Drama

History

The Fall of the Roman Empire

Samuel Bronston Productions

Paramount Pictures

United States of America

English

Sophia Loren

Stephen Boyd

Alec Guinness

James Mason

Christopher Plummer

Anthony Quayle

John Ireland

Omar Sharif

Mel Ferrer

Eric Porter

Finlay Currie

Andrew Keir

Douglas Wilmer

George Murcell

Norman Wooland

Michael Gwynn

Virgílio Teixeira

Peter Damon

Rafael Luis Calvo

Lena von Martens

Roland Carey

Margaret Fuller

Mario Ghignone

Gabriella Licudi

Jeffrey O'Kelly

Robert Rietti

Guy Rolfe

José Terrón

Friedrich von Ledebur

Patricia Wright

Anthony Mann

Samuel Bronston

Andrew Marton

Mauro Sacripanti

Julio Sempere

Dimitri Tiomkin

Cecil Bolton

Frank Comstock

Robert Docker

George Parrish

David Tamkin

Herbert Taylor

Philip Yordan

Ben Barzman

Basilio Franchina

Edward Gibbon

Jaime Prades

Robert Krasker

Robert Lawrence

Maude Spector

Veniero Colasanti

John Moore

Yakima Canutt

C.O. Erickson

José López Rodero

José María Ochoa

John Harris

Cecilio Paniagua

Maciek Piotrowski

David Hildyard

Gordon K. McCallum

Milton C. Burrow

George Korngold

Magdalena Paradell

Alex Weldon

Stanley Detlie

Carl Gibson

Bruno Pasqualini

Gloria Mussetta

Mario Van Riel

Grazia De Rossi

Elaine Schreyeck

George Tyne

Will Durant

Michał Waszyński

CinemaSerf

It's amidst the frozen forests of Germany that we meet Caesar Marcus Aurelius (Alec Guinness) who is pondering a crucial question. He is ailing, aware that he'll be with his gods soon and that his son "Commodus" (Christopher Plummer) should not be entrusted with the empire. That honour ought to go to his childhood friend, and the emperor's commander "Livius" (Stephen Boyd). When he announces this, it leaves the honourable general with a conundrum - not helped by his love for the princess "Lucilla" (Sophia Loren). Thanks to an apple and a very dodgy paring knife, things come to an head and what might have seemed like the honourable thing to do at the time soon comes home to bite "Livius" as his new boss turns out to be every bit as bad as his father had feared. With the empire facing battles on many fronts, the scheming Armenian king "Sohamus" (Omar Sharif) up to mischief in the East - he's now also married to "Livilla", it looks like a battle royal will have to take place to save Rome from itself and it's foes. This is a great looking and sumptuously staged drama with loads of attention to detail both in the wilderness of the trees and with the lavishness of the Imperial court. A veritable all-star cast support too - James Mason, a slightly wooden Anthony Quayle and a brief appearance from Mel Ferrer all add colour to the thing, but it's the surfeit of writing that slows down the pace. There's just way too much chat and not enough action. That said when it does liven up then the grand-scale battle scenes are superbly photographed by Robert Krasker. In the end, the whole just isn't the sum of it's parts, and though gorgeous, Loren doesn't look remotely interested in much, if any, of the proceedings. It'd be hard to shave much from it's three hour running time and make much difference, I think it just doesn't quite work often enough.

Fall of the Roman Empire 1964 Trailer

John Landis on FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

Fall of the Roman Empire - Trailer

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The Fall of the Roman Empire

Cast & Crew

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Cast

Sophia Loren

Stephen Boyd

Alec Guinness

James Mason

Christopher Plummer

Anthony Quayle

John Ireland

Omar Sharif

Mel Ferrer

Eric Porter

Box office

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