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The Fall Of The Roman Empire [DVD] [1964] starring: Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd, Alec Guinness, James Mason, Christopher Plummer

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Rating: - THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE---A GREAT HISTORICAL EPIC OF A MOVIE

THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE,1964,colour.Stars many great acting legends including the beautiful-SOPHIA LOREN[Lucilla]STEPHEN BOYD[Livius]JAMES MASON[Timonides]CHRISTOPHER PLUMMER[Commodus]ALEC GUINNESS[Marcus Aurelius]ANTHONY QUAYLE[Verulus]OMAR SHARIF[Sohamus]JOHN IRELAND[Ballomar]MEL FERRER[Cleander]as well as many other fine actors.All these acting greats make this a magnificent historical epic of a movie.
The story is so well known and the film itself so famous that this is all i shall say about the films script.The film has many great fights/stunts-including the great horse-drawn chariot battle/race scene between Stephen Boyd and Christopher Plummer through wooded countryside[brilliantly filmed].Stephen Boyd also had a previous chariot battle[also brilliantly filmed]this time filmed in an arena with screen legend CHARLTON HESTON in the classic of all classic historical epics-BEN-HUR[1959]and Loren co-starred with Heston in another classic historical epic film-EL CID[1961].
THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE may well have fallen-but the beautiful-SOPHIA LOREN-certainly thankfully did not.
Regards,Bill.

Rating: - The R1 Miriam version

I bought this out of cautious curiosity, since I already had a R2 DVD which looked pretty good - or so I thought. In fact, this version is on a different level entirely. The widescreen photography, the snowy landscapes, the crowds, the huge sets and the big close-ups are now jaw-droppingly impressive, with astonishing depth and detail and unlike Gladiator, what you see is what they built. CGI still can't hold a candle to this kind of thing. Take a look - they really don't make them like this any more.

Rating: - ABSOLUTELY SUPERB ignore all other reviews

Unlike all the other DVD releases of this wonderful Epic (In the True Sense) this Miriam Collection Release is absolutely superb in every way.
The movie has, at last, been fully re-mastered and is presented in it's original "Road Show Version". Picture is entirely free from blemishes and colours are vibrant. The 5.1 Soundtrack, bearing in mind the age of the film, has been extremely well done and Tiomkin's music score is crystal clear. The battle scenes (with ACTORS not CGI) are very well staged and 1000's of extras fill every inch of the screen with the soundtrack reverberating throughout the room.
Extras on this 3 Disc version are many and comprehensive although it is noted on the menu that one missing scene not featured was located too late to include. However, it will be included on a future release (55 Days at Peking or Circus World hopefully)
This really is a superb DVD release and the 3 Disc colletors edition is nicely pacakged with repros of original promotional book plus lobby cards.

Earlier this year Miriam gave us, at last, the DEFINITIVE release of the wonderful EL CID and they have not let us down with their second release. If you like the great Epic Movies then you should definitely purchase this.

Rating: - The greatest Roman epic of them all

The Fall of the Roman Empire is mainly remembered, if at all, for two things - being one of the biggest flops in history and for being the film that was shamelessly plagiarized by the much inferior Gladiator. Which is a great pity, because not only does the film have much to recommend it but also in many ways it's the summit of director Anthony Mann's filmmaking, putting everything he ever learned to perfect use to create a magnificently realised portrait of a very different screen Rome. Whereas mad emperors are the staple of the genre, he dispenses with the standard image of Rome as a force of evil to be resisted and replaces it with a Rome that is an idea and an ideal to be fought for: there is no triumph when this empire begins to destroy itself, only disgust at a missed opportunity for true greatness. In many ways, like El Cid, it's an extension of Mann's favorite Western theme of a corrupted man dragged to his own redemption against his wishes, kicking and screaming all the way - only this time, redemption is steadfastly resisted.

In many ways it reworks elements of El Cid - rival siblings bickering over the throne, the assassination of a ruler, even the final fight owes much to the duel for Calahorra. But unlike the Cid, Stephen Boyd's Livius is unable to truly inspire (his own army is bought off at the gates of Rome) and he leaves the Empire to its decline in chaos out of disgust: the complete antithesis of Mann's great description of the appeal of the enduring appeal of the Western - "a man says he's going to do something, and he does it." Here, the hero walks away and the audience stayed at home in droves.

