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 Ben-Hur, Cleopatra, Quo Vadis, The Robe, Spartacus, Samson and Delilah and The Ten Commandments. These films dominated the Italian film industry from 1958 to 1965, eventually being replaced in 1965 by spaghetti Western and Eurospy films.
With Fire and Sword is a historical novel by the Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz, published in 1884. It is the first volume of a series known to Poles as The Trilogy, followed by The Deluge and Fire in the Steppe. The novel has been adapted as a film several times, most recently in 1999.
Gordon Mitchell was an American actor and bodybuilder who made about 200 B movies.
Mieczysław Zygfryd Słowikowski, also known as "Rygor-Słowikowski," was a Polish Army officer whose intelligence work in North Africa facilitated Allied preparations for the 1942 Operation Torch landings.
Colonel Wolodyjowski is a 1969 Polish historical drama film directed by Jerzy Hoffman. The film is based on the novel Pan Wołodyjowski, by the Polish awarded with the Nobel Prize writer Henryk Sienkiewicz. The film was also serialized on Polish television, as The Adventures of Sir Michael.
Helena Kurcewicz is a fictional character appearing in the novel With Fire and Sword by Henryk Sienkiewicz as the main female protagonist. She is also mentioned in The Deluge and in Colonel Wolodyjowski.
Rzędzian is a fictional character created by Henryk Sienkiewicz. He appears as the secondary character in With Fire and Sword and in The Deluge. He is a poor Polish nobleman who serves Jan Skrzetuski. He's cunning and greedy but always loyal to his master. He helps to free Helena Kurcewiczówna from Bohun. His parents and 91-year-old grandfather live in Rzędziany.
The Adventures of Mandrin is a 1952 French-Italian historical adventure film directed by Mario Soldati and starring Raf Vallone, Silvana Pampanini and Jacques Castelot. It was released under a variety of alternative titles including Don Juan's Night of Love in America and The Affair of Madame Pompadour in Britain.
The Sword and the Cross is a 1958 Italian religious drama film directed by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia and starring Yvonne De Carlo as Mary Magdalene. Shot in English and later dubbed in Italian, the film was released in the United States in 1960 as Mary Magdalene.
Revenge of the Musketeers is a 1963 Italian adventure film directed by Fulvio Tului.
Marco Polo is a 1962 historical action adventure film directed by Piero Pierotti. The American English-dubbed version includes scenes directed by Hugo Fregonese and a new score by Les Baxter.
The Invincible Masked Rider is a 1963 adventure film directed by Umberto Lenzi. It was based on a novel by Johnston McCulley. The film was released in the US as Terror of the Black Mask.
The Seventh Sword is a 1962 Italian-French adventure film directed by Riccardo Freda. It is a remake of Freda's debut film Don Cesare di Bazan.
The Lion of Thebes is a peplum film written and directed by Giorgio Ferroni.
The Sea Pirate is a 1966 French-Italian-Spanish adventure film directed by Sergio Bergonzelli and Roy Rowland.
The Secret Mark of D'Artagnan is a 1962 Italian-French adventure film written and directed by Siro Marcellini and starring George Nader and Magali Noël.
Sword of the Conqueror is a 1961 Italian adventure film written and directed by Carlo Campogalliani and starring Jack Palance and Eleonora Rossi Drago.
Avenger of the Seven Seas, also known as The Executioner of the Seas, is a 1962 Italian epic adventure film directed by Domenico Paolella and starring Richard Harrison and Michèle Mercier.
The Four Musketeers is a 1963 Italian-French adventure-comedy film co-written and directed by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia and starring Aldo Fabrizi, Erminio Macario and Nino Taranto. It is a loose parody of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers.
Eleonora Vargas is an Italian film actress.
