Spartacus (1960)
Country: US
Technical: Super Technirama 70 196m
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton, Tony Curtis, Jean Simmons, Peter Ustinov
Synopsis:
In 73 BC a gladiator slave in training in Campania breaks free and leads a slave revolt which threatens the might of Rome until it is defeated by the politically ambitious Crassus.
Review:
More or less the last gasp of the historical epic cycle that gripped spectacle-hungry Hollywood in the 50s, and the last decent one (Cleopatra and Fall of the Roman Empire are vaguely camp travesties in comparison). Famous perhaps for the fact that its director (replacing Anthony Mann) was obliged to surrender some creative freedom for once to the producer-star, and for its script by the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo which seems to have a hidden anti-McCarthyite agenda, though the screenplay permits Zionist and proto-Christian interpretations also. For the viewer it is more literate than most, with a trio of British actors vying for the limelight and a solid historical basis. It is also monumental in its spectacle, and its score, even if after the first hour the slaves become a distraction as interest passes to the political chicanery in Rome. Views of it as Kubrick's most conventional film must not overshadow the fact that it is a far from conventional epic, though it does re-interpret a historical figure according to the purposes of its time - and star.
Country: US
Technical: Super Technirama 70 196m
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton, Tony Curtis, Jean Simmons, Peter Ustinov
Synopsis:
In 73 BC a gladiator slave in training in Campania breaks free and leads a slave revolt which threatens the might of Rome until it is defeated by the politically ambitious Crassus.
Review:
More or less the last gasp of the historical epic cycle that gripped spectacle-hungry Hollywood in the 50s, and the last decent one (Cleopatra and Fall of the Roman Empire are vaguely camp travesties in comparison). Famous perhaps for the fact that its director (replacing Anthony Mann) was obliged to surrender some creative freedom for once to the producer-star, and for its script by the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo which seems to have a hidden anti-McCarthyite agenda, though the screenplay permits Zionist and proto-Christian interpretations also. For the viewer it is more literate than most, with a trio of British actors vying for the limelight and a solid historical basis. It is also monumental in its spectacle, and its score, even if after the first hour the slaves become a distraction as interest passes to the political chicanery in Rome. Views of it as Kubrick's most conventional film must not overshadow the fact that it is a far from conventional epic, though it does re-interpret a historical figure according to the purposes of its time - and star.
Country: US
Technical: Super Technirama 70 196m
Director: Stanley Kubrick
Cast: Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton, Tony Curtis, Jean Simmons, Peter Ustinov
Synopsis:
In 73 BC a gladiator slave in training in Campania breaks free and leads a slave revolt which threatens the might of Rome until it is defeated by the politically ambitious Crassus.
Review:
More or less the last gasp of the historical epic cycle that gripped spectacle-hungry Hollywood in the 50s, and the last decent one (Cleopatra and Fall of the Roman Empire are vaguely camp travesties in comparison). Famous perhaps for the fact that its director (replacing Anthony Mann) was obliged to surrender some creative freedom for once to the producer-star, and for its script by the blacklisted Dalton Trumbo which seems to have a hidden anti-McCarthyite agenda, though the screenplay permits Zionist and proto-Christian interpretations also. For the viewer it is more literate than most, with a trio of British actors vying for the limelight and a solid historical basis. It is also monumental in its spectacle, and its score, even if after the first hour the slaves become a distraction as interest passes to the political chicanery in Rome. Views of it as Kubrick's most conventional film must not overshadow the fact that it is a far from conventional epic, though it does re-interpret a historical figure according to the purposes of its time - and star.