Theme: Peplum

Peplum, more commonly referred to in English-language as Sword and Sandal films, was a body of works that emerged in Italian Cinema in the 1960s featuring mythological muscle-builder heroes in a series of adventures.

The genre was created by Hercules (1958) starring body-builder Steve Reeves in the title role. Thanks to a promotional campaign created by the US distributor, this proved to be an international success. The Italians leapt upon this and created a whole body of other Hercules films, along with works devoted to other mythic heroes such as Samson, Ulysses, Goliath and the original Italian silent film character of Maciste.

Though these films nominally take from Greek Myth, mythological aspects were usually dropped in favour of mundane adventures in a fictionalised historic setting where the title body-builder would prove a larger-than-life heroic figure vanquishing tyrants, saving the innocent etc. That said, while many of these are mundane adventures, there are a number of these films that feature fantastic elements.