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Riddle of the Sands (1979)

Michael York and Jenny Agutter star an enjoyable adventure film well adapted from the classic novel.

Set in the early 20th Century, The Riddle of the Sands is a wonderfully traditional adventure film that should appeal to all fans of the genre. Despite a number of changes, it superbly captures the atmosphere of the classic Erskine Childers novel and is a must see for fans of the book. Available on a good looking UK DVD.

The Peplum Pirates - 19.07.10

Big American Steve Reeves is the star of Sandokan the Great (1963) an impressively mounted production, filmed on location in Sri Lanka with a large cast of extras. Italian Peplum star Alan Steel is the star of Hercules and the Black Pirate (1964) and utterly daft attempt to shoe-horn Hercules (or Samson in the Italian print) into a pirate movie but certainly entertaining.
Spaghetti Double - 15.07.10

Another solid Wild East release - the wonderfully titled Hate Thy Neighbor (1968) was directed by Ferdinando Baldi and starred George Eastman and Horst Frank. A very well written film it is most notorious for its scenes of Mexican peasants forced into gladiatoral combat. Eastman also stars in Django the Last Killer (1967) a well written if rather generically directed film.
Learn more about the men and women behind the movies with our exclusive Mondo Guides:


 Born in 1935 in the Italian enclave of Zadar on the Adriatic coast, Gianni Garko made his first theatrical appearance on 10th October 1958 underneath theatre and cinema director Luchino Visconti (Il Gattopardo (1963)).

In the same year, Garko made his first film appearance with a bit part as an official in the WW2 comedy Pezzo, capopezzo e capitano (1958) starring Vittorio De Sica and a minor role in an Italian television adaptation of Treasure Island. Bit parts did not last for long though and during the next year he played the leading role in Morte di un amico (1959) written by Pier Paolo Pasolini and a major role in the Oscar nominated concentration camp drama Kapò (1959).

Arthouse films however were never a particular staple of Roman cinema and like most Italian actors, Garko soon found himself in the Italian popular cinema, appearing in a number of sexy comedies including Eighteen in the Sun (1962) and Crazy Desire (1962) and the current boom genre, the Sword and Sandal Peplum, including Maciste, l'uomo più forte del mondo (1961) and La leggenda di Enea (1962) alongside Steve Reeves...

Read on...


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