It's not the only chance Mann takes - Alec Guinness' Marcus Aurelius tries to avert his impending death by bargaining with an invisible Ferryman, who speaks with his voice, while almost the entire first half of the film takes place on Rome's northern borders, bringing the empire to the emperor. His handling of the many setpieces is astonishing, from the funeral that Martin Scorsese rightly described as an epic eulogy for an entire style of epic filmmaking, to the astonishing coronation triumph where he gradually reveals the massive Forum Romanum set in a succession of increasingly impressive shots that show how much has been lost now that real sets and extras have been replaced by CGI. Equal kudos here to Colosanti and Moore's stunning design that creates a screen Rome unlike any before or since, not of whitewashed marble but of stone and wood and gold leaf and color, built for real in massive three-dimensional sets - the Forum was actually built full scale on the plains of Las Matas and filled with thousands of extras. But the spectacle isn't just gratuitous: you get a real sense of the sheer scale of the empire, and more importantly a sense of a world outside these characters that depends upon their actions. Throw in Dimitri Tiomkin's finest score, a world away from the standard Roman Empire 'sound,' and some impressive supporting performances (Guinness and James Mason's warm double-act a standout) that offset some of the weaker performances(step forward Sophia Loren in Yul Brynner-Westworld autopilot mode), and it adds up to a film well worth seeking out

Unlike the atrocious UK DVD, which is cropped to 1.85:1, transfered from poor source material with faded colours and no extras save a trailer for Gladiator, both the French and German DVDs are in a full 2.35:1 widescreen ratio (though both are missing the brief 'trilemma' scene that was cut after the premiere and is on no other DVD versions to date).

On one level the Miriam Region 1 DVD is a good but sadly far from definitive release, with the Weinsteins releasing the three hour version but being too cheap to master from 65mm elements and not including the brief missing `trilemma' footage from the original roadshow version (although they claim the footage was located too late, in truth they thought it was too brief to be worth the mastering costs: but hey, the Weinsteins don't exactly have a reputation for putting footage BACK in pictures). As a result, some shots in the film look washed out and dupey, with some loss of detail: in fact, the picture quality often isn't as sharp as the German or French DVDs.

The extras package is good but shares the same half-heartedness - an incredibly badly mastered trailer is included but not the teaser (which was available to them), while the impressive original 1964 documentary Rome in Madrid is offered only with James Mason's narration (exhibitors had a choice of versions with Mason or Sophia Loren). Even the reproduction program in the 3-disc set is actually a trade sales brochure. On the plus side, the new featurettes are good, with the featurette on the film's historical accuracy thankfully not descending into the usual irate academics dismissing the film out of hand (though it's a shame composer John Scott, who has great stories of his time as a session musician on the score, wasn't interviewed for the Dimitri Tiomkin documentary) and the third disc on the deluxe edition includes the lavish Encyclopaedia Britannica documentaries on life in ancient Rome shot on the film's amazing sets. It's a great film and this is definitely the best DVD presentation thus far, but at the risk of sounding like sour grapes it's a shame they didn't make that little bit extra effort to get it perfect.

Rating: - the ultimate epic extravaganza

From the lovely murals of the opening titles to the mano a mano combat in the finale, this film has my rapt attention for all of its 188 minutes, and is one of my favorite and most watched films; the stellar cast is superb, and the extraordinary recreation of the center of ancient Rome fantastic, especially for those of us who have walked through the ruins of the Capitoline Hill.
Filmed in Spain, Anthony Mann's direction is meticulous, Robert Krasker's cinematography breathtaking, and the Dimitri Tiomkin score enhances every scene.

The big name international cast:
Christopher Plummer is riveting as Commodus; he is unhinged and cruel, and yet with a certain devilish charm that makes his portrayal believable. His is the pivotal role in the film, and it is Plummer at his finest.
Stephen Boyd is excellent as Livius, the heroic element of the story, and his part is the antithesis of his Messala in Ben Hur, and in the wheel crushing chariot race in the first part of the film, he is one driving the white horses.
James Mason can do no wrong in my eyes, and he is fabulous as Timonides the humanitarian philosopher.
Sophia Loren is gorgeous in a sensitive performance as Lucilla, Marcus Aurellius's daughter and Livius' love.
Other notable performances are from Alec Guiness as Marcus Aurelius, Anthony Qualye as Verulus, and Mel Ferrer as the blind and cunning Cleander. Omar Shariff has a small (pre-Dr. Zhivago) part as Sohamus the Armenian king.

Like an historical novel, there are elements that have been changed and shifted to be condensed into a film, but there is much here that is authentic; the battle scenes are spectacular, and "The Fall of the Roman Empire" was one of the last films made to include the thousands of extras, and the vast sweep of epic story-telling, and was at the time the most expensive set (destroyed after filming so that other, smaller budget films would not use it) ever made.
Comparisons and similarities will endlessly be made to Ridley Scott's "Gladiator", and there is the coincidence that Richard Harris, who was originally slated to play Commodus, but left the cast after altercations with director Mann, was to play his father Marcus Aurelius in "Gladiator".
It astounds me that the only Oscar nomination this film received was Best Original Score, losing to "Mary Poppins", and in a musical sweep, most other awards going to "My Fair Lady".
The film ends with a quote from Will Durant: "A great civilization is not conquered from without, until it has destroyed itself from within".

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