Rating: 
Summary: Superb Epic of Ancient Rome and its decline
Review: "The Fall Of The Roman Empire" is one of the very best of the 1960's lavish epics detailing various historical periods. Filled with eye popping historically accurate costumes, spellbinding sets (The Roman Forum was the largest set built up till that time) heavy doses of corruption and intrigue and believable performances combined with intelligent writing, this film has it all and indeed is a winner all the way.The film makes a real attempt not to stray too far from historical fact and focuses on the beginnings of the fall of Rome after 150 years of dominating the known world. The story opens with the last troubled period of the reign of Marcus Aurelius the benevolent philosopher Emperor who spent most of his reign reluctantly fighting on the frontiers of the empire against invading barbarians, through to the succession of his son the corrupt and insane Emperor Commodus. Woven into the fictional dialogue and personal situations is a great deal of historical detail which is authentic and illustrates the research and care that went into the preparation of this production. Movie making during the early 1960's was a time rich in many historical epics and what distinguishes "The Fall Of The Roman Empire" is its wonderful performances set against this sprawling historical canvas of the decay of the mighty power of Rome. First and foremost the late Alec Guinness shines in a superb performance as Marcus Aurelius. Being a student of Roman History I was amazed at how closely he actually is made to look like the emperor and his performance is one of the towering achievements of the film. He is at times a strong leader, a trifle world weary and concerned about his place in history. It is one of Guinness's finest performances. The main focus of the story is the love affair between Lucilla (Sophia Loren, never more beautiful than here) and the upright Livius (Stephen Boyd) and their continued conflict with the new Emperor Commodus (Christopher Plummer). While Lucilla is the heroine of the piece here in actual history she was a seasoned intriger who was executed by her brother Commodus two years into his reign for plotting his death. This historical inaccuracy aside all three are excellent in their roles, in particular Plummer who really steals the scenes he is in as the corrupt, power mad Emperor and is far and way the best performer so far to play Commodus (the more recent "Gladiator" included). He is everything one has come to expect from a Roman ruler, mad, vicious, lavish in appearances and manner. It really is an attention grabbing performance and paved the way for his very different but equally famous role of the following year in "The Sound Of Music". Seasoned performers like James Mason, Anthony Quayle and Omar Sharif (pre "Dr. Zhivago") round out the excellent cast. "Roman Empire" benefits from some of the very best visuals lavished on a film at this time. First and foremost the recreation of the Roman Forum would have to go down as one of the truly great sets in motion picture history. Long before computers did all the work this set was actually built to life size and is amazingly accurate in its layout and design. The battle scenes that take place on the empire's frontier near modern day Vienna are exciting and well staged and are some of the best of their kind ever undertaken. The film benefits from all the extensive location shooting that took place including the battle scenes supposedly taking place in Persia that were actually shot in Spain. Ably directed by Anthony Mann who had a similiar epic in the classic "El Cid" he keeps the action moving along at a good pace and allows the romantic subplot to weave into the story at appropiate times. Combined with Dimitri Tiomkin's sublime musical score it is a beautiful production to sit through and even its long running time (Almost 3hours) doesn't detract from it. For lovers of Hollywood epic productions and students of Roman history "The Fall Of The Roman Empire" is an excellent piece of entertainment from back in the grand old days of film making when no expense was considered too much to achieve a truly great effect on screen. Certainly this film is one of the best of its kind and I highly recommend it as an exciting and colourful insight into the grandeur that was Rome.
Rating: 
Summary: Elongated.
Review: 'Fall of the Roman Empire' is vastly superior to its remake, 'Gladiator', but that's not saying much. Its advantages include genuine locations and rich art design over bland CGI; elements of perversion culled from Greek tragedy and Wagner; sly moments of directorial humour at the sheer lumbering witlessness of the whole enterprise; and an allegory for an America cracking up over Vietnam, civil rights, the 1960s. Besides that, it's just like every other historical epic you've ever seen, except longer and less camp.
Rating:
Summary: Widescreen fans please note...
Review: ...you can obtain a fairly high quality widescreen DVD edition of this film from Amazon France's marketplace sellers. You can choose to watch in English, the only drawback being that the accompanying French subtitles can't be erased. However, when you see the price, even with postage, you won't want to complain!
Rating:
Summary: Widescreen fans please note...
Review: ...you can obtain a fairly high quality widescreen DVD edition of this film from Amazon France's marketplace sellers. You can choose to watch in English, the only drawback being that the accompanying French subtitles can't be erased. However, when you see the price, even with postage, you won't want to complain!
