In the year 180 A.D., the emperor Marcus Aurelius, who led his Roman legions against the Germanic tribes along the Danube frontier, has been at war for 17 years and lived under very difficult conditions
Now he invited every governor, every consul and every prince in the whole empire for one particular purpose
All responded to his call coming from the deserts of Egypt, from the mountains of Armenia, from the forest of Gaul and the prairies of Spain
Marcus Aurelius greets them as friends, and tells them that in the whole world, only two small frontiers are still hostile to Rome
One, here in the north which separates the Roman Empire from those who are called barbarians, the other, in the east of Persia
Only on these two borders Rome is finding walls, palisades, forts and hatred
But these are not the frontiers he wants
He wants and needs human frontiers, the vision of a family of nations
For the great emperor time is short, and there is a decision which he can no longer delay
He has sacrificed the love of his son as Commodus will never be his heir
His wish is that Livius, the commander of the northern army, should succeed him, and he intends to present him to the leaders of the empire openly as his successor... He has hope that the position and responsibilities would make his son grow up as Commodus is interested only in games and gladiators...
Guiness' ailing Marcus Aurelius had hope that his daughter would not have a marriage without love
And he knows better than anyone what a marriage without love can mean
But his fears for the empire are reasonable
The east is where the danger lies
He must make an alliance that will show the whole world what value Rome place on her eastern frontier
An alliance with Armenia
Boyd's weary Galius Livius saw suddenly his world has become strange
He's not sure where he is
He knows only the ways of war
He would not know how to make allies out of the barbarians
But if he has to choose between being Caesar's heir or Lucilla's love, he chooses her love
Loren's lovely Lucilla makes it hard for her father to take leave of this life
She knows that her father loves her, but how could her life mean anything without love? It is out of love that she dared so much
Plummer's slimy Commodus pushes the eastern provinces to rebellion in smashing and destroying everything his father did
He makes it clear to his sister that he refused to give her anymore chances to prop against him
Mason's genteel Timonides has been a slave, but he's not accustomed to pain
He is a philosopher and he is weak
Ferrer's treacherous Cleander knows that Caesar will accept fruit from him
He also knows that his blade carries a deadly poison
Quayle's gladiator Verulus snores, in the moment of truth, a deep family secret
Sharif's king Sohamus hopes for a lovely part of Rome
With a cast of thousands, massive battle sequences, exciting chariot races, brutal hand to hand combat, gorgeous scenery, impressive set design, Anthony Mann's motion picture is a long ride of epic proportions not designed only to entertain but to expose how gold and corruption can undermine the biggest empire the world has ever known
The Fall of the Roman Empire
1964
Action / Drama / History / War
The Fall of the Roman Empire
1964
Action / Drama / History / War
Plot summary
Intent on securing peace and prosperity throughout the mighty Roman Empire, the wise diplomat, Emperor Marcus Aurelius, calls together the local governors from all over the Empire, after conquering the Germanic tribes. With this in mind, Marcus has decided to turn over his crown and the much-coveted imperial throne to General Livius, instead of choosing his corrupt son and logical successor, Commodus. As a result, high treason and blind ambition lead to the death of Aurelius by poisoning, paving the way for a new era of oppression, endless machinations, and rapid decline. Now, as darkness prevails on the outskirts of the Empire where the Roman legions struggle to subdue the invading hordes, delusional Commodus declares himself a god, and no one is safe; not even Aurelius' daughter, Lucilla. Can anyone stop the fall of the Roman Empire?
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"A great civilization is not conquered from without until it has destroyed itself from within."
