Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno Porfirogenito Gagliardi De Curtis di Bisanzio, best known by his stage name Totò, or simply as Antonio de Curtis, and nicknamed il principe della risata, was an Italian actor, comedian, screenwriter, dramatist, poet, singer and lyricist. He is commonly referred to as one of the most popular Italian performers of all time. While best known for his funny and sometimes cynical comic characters in theatre and then many successful comedy films made from the 1940s to the 1960s, he also worked with many iconic Italian film directors in dramatic roles.
Maciste is one of the oldest recurring characters of cinema, created by Gabriele d'Annunzio and Giovanni Pastrone. He is featured throughout the history of the cinema of Italy from the 1910s to the mid-1960s.
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.
Kirk Morris is an Italian bodybuilder and actor, best known for his work in sword-and-sandal films.
Maria Grazia Spina is an Italian television, film and stage actress.
Sergio Ciani, best known as Alan Steel, was an Italian bodybuilder and actor.
Samson in King Solomon's Mines is a 1964 Italian peplum film written and directed by Piero Regnoli.
Hercules Against the Barbarians is a 1964 Italian peplum film directed by Domenico Paolella.
Samson vs. the Giant King is a 1964 Italian fantasy-peplum film directed by Amerigo Anton.
Maciste against the Sheik is a 1926 Italian silent adventure film directed by Mario Camerini and starring Bartolomeo Pagano, Franz Sala and Felice Minotti. It was part of the long-running Maciste series of Peplum films.
Hercules Against the Mongols is a 1963 Italian peplum film directed by Domenico Paolella.
Samson and the Slave Queen is a 1963 Italian peplum directed by Umberto Lenzi. It was originally made as a Maciste film in Italy, in which the fabled strongman meets Zorro. It was redubbed into a "Samson" movie for distribution in the U.S. and "Samson" meets "El Toro"
Antonio Leonviola, sometimes Leon Viola (1913–1995), was an Italian screenwriter and film director and co-founder of the "Libera Università del Cinema di Roma".
Toto vs. Maciste is a 1962 Italian adventure-comedy film directed by Fernando Cerchio. It is a parody of the Sword and Sandal cinema, which was highly successful at the time in Italy.
The Terror of Rome Against the Son of Hercules is a 1964 peplum film directed by Mario Caiano and starring Mark Forest and Marilù Tolo.
Colossus of the Arena is a 1962 Italian peplum film directed by Michele Lupo and starred by Mark Forest.
The Invincible Brothers Maciste is a 1964 Italian peplum film written and directed by Roberto Mauri.
Hercules of the Desert, aka Maciste and the Women of the Valley, is a 1964 Italian peplum film directed by Tanio Boccia and starring Kirk Morris.
Son of Samson is a 1960 Italian peplum film directed by Carlo Campogalliani and starring Mark Forest. The film was distributed to English-speaking countries as Son of Samson, although in the original film, Maciste had no relation to Samson whatsoever.
Triumph of the Son of Hercules is a 1961 Italian peplum film directed by Tanio Boccia and starring Kirk Morris.
