Review: Fall of the Roman Empire

The last days of Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Sir Alec Guinness) of Rome, replaced by his arrogant, reckless son Commodus (Christopher Plummer) through scandalous, conspiratorial means (which chiefly involves blind co-conspirator Mel Ferrer). Soldier Livius (Stephen Boyd) was the first choice, being like a son to the aging ruler). Lucilla (Sophia Loren) is the emperor’s daughter and the main squeeze of Livius. When tragedy befalls the emperor, Livius is unwilling to assume the throne, much to the dismay of his lover Lucilla. Meanwhile, loony Commodus, insanely jealous of Livius and possibly harbouring unlawful feelings towards his sister, exiles the latter out of both jealousy and spite. He has let power get to his head and Rome itself begins to suffer. James Mason plays Timonides, a fair-minded and sage Roman Senator, sharing a great scene with Barbarian chief John Ireland (!). Sir Anthony Quayle plays the gladiator trainer, Omar Sharif plays an Armenian King whom Lucilla marries (Commodus wants to keep Lucilla away from Livius). Douglas Wilmer (excellent in “El Cid”) is another co-conspirator, and the underrated Andrew Kier is a sturdy soldier.

1964 Anthony Mann (the superlative “El Cid”, and the fine westerns “Bend of the River”, “The Naked Spur”, and “The Far Country”) historical epic is a predecessor in many ways to “Gladiator”. It’s also one of the few of its kind to truly earn the respect of critics outside of the spectacle side of filmmaking. I like it a lot too, but not as much as “El Cid”. Yes, the characters are more fully realised than usual, and many of the performances are terrific. However, I must say I found the dialogue to be howlingly bad at times. Oddly enough, what I loved most about this film is indeed the look of it, the production values, and I loved the action sequences in the film (notably a terrific chariot race and a final fight to the death). So I actually think this is the most handsomely mounted of the historical epics, but still list “El Cid” as my personal favourite. In fact, this film would have been much better if that film’s lead, Charlton Heston were given the role Stephen Boyd plays here (and indeed, he was the intended actor for the role). Boyd never did much for me as an actor, and his particularly outclassed by everyone and everything around him here. Boyd vanishes into the background, hence why someone with stronger screen presence is needed. He just doesn’t bring a lot to the party. Plummer’s terrific as power-mad, insanely jealous Commodus, and Loren is fine as always in a role not too far away from her role in “El Cid”. Guinness towers over all, in a dandy of a supporting role as the aging Marcus Aurelius, with Mason perfectly cast, Ireland wonderfully fiery (if somewhat miscast), and interesting small roles for Quayle, Sharif, and Ferrer.

Definitely a must for fans of the genre, it’s one of the very best, despite the hokey dialogue and wooden lead performance. Scripted by Philip Yordan (“Broken Lance”, “The Man From Laramie”), Ben Barzman (“Back to Bataan”, “The Heroes of Telemark”), and Basilio Franchina, be warned: It’s available in versions of differing length. The closer you can get to three hours the better, I think. The masculine score by Dimitri Tiomkin (“High Noon”, “Rio Bravo”) was Oscar nominated, and deservedly so.

Rating: B