One of my issues with this film was the casting i.e. the family members do not look as if they're related to one another. Case in point Sophia and Christopher. I just don't see any family resemblance. And even less with their father played by Alec Guinness. Richard Harris was supposed to play Commodus but bailed out at the last minute. Harris wouldn't have fit in better than Plummer. Loren looks so Mediterranean but not Plummer. And to make matters worse, none of the actors had chemistry with each other. Oh well...
I love it - maybe the plushest peplum of all? Particularly that first half or so set in that fortress in the German forests, with the snow. It all looks so REAL - unlike the CGI effects of items like Gladiator or Troy. Its actually the same story as Gladiator, with Marcus Aurelius (Harris in Ridley Scott's film!) being killed so the mad Commodus can take his place. Stephen Boyd s a bit stolid as the male lead but Anthony Mann makes it all look great and creates some great visuals, that chariot race in the woods, and Loren looks great. Guinness and Mason add dignity and gravitas too, its really the last of the great epics of that era, almost as good as Mann's El Cid.
ReplyDeleteI agree with most of what you wrote, Michael. Production-wise there are no complaints from me: it's eye-filling and stunning.
ReplyDeleteLoren is timeless beauty and I like Christopher Plummer as Commodus but for me the cast didn't gel together like it should have in order to knock it out of the ballpark.