Anthony Mann – The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)

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The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)

Published 4 okt 2024

It s Difficult To Think Of an Unpopular Film by A Major Hollywood Auteur More Ambitious or Awe Inspiring Than Anthony Mann s The Fall of the Roman Empire. Certainly It Was One of the Most Ambitious Films of Any Kind In Terms of Production, Not Only Was It One of the Most Expensive Ever Made, With the Largest Net Ever Built, but It Was Made Entirely Outside the Studio System. It Was the Penultimate Achievement of Samuel Bronston s independent Production Company, and, Today, It is More Well Known For Bankrupting Bronston Than It is For Any Artistic Achievement. Its Massive Financial Failure Was Probably Inevitable, Considering How Difficult It Would Be To Turn A Profit On Such an Over-Budgeted Colossus Under Even Ideal Circumstances, But, After Lukewarm Reception At Cannes and A Handful of Snarky Reviews From the Likes of Bosley Crowther, the Film Was Saddled With A Long Lasting Reputation For Being A Giant Turkey. It Has Slowly Earned Some Status As A Lost Classic, but Audiences and Critics Alike Overwhelmingly Prefer El Cid, the Previous Collaboration Between Mann and Bronston. El Cid May Have Reached A Greater Apotheosis of Mann s Style, But For Its Auteurist Pleasures and Smart Entertainment, The Fall of the Roman Empire is an Unpolished 30 Carat Gem.

The Grandiose Title Bites Off A Fair Hit More Than It Can Chew, Promising Nothing Less Than A Narrative About the Sownfall of an Entire Civilization, but Mann Consistently Grounds the Film With His Usual Termite Art Preoccupations. The Plot is Expansive and Has Quite A Few Vestigial Sub Plots, but Mann Localizes the Drama Around the Shifting Psychologies of A Small Group of Flawed People In or Close to the Royal Family. The Stoic Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Alec Guinness) Decides He Will Pass On the Crown To His Beloved General Livius (Stephen Boyd) Rather Than His Son, Commodus (Christopher Plummer), Whom He Loves But Considers Unfit for Government. Livius and Commodus Have Been Lifelong Friends, and Livius is Romantically Involved With Commodus’ Sister, Lucilla (Sophia Loren), Though There Seems To Be an Unspoken Consensus That Things Will Never Work Out Between tThem. Aurelius Dies Before He Can Finalize Livius’ Succession, and the Plot Bursts Like A Can of Spring Snakes When Livius Hands the Throne Over To Commodus Anyway, the Characters Scattering To the Winds As They Work Their Private Political Machinations Until the Final Act Brings Them All Crashing Back Together In A Prolonged Blood Bath. The Opening and Closing Monologues by an Unidentified Narrator Weakly Frame the Film As A Pivotal Series of Events In the Course of Western Civilization, But Mann Treats lt Like an Isolated and Incestuous Greek Tragedy.and During the Climactic Gladiator Fight Between Commodus and Livius In the Middle of the Roman Forum, Soldiers Form A Square Around Them and Box Them In By Forming A Wall With Their Interlocking Shields. The Fate of the Empire is On the Line, but the Dramatic Weight of the Scene is Limited To This Micro. Cosm Where the Main Thing At Stake is How Much Pain These Two Friends Are Willing To Inflict On One Another. The Surrounding Mobs, Raised Up On Temple Stairs, Clearly Suggest an Amphi Theatre.

Link For the Entire Blog Article
https://brightlightsfilm.com/auteurs-in-the-arena-anthony-manns-the-fall-of-the-roman-empire/

https://NL.wikipedia.org/wiki/The Fall of the Roman Empire
https://EN.wikipedia.org/wiki/The Fall of the Roman Empire (Film)

Reacties
https://youtu.be/V4iELA1dDdE?si=aeVZgxIwxRyMt5mP

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The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)

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