Official Synopsis:
One of the great screen epics, director Anthony Mann's Oscar-nominated The Fall of the Roman Empire comes to DVD for the first time in this digitally remastered deluxe edition. The all-star case includes Academy Award winners Alec Guinness and Sophia Loren with Christopher Plummer, Stephen Boyd, James Mason and Omar Sharif. Drawn from the same events that later inspired Gladiator, the film charts the power-hungry greed and father-son betrayal that led to Rome's collapse at the bloody hands of the Barbarians. Featuring "great sets, fine acting, and thundering battle scenes" (Videohound's Movie Guide) plus a blistering chariot race rivaling that in Ben-Hur, this is a must-see "epic full of the gore and glories of ancient Rome" (Channel 4).

Our Take:
The Fall of the Roman Empire was appropriately the fall of Samuel Bronston.  Bronston had been on a roll, producing high-budget epics in Spain such as the recently reviewed El Cid and the Nicholas Ray-directed King of Kings.  The third time was not a charm for Bronston as The Fall of the Roman Empire bankrupted his production company.  This resulted in the leading federal case on perjury due to Bronston’s testimony during trial.  While The Fall of the Roman Empire has not left a cinematic legacy, it resulted in federal legal precedent.

The film itself has become more well-known for the drama surrounding it than in it and rightfully so.  The film’s plot is very similar to (if not entirely the same as) the more recent film, The Gladiator, except here the scope is much larger.  Much like with El Cid, Anthony Mann’s direction is apt, but eclipsed by the monumental set design.  The best directorial work on the film was done by career Second Unit Director, Yakima Canutt, who handled the exciting action scenes.  The rest of the film drags on though, which is a shock to hear myself say since I am very much anti-mindless action.  However, here the over-obvious attempt to make the film not mindless only aided it in becoming so, turning the film into a treasure trove of over-written, unrealistic dialogue.  Such dialogue firmly places the film’s lead Stephen Boyd well out of his comfort zone, resulting in one of the poorest leading performances I have ever seen.  Every other actor in the film, including at one point a fountain statue, constantly and consistently upstages Boyd throughout the entire film.  Overall, the movie is a long, drawn out mess, sprinkled with the occasional fun action sequence.  This is El Cid-lite.

The Weinstein Company once again, as it did with El Cid, has given fans an excellent product with The Fall of the Roman Empire: Limited Collector’s Edition.  When you open the case, the DVD cover reads “Two-Disc Deluxe Edition,” but fear not, there is a third disc in there, too.  Housed in a nicely designed case is the following:

In the Case -

* Reproduction of Original 1964 Program.

* Six Color Production Stills.

Disc 1

* Feature Commentary - With Bill Bronston (son of producer Samuel Bronston) and Mel Martin (biographer of Samuel Bronston).

* Rome In Madrid: 1964 Promotional Film (22 minutes).

* Trailer Gallery.

* Still Galleries.

* Filmographies.

Disc 2 -

* Continued Feature Commentary - With Bill Bronston (son of producer Samuel Bronston) and Mel Martin (biographer of Samuel Bronton)

* The Rise and Fall of an Epic Production: The Making of the Film (29 minutes).

* The Rise and Fall of an Empire: An Historical Look at the Real Roman Empire (11 minutes).

* Hollywood vs. History: A Historical Analysis (10 minutes).

* Dimitri Tiomkin: Scoring the Roman Empire (20 minutes).

Disc 3 (exclusive to the Ultimate Collector’s Edition) -

* Encyclopedia Britannica: Educational Shorts About the Roman Empire – shot on the same set as the film

• New Introduction (4 minutes).
• Original Introduction (3 minutes).
• Life in Ancient Rome (13 minutes).
• Julius Caesar: The Rise of the Roman Empire (22 minutes).
• Claudius: Boy of Ancient Rome (16 minutes).

The Fall of the Roman Empire is a sweeping epic, but not in a good way.  The emphasis on unrealistic dialogue to telegraph the character’s ideas and motivations to the audience renders the film an epic bore.  Yet, fans of cheesy 1960’s sword and sandal epics should be thoroughly pleased with the release of the film on DVD for the first time and in such a spectacular fashion at that.

Overall Picture:
Movie: C+
DVD:   A+

- Matthew Orlando
Staff Writer