The sword and sandal gladiator movies are only as good as their prints, and this one had surprisingly an excellent one. The plot is also stronger for once, the battle of Christians to be able to worship as they see fit, and be willing to die for it. As the sweet Marilu Tolo tells Mark Forest's Roman soldier whom she loves, "Caesar can take my life, but not my soul."
The emperor here is Vitellius (Peter White, also known as Franco Cobianchi, so no relation to the "Boys in the Band" and "All My Children" actor), a brief ruler after the fall of the Claudians, definitely opposed to Christians. Forest ends up fighting a man in a badly designed gorilla suit, deals with traitors in the court and dangers in releasing prisoners before they're sentenced to be slaughtered.
The severe looking royal Livia (Elisabeth Fanty) loves Forest's Machiste, and unlike her namesake's predecessor from "I Claudius" is not the deadly spider she could have been, seemingly helping Forest and Tolo be together. It's lavish looking, colorful, action packed and profoundly spiritual which I found to be a nice surprise. Maybe not the greatest of acting (after all, it is dubbed into English), but for the most part, sincere. When a gladiator movie can actually interest me in watching it through its entirety, it's done its good deed and is worthy of my liking it.
The emperor here is Vitellius (Peter White, also known as Franco Cobianchi, so no relation to the "Boys in the Band" and "All My Children" actor), a brief ruler after the fall of the Claudians, definitely opposed to Christians. Forest ends up fighting a man in a badly designed gorilla suit, deals with traitors in the court and dangers in releasing prisoners before they're sentenced to be slaughtered.
The severe looking royal Livia (Elisabeth Fanty) loves Forest's Machiste, and unlike her namesake's predecessor from "I Claudius" is not the deadly spider she could have been, seemingly helping Forest and Tolo be together. It's lavish looking, colorful, action packed and profoundly spiritual which I found to be a nice surprise. Maybe not the greatest of acting (after all, it is dubbed into English), but for the most part, sincere. When a gladiator movie can actually interest me in watching it through its entirety, it's done its good deed and is worthy of my liking it.