The Sons of Hercules is a syndicated Embassy Pictures television show that aired in the United States in the 1960s. The series repackaged 13 Italian sword-and-sandal films by giving them a standardized theme song for the opening and closing titles, as well as a standard introductory narration attempting to relate the lead character in each film to the Greek demigod Hercules. These films however were not all originally made as "Hercules" films in Italy. Although two of them did originally feature Hercules, four of the films were originally Maciste movies in Italy, and the others were just isolated gladiator or mythological hero movies not released theatrically in the US.
Sword-and-sandal, also known as peplum, 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). These films dominated the Italian film industry from 1958 to 1965, eventually being replaced in 1965 by spaghetti Western and Eurospy films.
Gladiator is a 2000 epic historical drama film directed by Ridley Scott and written by David Franzoni, John Logan, and William Nicholson. It was produced by Universal Pictures. DreamWorks Pictures distributed the film in North America while Universal Pictures released it internationally through United International Pictures. It stars Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Tomas Arana, Ralf Möller, Oliver Reed, Djimon Hounsou, Derek Jacobi, John Shrapnel, Richard Harris, and Tommy Flanagan. Crowe portrays Roman general Maximus Decimus Meridius, who is betrayed when Commodus, the ambitious son of Emperor Marcus Aurelius, murders his father and seizes the throne. Reduced to slavery, Maximus becomes a gladiator and rises through the ranks of the arena to avenge the murders of his family and his emperor.
Massimo Serato, born Giuseppe Segato, was an Italian film actor with a career spanning over 40 years.
Mario Serandrei was an Italian film editor and screenwriter.
Pietro De Vico was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 70 films between 1948 and 1991. He was born in Naples, and died in Rome. He was married, from 1937 until his death in 1999, to actress Anna Campori.
Pietro Tordi was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 100 films between 1942 and 1988. He was born in Florence, Italy.
Michele Lupo was an Italian film director. He directed 23 films between 1962 and 1982. He was born in Corleone, Italy, and died in Rome, Italy.
Renato Baldini was an Italian film actor. He appeared in 87 films between 1950 and 1983. He was born in Rome, Italy.
Fabiola is a 1949 Italian language motion picture historical drama directed by Alessandro Blasetti, very loosely based on the 1854 novel Fabiola by Nicholas Patrick Wiseman. The film stars Michèle Morgan, Henri Vidal and Michel Simon. It tells the story of the Roman Empire in which Christianity is growing around the 4th century AD. An unofficial remake, The Revolt of the Slaves, was released in 1960, with Lang Jeffries and Rhonda Fleming, only with Rhual's name changed to Vibio.
Erno Crisa was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than 50 films between 1944 and 1968. His last film was the spaghetti western Sugar Colt.
The Revenge of Spartacus or La vendetta di Spartacus is a 1965 Italian film directed by Michele Lupo. It was shot back to back with Seven Slaves Against the World.
Roger Browne is an American actor known best for his work in the peplum and Eurospy films popular in Europe in the 1960s and 1970s.
Roberto Risso was a Swiss-born Italian film actor.
Sins of Rome is a 1953 historical drama film directed by Riccardo Freda and loosely based on the life story of Spartacus. The rights of film's negatives and copies were bought by the producers of Stanley Kubrick's 1960 film Spartacus, as to prevent eventual new releases of the film that could have damaged the commercial outcome of Kubrick’s film; this resulted in Sins of Rome's withdrawal from market for about thirty years.
Nando Tamberlani (1896–1967) was an Italian film actor. A character actor in Italian cinema of the postwar era, he was the brother of actor Carlo Tamberlani. Another brother Ermete Tamberlani was also an actor. He appeared in a number of peplum epics during the late 1950s and 1960s.
Hercules vs. Moloch is a 1963 Italian/French international co-production peplum film written and directed by Giorgio Ferroni and starring Gordon Scott. The film reuses battle scenes from Ferroni's 1961 film The Trojan Horse.
Julius Caesar Against the Pirates is a 1962 Italian adventure film written and directed by Sergio Grieco and starring Gustavo Rojo, Abbe Lane and Gordon Mitchell. It is loosely based on actual events from the early life of Julius Caesar.
Giorgio Agliani (1910–1996) was an Italian film producer. A former Italian Resistance member he got his start in film production through his involvement with the ANPI-backed neorealist films The Sun Still Rises (1946) and Tragic Hunt (1947). Many of his later films were produced in the Sword-and-sandal epic genre.
Gian Paolo Callegari (1909-1982) was an Italian screenwriter and film director. He worked on several American films shot in Italy. This included Roberto Rossellini's 1950 film Stromboli.
