|
The Fall Of The Roman Empire (Two-Disc Deluxe Edition) (The Miriam Collection) Posters
Photos Art
Search for Posters Art Prints, photos and get
results from all the many categories from Amazon including
books, videos, dvds, toys, video games, and more.
|
|
|
Posters Art
Prints Photos collectables |
|
|
|
|
|
|
If for some reason you can't find what the
poster or art print your looking for try using the search boxes
below
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
Rating:  -
At long last the epic FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE is becoming available in the aftermath of the release of EL CID. This was the movie that destroyed Samuel Bronston's studio. Much of the story would later be the basis of GLADIATOR. A terrific cast: Stephen Boyd as Livius, Sophia Loren (was there ever a more beautiful star?) as Lucilla, Christopher Plummer (in a wonderful over the top performance) as Comodus and Sir Alec Guinness as Marcus Arilias. To this add John Ireland, Omar Sharif, Anthony Quayle, James Mason and Mel Ferrer. Colossal sets and set piece battles with thousands of extras that today could only be done by CGI, this is an epic in every sense. A failure at the box office in it's time. The author, John Logan, of the GLADITOR screenplay says he was unaware of this movie when he was hired by Ridley Scott. Perhaps, the stories both use the same chapter in history and real persons. Both have Comodus die in hand to hand combat with the protagonist. Neither is true but never let a little thing like the truth ruin an entertaining film. This appears to be the old roadshow edition with intro and exit music. Films like this, so prevalent in the 1950's until the early 1960's are now a thing of the past. A pity, in their day they really were spectacles in the best sense. Highly enjoyable fare!
Rating:  -
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
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.
Since Amazon have combined all the reviews for different issues in one section, a word on the PAL releases. Sadly, unlike the 2.35:1 German and French DVDs, Universal's R2 UK PAL DVD is atrocious - a cropped 1.85:1 transfer from poor source material with faded colours and no extras save a trailer for Gladiator.
Rating:  -
Sadly because with all the great sets and the great number of estras and great locations (outside Madrid), etc. the film fails completely. It has a great cast, that's true (except for Boyd): Mason, Loren, Plummer (who is very good playing Commodus), and Guinness in a few scenes. But the drecting is very poor, the cutting of scenes awful with quiet and slow scenes jumping into action takes that happen quickly. These battle scenes have nothing to do with other great movies with war scenes, the best example still is Welles's "Chimes at midnight" (if we look for old movies).
The film can still be salvaged if one only attends to the historical aspects of it, or is a fan of period films with their costumes and traditions.
I can't say that it is totally bad. I watched it thru (and it's very long) twice in my life, and managed to do it by ignoring the ridiculous dialogues, specially in the love scenes, and simply admiring the grandiosity that the whole enterprise conveys.
Of all the superproductions that Samuel Bronston produced in Spain you will surely like best "El Cid". Charlton Heston is just perfect. Loren is at her most beautiful, and the script is more professional.
Rating: -
FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE is one of the most underrated film epics of all time. It has a very intelligent script, witty dialogue and an insightful sense of humor (the intellectually amusing banter between Alec Guinness as Marcus Aurelius and James Mason as Timonides is far above that found in biblical type epics). The cast is impressive including Sophia Loren, Anthony Quail, John Ireland, Omar Sharif and Mel Ferrer (probably his best screen performance as the blind and deceitful Cleander). James Mason gives a lesson in histrionics giving yet another brilliant performance unlike anything he had done previously.
Robert Krasker's cinematography especially filmed on the frozen frontier with the ominous forest in the background and snowflakes blustering across the screen are astonishingly atmospheric combined with one of Dimitri Tiomkin's most impressionistic, elegiac and enigmatic scores. Dimitri Tiomkin's score is lush and beautifully haunting throughout. The action sequences are impressively staged. The chariot chase on the frontier road and downhill through the pines between the stoic Stephen Boyd (Livius) and a very flamboyantly psychotic Christopher Plumber (Commodus) is a highlight. Most impressive are the outstanding and unbelievable sets by production designers Veniero Colasanti and John Moore.
Director Anthony Mann has a great ability to use outdoor landscapes to full advantage enhancing the drama. He contrasts the beauty of nature with unscrupulous men's desires to control their environment through manipulation and deceit against other men of greater moral fortitude. The tranquil outdoor settings are the stage for this conflict of good and evil. Unsung and most forgotten is producer Samuel Bronston who gave us great epic films as this. He had a penchant for producing grand epics (EL CID and 55 DAYS AT PEKING) that were not only opulent and stirring but were elevated to higher cinematic and artistic prominence for their intellect and thought provoking scripting and images.
Rating: -
FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE is one of the most underrated film epics of all time. It has a very intelligent script, witty dialogue and an insightful sense of humor (the intellectually amusing banter between Alec Guinness as Marcus Aurelius and James Mason as Timonides is far above that found in biblical type epics). The cast is impressive including Sophia Loren, Anthony Quail, John Ireland, Omar Sharif and Mel Ferrer (probably his best screen performance as the blind and deceitful Cleander). James Mason gives a lesson in histrionics giving yet another brilliant performance unlike anything he had done previously.
Robert Krasker's cinematography especially filmed on the frozen frontier with the ominous forest in the background and snowflakes blustering across the screen are astonishingly atmospheric combined with one of Dimitri Tiomkin's most impressionistic, elegiac and enigmatic scores. Dimitri Tiomkin's score is lush and beautifully haunting throughout. The action sequences are impressively staged. The chariot chase on the frontier road and downhill through the pines between the stoic Stephen Boyd (Livius) and a very flamboyantly psychotic Christopher Plumber (Commodus) is a highlight. Most impressive are the outstanding and unbelievable sets by production designers Veniero Colasanti and John Moore.
Director Anthony Mann has a great ability to use outdoor landscapes to full advantage enhancing the drama. He contrasts the beauty of nature with unscrupulous men's desires to control their environment through manipulation and deceit against other men of greater moral fortitude. The tranquil outdoor settings are the stage for this conflict of good and evil. Unsung and most forgotten is producer Samuel Bronston who gave us great epic films as this. He had a penchant for producing grand epics (EL CID and 55 DAYS AT PEKING) that were not only opulent and stirring but were elevated to higher cinematic and artistic prominence for their intellect and thought provoking scripting and images.
|
