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.
Dada Gallotti is an Italian actress.
Kirk Morris is an Italian bodybuilder and actor, best known for his work in sword-and-sandal films.
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.
Hercules Against the Mongols is a 1963 Italian peplum film directed by Domenico Paolella.
Samson Against the Sheik is a 1962 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 It was originally made as a Maciste film in Italy, in which the fabled strongman meets Zorro.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"
Giovanni Grimaldi was an Italian screenwriter, journalist and film director. He was sometimes credited as Gianni Grimaldi.
Andrea Aureli was an Italian actor.
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.
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.
Hercules and the Black Pirates, also known as Hercules and the Pirates and Hercules and the Black Pirate, is a 1963 Italian pirate-peplum film directed by Luigi Capuano and starring Alan Steel.
Luigi Carpentieri (1920-1987) was an Italian assistant director (1940-1949) and film producer (1947-1968). Together with Ermanno Donati, he founded the production company "Athena Cinematografica", which in 1960 became "Panda Cinematografica". All films produced by the company were genre films.
