The Colossus of Rhodes (1961) Il colosso di Rodi (original title)

Director:

Sergio Leone

Writers:

Sergio Leone
Luciano Chitarrini
(more)

Release Date:

November 1961 (USA)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama | History

Tagline:

A Monster Statue Of Bronze And Stone Twenty Stories Tall Guarded Their Secret!

Plot:

While on holiday in Rhodes, Athenian war hero Darios becomes involved in two different plots to overthrow the tyrannical king, one from Rhodian patriots and the other from sinister Phoenician agents.

Plot Keywords:

Colossus | Statue | Arena | Phoenicia | Earthquake

Cast

Rory Calhoun	...	Darios
Lea Massari	...	Diala
Georges Marchal	...	Peliocles
Conrado San Martín	...	Thar (as Conrado Sanmartin)
Ángel Aranda	...	Koros
Mabel Karr	...	Mirte
Mimmo Palmara	...	Ares
Roberto Camardiel	...	Serse
George Rigaud	...	Lissipu (as Jorge Rigaud)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Álvaro de Luna
Arturo Cabré	...	(uncredited)
Alfio Caltabiano	...	Creonte (uncredited)
Fernando Calzado	...	Sirione (uncredited)
Antonio Casas	...	Phoenician Ambassador (uncredited)
Ignazio Dolce	...	(uncredited)
Félix Fernández	...	Carete (uncredited)
Rafael Hernández	...	(uncredited)
Yann Larvor	...	Mahor (uncredited)
Ángel Menéndez	...	(uncredited)
Nello Pazzafini	...	(uncredited)
Gustavo Re	...	Mercader (uncredited)
Norman Rose	...	Voice (uncredited)
Carlo Tamberlani	...	Xenon (uncredited)
José María Vilches	...	Eros (uncredited)

Directed by
Sergio Leone

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Luciano Chitarrini
Ennio De Concini
Carlo Gualtieri
Sergio Leone
Luciano Martino
Ageo Savioli
Cesare Seccia
Duccio Tessari

Produced by
Eduardo de la Fuente	....	producer
Michele Scaglione	....	executive producer
Cesare Seccia	....	producer

Original Music by
Angelo Francesco Lavagnino

Cinematography by
Antonio L. Ballesteros		(as Antonio Ballesteros)

Film Editing by
Eraldo Da Roma

Set Decoration by
Ramiro Gómez

Costume Design by
Vittorio Rossi

Production Management
Eduardo de la Fuente	....	production manager
Cesare Seccia	....	production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Roberto Bodegas	....	trainee assistant director
Yves Boisset	....	assistant director
Jorge Grau	....	assistant director
Mahnahén Velasco	....	assistant director

Art Department
Jesús Mateos	....	set designer (as Jesus Mateos)
Francisco Rodríguez Asensio	....	construction (as Francisco Assensio)

Special Effects by
Erasmo Bacciucchi	....	special effects
Tonino Cacciottolo	....	sound special effects
Vittorio Galiano	....	special effects
Francisco Rodríguez Asensio	....	special effects makeup

Camera and Electrical Department
Emilio Foriscot	....	director of photography: second unit
Mariano Ruiz Capillas	....	director of photography: second unit

Other crew
Carla Leone	....	choreographer (as Carla Ranalli)
Michele Lupo	....	direction collaborator
Lidia Simoneschi	....	voice dubbing: Lea Massari

Production Companies

• Procusa
• Cinematografica Associati (CI.AS.) (co-production)
• Comptoir Français du Film Production (CFFP) (co-production)
• CTI (Cinema Television International) (co-production)

Distributors

• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1961) (USA) (theatrical) (dubbed)
• Fox Films (1962) (Finland) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1962) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• EMS (2005) (Germany) (DVD)
• Warner Home Video (2007) (USA) (DVD)
• Filmayer (????) (Spain) (theatrical)
• Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) (1962) (Finland) (theatrical)
• ClassicLine (????) (Brazil) (DVD)
• Home Video Hellas (HVH) (1997) (Greece) (VHS)

Other Companies

• Casa d'Arte di Firenze  costumes
• Ditta Pompei  shoes
• Palombi  wigs

Also Known As:

"Il colosso di Rodi" - Spain (original title)

Runtime:

127 min | Italy:139 min | Spain:123 min (Spanish version)

Country:

Spain | Italy | France

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Eastmancolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Sweden:15 | UK:A | Spain:T | West Germany:16 (nf) | Finland:K-16 (cut) (1962)

Filming Locations:

Laredo, Santander, Cantabria, Spain

Company:

Procusa

Trivia:

Rory Calhoun, who was in Italy for the title role in MGM's Marco Polo (1962), stepped into the lead role of "Colossus" on only one day's notice. He initially arrived at 11:30 on the first day he was to start filming. According to Leone biographer Christopher Frayling, Calhoun's first day included an accidental fall into a swimming pool.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The film dates itself to 280 BC. In the scene where the two thugs try to kidnap Darios, in the background, a bust of Cicero, a Roman statesman can clearly be seen. Cicero was not born until 106 BC.

Quotes:

Diala:[pinned under fallen beam] There's no pain at all. Funny, I... I... I wanted so much, but I die without getting anything.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Caligula and Messalina (1981)

Not the Leone the world remembers, but a cut above most peplum

Having only see Sergio Leone's The Colossus of Rhodes in a panned-and-scanned TV version before, it's surprising how much more enjoyable the film is when you see it in its proper 'TotalScope' ratio. Where Leone's previous peplum, 1959's dreary and underfunded version of The Last Days of Pompeii, looked like it could have been made by any one of a hundred unimaginatively anonymous Italian directors, Colossus always looks terrific, with a mastery of the widescreen that Leone would take even further in his Westerns. It's a genuinely spectacular affair offering pretty much everything you could want from a peplum – not much in the way of muscle men but plenty of corrupt rulers, rebels and conspiracies, torture in the dungeons and the arena, the spectacular destruction of a city in a natural disaster and imported American star Rory Calhoun imitating Victor Mature every time he laughs in profile, which is surprisingly often considering the misfortunes that befall him. Along the way Leone throws in plenty of playful riffs on Hitchcock, with the Colossus itself providing plenty of visual homages to both The Saboteur and North by Northwest. Not a major work by any means but a surprisingly enjoyable one.