Sword-and-sandal

This poster for Goliath and the Barbarians (1959) by Carlo Campogalliani illustrates many people's expectations from films of this genre.

Sword-and-sandal, also known as peplum (pl.: pepla), is a subgenre of largely Italian-made historical, mythological, or biblical epics mostly set in the Greco-Roman antiquity or the Middle Ages. These films attempted to emulate the big-budget Hollywood historical epics of the time, such as Samson and Delilah (1949), Quo Vadis (1951), The Robe (1953), The Ten Commandments (1956), Ben-Hur (1959), Spartacus (1960), and Cleopatra (1963).[1] These films dominated the Italian film industry from 1958 to 1965, eventually being replaced in 1965 by spaghetti Western and Eurospy films.[2][3]

The term "peplum" (a Latin word referring to the ancient Greek garment peplos), was introduced by French film critics in the 1960s.[2][3] The terms "peplum" and "sword-and-sandal" were used in a condescending way by film critics. Later, the terms were embraced by fans of the films, similar to the terms "spaghetti Western" or "shoot-'em-ups". In their English versions, peplum films can be immediately differentiated from their Hollywood counterparts by their use of "clumsy and inadequate" English language dubbing.[4] A 100-minute documentary on the history of Italy's peplum genre was produced and directed by Antonio Avati in 1977 titled Kolossal: i magnifici Macisti (aka Kino Kolossal).[5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]

  1. ^ Patrick Lucanio, With Fire and Sword: Italian Spectacles on American Screens, 1958–1968 (Scarecrow Press, 1994; ISBN 0810828162)
  2. ^ a b O'Brien, D. (2014). Classical Masculinity and the Spectacular Body on Film: The Mighty Sons of Hercules. Springer. ISBN 9781137384713. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  3. ^ a b Kinnard, Roy; Crnkovich, Tony (2017). Italian Sword and Sandal Films, 1908–1990. McFarland. p. 1. ISBN 9781476662916. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  4. ^ Bondanella, Peter; Pacchioni, Federico (2017). A History of Italian Cinema. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 166. ISBN 9781501307645. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  5. ^ Della Casa, Steve; Giusti, Marco (2013). "Il Grande Libro di Ercole". Edizione Sabinae. Page 194. ISBN 978-88-98623-051
  6. ^ Kino kolossal – Herkules, Maciste & Co. Eintrag letterboxd.com. Retrieved 19 March 2021.
  7. ^ "Cineforum" (in Italian). 29 (#1–6). Federazione italiana cineforum. 1989: 62. Retrieved 14 February 2019. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  8. ^ Pomeroy, Arthur J. (2008). 'Then it Was Destroyed by the Volcano': The Ancient World in Film and on Television. Bloomsbury Academic. p. 67. ISBN 9780715630266. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  9. ^ Nikoloutsos, Konstantinos P. (2013). Ancient Greek Women in Film. OUP Oxford. p. 139. ISBN 9780199678921. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  10. ^ Bayman, Louis (2011). Directory of World Cinema: Italy. Intellect Books. p. 177. ISBN 9781841504001. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  11. ^ Diak, Nicholas (2018). The New Peplum: Essays on Sword and Sandal Films and Television Programs Since the 1990s. McFarland. p. 195. ISBN 9781476631509. Retrieved 14 February 2019.
  12. ^ Ritzer, Ivo; Schulze, Peter W. (2016). Genre Hybridisation: Global Cinematic Flow. Schüren Verlag. p. 65. ISBN 9783741000416. Retrieved 14 February 2019.