Kampf um Rom I (1968)

Director:

Robert Siodmak

Writers:

David Ambrose (additional dialogue)
Felix Dahn (novel)

Release Date:

17 December 1968 (West Germany)

Genre:

Adventure | Drama

Plot:

Cethegus, capo della nobiltà romana, viaggia verso Bisanzio per raggiungere Giustiniano, in attesa di marciare contro i Goti...

Plot Keywords:

Epic | 6th Century | Beautiful Woman | Female Nudity | Ancient Rome

Cast

Laurence Harvey	...	Cethegus
Orson Welles	...	Emperor Justinian
Sylva Koscina	...	Empress Theodora
Harriet Andersson	...	Mathaswintha
Honor Blackman	...	Amalaswintha
Robert Hoffmann	...	Totila
Michael Dunn	...	Narses
Ingrid Boulting	...	Julia (as Ingrid Brett)
Lang Jeffries	...	Belisarius
Florin Piersic	...	Witichis
Emanoil Petrut	...	Teja
Friedrich von Ledebur	...	Hildebrand
Dieter Eppler	...	Thorismund
Ewa Strömberg	...	Rauthgundis
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Mircea Anghelescu	...	Aligern
Ion Dichiseanu	...	Furius
Fory Etterle
Adela Marculescu	...	Aspa

Also Known As:

La calata dei barbari (Italy)
La guerra per Roma - prima parte (Italy)
Lupta pentru Roma I (Romania)
Struggle for Rome (International: English title) (literal title)
The Fight for Rome (International: English title)
The Last Roman (USA)

Runtime:

103 min | Finland:94 min | Germany:93 min | Germany:83 min (DVD)

Country:

West Germany | Romania | Italy

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Iceland:12 | West Germany:6 (f) | USA:Not Rated | Finland:K-12

Filming Locations:

Romania

Company:

Central Cinema Company Film (CCC)

Movie Connections:

Featured in Yangguang Canlan de Rizi (1994)

Comments on German DVD release

'Kampf um Rom' appears to be an above average epic, but the version I saw is severely compromised. The recent German DVD release crops the original Techniscope image (2.35:1) to TV dimensions (1.33:1), then masks off the top and bottom of the picture to create an ersatz 1.66:1 ratio. I'm guessing their master copy was a print prepared for television. The faded colours, specks and scratches suggest it was done many years ago. While part one appears to be intact - I'm not sure - part two is obviously edited, with clumsy jump cuts where violence has been trimmed. Judging from the widescreen trailer - included on the DVD - an entire scene was removed, where a servant becomes an unwilling participant in an orgy. The DVD distributor, Universum Film, is usually meticulous with its releases. Presumably, the negative for 'Kampf um Rom' is lost and there were no usable inter-positives or even theatrical prints. Given this major problem, I'm surprised they went ahead with the release. Under the circumstances, the lack of an English option - either soundtrack or subtitles - hardly matters.