A Roman epic that tends to get shown on BBC2 every few years, which is where I must have first encountered it. It is principally of interest for Peter Ustinov's magnificently OTT performance as Emperor Nero, prefiguring John Hurt's Caligula by 25 years.
It tells the story of Nero's burning of Rome, blaming the nascent Christian sect for it, his martyring of many Christians in the arena, and then the uprising which brings his reign of terror to an end. All seen from the point of view of a Roman general (played by Robert "I can't believe it's not Tony Curtis" Taylor) who falls in love with a Christian (Deborah Kerr) and has to choose between his conflicting loyalties.
The Christian message in the film is so heavy-pawed that it becomes quite unobjectionable, with St Paul and St Peter both making appearances, and St Peter's crucifixion forms part of the plot.
Other actors we reognised include Rosalie "Checkmate" Crutchley in a small but significant role as Acte, the manny who helps the cowardly Nero to kill himself at the end (sorry if that's a spoiler). There's also an actor called Peter Miles in it playing Peter's young assistant Nazarius, but Wikipedia says it's not the same Peter Miles as famously played a certain other character beginning with N.
The technicolour helps the film not feel as old as it is, and could easily have come from the 1960s and not the very early '50s. It doesn't contain as much outright spectacle as later epics such as Ben Hur or Cleopatra, though it does contain some massive sets and enormous crowd scenes, that would only look small if you had recently had your expectations distorted by watching the Soviet Union's War and Peace. Mew.
The burning of Rome scenes are possibly the most epic set piece, although let down somewhat by some dodgy back projection, or perhaps an early attempt at CSO, for scenes trying to convince us that the main characters are in amongst it. Only Barry Letts would have been impressed by that.
Me and my friends enjoyed the climactic scenes with lions in them, noming some of the Christians, and then our heroes are faced with a mad bull (giving them a bit more of a sporting chance than against the lions). I was also impressed by the continual ingenuity in the direction, never showing anything more than a hint of gore in these scenes while, at the same time, conveying the horror of the arena through reaction shots and sound effects, in accordance with the standards of the times.
No comments:
Post a Comment