Rating: 
Summary: Fall of the Roman Empire: An Epic Before Its Time
Review: After watching the excellent "Fall of the Roman Empire," it is perfectly clear where "Gladiator" stole many of its ideas and themes. The great director, Anthony Mann, who made this movie following the immense "El Cid," again works on a vast canvas and what scenes he conjures up! "Gladiator" tries to do this with new digital technology and with lesssor results. Alec Guiness is wonderfully cast as the philosopher-emperor, Marcus Aurelius, and when he's on the screen, ancient historical thought comes alive. Stephen Boyd is fine but just more of a gentle Roman general than his wonderfully evil Messala in "Ben-Hur." Sophia Loren is luminous but for some reason her director(Anthony Mann) gets her to sleep-walk through two epics in a row and have unconvincing tears gather at her tear ducts. Mann knows how to handle great armies and this film is full of wonderfully imagined battles, marches into cities, and pomp and violence. It is a long movie with some slow spots, especially when Guiness dies, but Christopher Plummer as Commodus completely makes me forget Joaquin Phoenix in "Gladiator," for Plummer is a great actor who gives Commodus so many facets and watch his relationship with Boyd and their final fight to the finish and you'll see where the seeds of the ending to "Gladiator" were sown. Are all Germans blonde? In this movie they are all blonde and rather ridiculously portrayed, as if the director was looking for a certain "barbarian" look. If they were that stupid and unsavory, how did they fight to bring down an empire? We get some ideas here how Rome changed. James Mason plays a pupil of Marcus Aurelius and he also is a great actor and his torture scene is strangely moving. Dimitri Tiomkin's music score blares and blares and is good but not up to the standards of say an Alex North or Miklos Rozsa, both masters at bringing history alive through music. There seems like so much potential for a great film here but it is a hit or miss film with some great acting, great photography, sets, and feel for its time, when many forces were swirling about to bring down the Roman Empire from within and from unknown machinations.It is well worth buying and to adding to anyone's video collection, who relish ancient history well told on the screen.
Rating:
Summary: Fall of the Roman Empire: An Epic Before Its Time
Review: After watching the excellent "Fall of the Roman Empire," it is perfectly clear where "Gladiator" stole many of its ideas and themes. The great director, Anthony Mann, who made this movie following the immense "El Cid," again works on a vast canvas and what scenes he conjures up! "Gladiator" tries to do this with new digital technology and with lesssor results. Alec Guiness is wonderfully cast as the philosopher-emperor, Marcus Aurelius, and when he's on the screen, ancient historical thought comes alive. Stephen Boyd is fine but just more of a gentle Roman general than his wonderfully evil Messala in "Ben-Hur." Sophia Loren is luminous but for some reason her director(Anthony Mann) gets her to sleep-walk through two epics in a row and have unconvincing tears gather at her tear ducts. Mann knows how to handle great armies and this film is full of wonderfully imagined battles, marches into cities, and pomp and violence. It is a long movie with some slow spots, especially when Guiness dies, but Christopher Plummer as Commodus completely makes me forget Joaquin Phoenix in "Gladiator," for Plummer is a great actor who gives Commodus so many facets and watch his relationship with Boyd and their final fight to the finish and you'll see where the seeds of the ending to "Gladiator" were sown. Are all Germans blonde? In this movie they are all blonde and rather ridiculously portrayed, as if the director was looking for a certain "barbarian" look. If they were that stupid and unsavory, how did they fight to bring down an empire? We get some ideas here how Rome changed. James Mason plays a pupil of Marcus Aurelius and he also is a great actor and his torture scene is strangely moving. Dimitri Tiomkin's music score blares and blares and is good but not up to the standards of say an Alex North or Miklos Rozsa, both masters at bringing history alive through music. There seems like so much potential for a great film here but it is a hit or miss film with some great acting, great photography, sets, and feel for its time, when many forces were swirling about to bring down the Roman Empire from within and from unknown machinations.It is well worth buying and to adding to anyone's video collection, who relish ancient history well told on the screen.
Rating:
Summary: Better than 'Gladiator'
Review: An excellent film, great acting and script an historically not too incorrect. An interesting look at the reasons of the decline of the Roman empire. What many don't know is that the recent 'Gladiator', starring Russel Crowe, was loosely based on this film. At least the beginning has a similar storyline. I didn't like Gladiator, but I'm sure everybody who did, will love 'The Fall of the Roman Empire'. Except when you only watched it to see Mr. Crowe off course.
Rating:
Summary: Where is the DVD version ??
Review: As with El Cid, I was anticipating the release of "Fall of.." on a remastered and widescreen DVD release during April of this year. Now the release of this movie has been postponed or withdrawn, with no explanation. I have seen a DVD version of this movie being sold on EBay. It seems to have been pressed in the Far East and is being sold as a new DVD in a sealed package. The one star rating is for the poor quality VHS pan & scan version being sold. Note: AMC cable has run a pretty good widescreen version of this film and one that I have recorded, but I am waiting for a DVD version.
Rating:
Summary: Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)
Review: Fans of the blockbuster hit GLADIATOR will find this film somewhat familiar as it deals with the same factual characters and events. Sophia Loren and Stephen Boyd provide attractive window-dressing as the starcrossed lovers, but the real stars are Alec Guiness, James Mason and especially Christopher Plummer whose portrayal of the evil emperor Commodous rivals the Oscar caliber work of Joaquin Phoenix in the more recent epic. Lush 70mm photography on massive sets should make this an exceptional title to add to your classics library on DVD.
Rating:
Summary: "You may break your heart, but men will go on as before"
Review: For a realistic flavour of 2nd Century Rome this film comes pretty close. The climatic duel is untrue and ridiculous, but overall this film intelligently captures the complexity of Roman history of this transitional period. Alec Guiness is magnificent as a thoroughly convincing Marcus Aurelius. The wisdom, compassion and humanity of this stoic emperor comes back to life. James Mason's progress from philosopher to Christian is very subtle and understated; far more convincing than the pious faithful in your average 1960's Roman epic. Gladiator is entertaining and packed with detail, but it's politics are naive in the extreme, and the portrayal of Marcus Aurelius is largely inaccurate - particulary his death. The title quote is from the Meditations of Marcus Aurelius
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