Historical and epic film with big budget financed by the great producer Samuel Bronston and spectacularly shot in Spain
The movie deals with the great emperor of Rome , Marco Aurelio (Alec Guinness) , of the dynasty of Antoninos , formed by : Nerva , Trajano , Adriano , Antonino Pio , Marco Aurelio and Commodo (Christopher Plummer , though Richard Harris was originally cast and he withdrew because of artistic differences with the director) . After that , there happens several riots and coups d'etat until Diocleciano , who imposed peace and order with the Tetrarchy . Being dead Marco Aurelio , succeeded his son Commodo , a nutty gladiator emperor , he'll take on his sister Drusilla (Sophia Loren) and Livio (Stephen Boyd replaced Charlton Heston and he blamed the massive commercial failure for ruining his career) . They'll have to fight against German barbarians (commanded by John Ireland) and Persians (ruled by Omar Shariff).
In the picture there are struggles , epic events , a love history and being very interesting , in spite of the fact that the runtime is overlong : about three hours . Budgeted at about $20 million , this was Paramount's biggest flop of 1964 , its failure cost producer Samuel Bronston his Spanish production facility . Cast and support are frankly well . As Alec Guinness as a stoic and thoughtful philosopher emperor craving the ¨Pax Romana¨ (Latin for the "Peace in Rome¨) is top-notch . Christopher Plummer's interpretation as the nut-head son is first-rate , he was 33 at the time of filming , although his character Commodus became Emperor at the age of 19 ; while other main actors as Stephen Boyd and Sophia Loren are a bit wooden . James Mason as Marco Aurelio's broody and good adviser is excellent . This lavishly financed film was originally intended to be made after El Cid and to reunite Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren . The set for the Forum Romanum was actually being built when Heston rejected the script but expressed an interest in '55 Days at Peking' instead . Samuel Bronston immediately ordered that the work on the Forum be stopped and the landscaping and foundation work be adapted for the Peking set . After filming , the Peking set was torn down and replaced by the Forum , if you look carefully , both sets share a very similar topography . Colosanti and John Moore production design is breathtaking . Battles staged by Yakima Canutt are incredible and impressive . Scenarios are overwhelming : the Roman Forum , Roman Capitol , the temples...the sets are spellbound . Colorful cinematography by the great cameraman Robert Krasker is awesome , similar to Dimitri Tiomkin's fascinating and romantic musical score . Anthony Mann's direction in his last film is spectacular and outstanding . The motion picture didn't achieve success at the box office , it was a real flop and collapsed Samuel Bronston's empire . Rating : Above average . Well worth Watching . Very Good .
A good movie but not great
I love epics, having been brought up on the likes of Ben-Hur and The Ten Commandments. As far as epics go, The Fall of the Roman Empire is not among the best, but it is hardly among the worst either. There are several amazing things about it, but also some assets that could've been done much better.
Starting with the flaws, The Fall of the Roman Empire is mostly compelling, but feels very stodgy and flat in the last forty minutes or so and in the scenes with Boyd and Loren. This is to do with three things I think. One is that of the cast, Stephen Boyd is the least impressive, most of the time he is very wooden and stiff. Two is that he and Loren have little or no chemistry together. Finally, the writing is intelligent and very well-written on the most part, particularly with the nods to Edward Gibbon, but some scenes feel really contrived and stilted.
However, like a lot of epics before, during and since, Fall of the Roman Empire is visually stunning. The Roman settings are wonderfully evocative, the costumes are sumptuous and the cinematic shots are sweeping and really quite exquisite. Dmitri Tiomkin is a favourite of mine when it comes to film composers, Fall of the Roman Empire with its rousing, beautiful and majestic themes is no exception.
Excepting Boyd, the cast are fine. For any lack of chemistry with Boyd, Sophia Loren more than makes up for it with her allure and some convincing delivery. Alec Guinness' performance is brief but altogether wonderful, Omar Sharif is every bit as charismatic as he ever was, likewise with Anthony Quayle and Mel Ferrer is appropriately menacing. James Mason is excellent, and while he has some rough spots towards the end, slightly overdoing it, Christopher Plummer is wonderfully slimy.
Fall of the Roman Empire is directed by Anthony Mann with his usual finesse, and boasts some skilled chariot action and action sequences. In conclusion, a good interesting movie, but lacks that extra something to make it go the extra mile. 7/10 Bethany Cox