The Fall of The Roman Empire signals the end of Samuel Bronston reign as producer of some of the best epic/historical films of the late 1950's and early 1960's. Unlike some of his other productions and especially 1961 “El Cid” starring Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren, "Fall of the Roman Empire" was a box office failure, due to the high costs of production, a changing taste in movie audiences of the time and possibly the absence of a super star like Charlton Heston.
Director Anthony Mann was mostly associated with the western genre but had successfully directed Bronson’s "El Cid" right after being replaced for Stanley Kubrick in "Spartacus".
The Fall of the Roman Empire is a dynamic spectacle, filled with impressive sets, beautiful locations, thousands of extras, and exciting battle scenes filmed near Madrid (Spain).
The cast is impressive, with Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd, Christopher Plummer, James Mason, Alec Guinness, Mel Ferrer and Omar Sharif delivering more than adequate performances.
Although at the time of its release The Fall of The Roman Empire was a financial disaster, producer Samuel Bronston made a respectable effort in bringing to the screen an adult vision of the Last Days of the Roman Empire, putting to shame Hollywood epics like Cleopatra.
Even if historically the film is far from accurate, it still amounts to a very good piece of entertainment.
Also impressive is the original film score. Written by the great Dimitri Tiomkin, it's one of the best ever written for an historical film and the cinematography by Robert Krasker is not only beautiful to look at but above all enhances the psychological dimension of the characters.
The DVD Edition:
For the first time since its original presentation The Fall of the Roman Empire is released in its original 185 minutes road show version including an Overture, Intermission and Exit titles and music. Filmed in ultra Panavision 70 mm format this classic movie was perfectly restored for this special edition. The picture is now perfectly clear, with a brilliant photography presented in the original aspect ratio so we can finally appreciate Samuel Bronston and Anthony Mann’s original vision of Ancient Rome.
Extras: Presented in a 2 disc edition the movie offers movie buffs an excellent set of supplements. Among the most interesting is a new 30 minute documentary about the making of the movie: The Rise and Fall of an Epic Production, and a fascinating 20 minute documentary on Dimitry Tiomkin’s musical score:Dimitri Tiomkin: scoring the Roman Empire.
