriller Gwen on Blu and DVD too, and for those of you still looking to bask in the brightly lit horrors of Ari Aster’s imagination, Midsommar hits both formats on Tuesday as well.

We also have a ton of older titles being released this week, From Beyond the Grave, My Boyfriend’s Back, Hercules in the Haunted World, and for those looking to upgrade some recent horror hits, both Jordan Peele’s Us and Get Out hit 4k for a double feature set from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment.

Other titles arriving on October 8th include Ruin Me,...

Tarzan got a new lease on life when a film company finally went to Africa to pit the excellent ‘Lord of the Jungle’ Gordon Scott against a formidable phalanx of villains. Anthony Quayle, Sean Connery and Niall MacGinnis are perfect Dastards of the Darkest Continent. Also top-flight are the women in this jungle combat, wicked Scilla Gabel and naughty Sara Shane. Fun for adult kids of all ages!

Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure

Blu-ray

Warner Archive Collection

1959 / Color / 1:78 widescreen / 87 min. / Street Date November 13, 2018 / available through the WBshop / 21.99

Starring: Gordon Scott, Anthony Quayle, Sara Shane, Niall MacGinnis, Sean Connery, Al Mulock, Scilla Gabel.

Cinematography: Edward Scaife

Film Editor: Bert Rule

Original Music: Douglas Gamley

Written by Les Crutchfield, Berne Giler, John Guillermin from the character created by Edgar Rice Burroughs

Produced by Harvey Hayutin, Sy Weintraub

Directed by John Guillermin

Of all the big-screen Tarzans — Johnny Weissmuller, Lex Barker, Jock Mahoney,...

Let's give a cheer for the lowly sword 'n' sandal epic. This persecution and torture spectacle also takes in the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian. The impressively mounted Italian-Spanish production stars Rhonda Fleming, Fernando Rey, Wandisa Guida, and as the slimy villain, none other than Serge Gainsbourg. Revolt of the Slaves MGM Limited Edition Collection 1960 / Color / 2:35 enhanced widescreen (Totalscope) / 103 min. / La rivolta degli schiavi / Street Date February 16, 2016 / available through Screen Archives Entertainment / 19.98 Starring Rhonda Fleming, Lang Jeffries, Darío Moreno, Ettore Manni, Wandisa Guida, Gino Cervi, Fernando Rey, Serge Gainsbourg, José Nieto, Benno Hoffmann, Rainer Penkert, Antonio Casas, Vanoye Aikens, Dolores Francine, Burt Nelson, Julio Peña . Cinematography Cecilio Paniagua Film Editor Eraldo Da Roma Original Music Angelo Francesco Lavagnino Written by Stefano Strucchi, Duccio Tessari, Daniel Mainwearing from the novel 'Fabiola' by Nicholas Patrick Wiseman Produced by Paolo Moffa Directed by Nunzio Malasomma

Reviewed by Glenn Erickson

Make all...

By Hank Reineke

Perhaps it is only fitting that area meteorologists would forewarn ominously that the Mahoning Drive-in Theater’s “Christopher Lee Tribute” might take place on a cold and dark and stormy night. After all, it was the villainous film legacy of the actor – who passed away at age 93 on June 7th of this year – to have frightened generations of moviegoers in such a bleakly nightmarish rain-soaked setting. As it happened, while the shivery autumnal chill on Saturday night was undeniable, there was – happily - nary a sprinkle of precipitation to obscure one’s windshield view of the drive-in’s massive CinemaScope screen.

The Mahoning Drive-in, located amidst the Pocono Mountains surrounding Lehighton, Pennsylvania, is – quite frankly – an anomaly amongst the anomalies of surviving drive-in theaters. Whilst most remaining drive-ins have been forced to move cautiously and expensively to digital projection systems or else suffer their screens going dark,...

By Michael Haffner

The legend of Hercules has spawned several stories and films over the years. Most famously in the 1950′s, Steve Reeves flexed his muscles as the son of Zeus. Even famed horror maestro Mario Bava delivered a colorful take on the character in 1961 starring Reg Park traveling into the bowels of hell. To say Renny Harlin’s take on the hero feels insignificant and down right trivial compared to these just as silly but fun earlier films says quite a lot. So even though I love that Hollywood wants to bring back the sword and sandal adventures of yesteryear, I have to urge you to use all your strength and avoid this epic travesty.

In the year 1200 B.C, the merciless King Amphitryon makes his way across Greece conquering anyone who dares to oppose him. His wife, Queen Alcmene, concerned for her husband’s actions, turns to the...

by Nick Schager

What's new is always old, and in this recurring column, I'll be taking a look at the classic genre movies that have influenced today’s new releases. In honor of the swords-and-sandals epic Immortals, this week it's Mario Bava's nightmarish 1961 Hercules in the Haunted World.

Mario Bava's cinema immerses one in the otherworldly, so it's fitting that Hercules in the Haunted World, the legendary horror maestro's contribution to the '60s-'70s Greek mythology subgenre, opens with a credit sequence boasting a blood-red spiral into which the viewer seemingly plummets. His maiden effort in color, and produced a year after his iconic Black Sunday, Bava's 1961 film is narratively goofy but aesthetically rapturous, delivering myriad magnificent spectacles and an enveloping supernatural atmosphere that speak to Bava's preoccupation with the untrustworthiness of sensory experience and the tenuousness of reality. Shot with a minimal budget that Bava maximized...

Netflix has revolutionized the home movie experience for fans of film with its instant streaming technology. Netflix Nuggets is my way of spreading the word about independent, classic and foreign films made available by Netflix for instant streaming.

This Week’s New Instant Releases…

Promised Lands (1974)

Streaming Available: 04/19/2011

Cast: Documentary

Director: Susan Sontag

Synopsis: Set in Israel during the final days of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, this powerful documentary — initially barred by Israel authorities — from writer-director Susan Sontag examines divergent perceptions of the enduring Arab-Israeli clash. Weighing in on matters related to socialism, anti-Semitism, nation sovereignty and American materialism are The Last Jew writer Yoram Kaniuk and military physicist Yuval Ne’eman.

Vision: From the Life of Hildegard von Bingen (2009)

Streaming Available: 04/19/2011

Cast: Barbara Sukowa, Heino Ferch, Hannah Herzsprung, Gerald Alexander Held, Lena Stolze, Sunnyi Melles

Synopsis: Directed by longtime star of independent German cinema Margarethe von Trotta, this reverent...

Warner Brothers is set to “release the kraken” this Friday, April 2… so, Wamg is set to release the Movie Geeks, wielding their swords of cinematic heroism to establish the most epic Top Ten list of Mythological Masterpieces… ever! This week’s Top Ten Tuesday is devoted to the great Greek mythological stories of heroes, gods and monsters.

10. Hercules (1997)

You know why this movie is on this list? It’s not because it was Disney’s last, great, hand-drawn, animated film of the ’90s. It wasn’t. The film’s not great, but you have to hand it to whatever genius decided the perfect voice for Hades, the Lord of the Underworld, would be James Woods. Best. Voice casting. Ever. Rip Torn voicing Zeus? Another stroke of genius. This was also probably the first time many kids born in the early ’90s became privy to the voice of Charlton Heston, who does the narration.