SINS OF ROME (1953)

aka SPARTACO

Thrace in 74 B.C. has been conquered by Rome. A councilman tries to stop Roman soldiers from desecrating the Acropolis and is killed. His daughter Amitys argues with Marcus Rufo and fellow Thracian Spartacus steps in and slaps Rufo. Both Amitys and Spartacus are arrested and made slaves, though seeing his potential during a street fight, Crassus sends Spartacus to gladiator school. Amitys is assigned to Crassus' daughter Sabina. As Amitys engages in what looks like an interpretive dance in the arena, lions are let loose and Spartacus saves Amitys from them. Crassus offers Spartacus freedom but he won't take it unless all the Thracian slaves are freed. Soon Spartacus has helped Octavius lead a rebellion of the gladiators who win a battle with the Roman army, though Crassus downplays their victory by calling it an "incident." Spartacus is given refuge by Sabina who finds him attractive. This leads to a scene in which Spartacus is ready to sex it up with Sabina, but is reminded that there are bigger things at stake. Crassus offers Spartacus a position as a Roman soldier but he turns it down and instead leads a larger battle which ends with a Roman victory and Amitys present for Spartacus to hand her his sword as he dies, as she says, "The flame you lit is still burning." This is an early Italian peplum version of the same story that Stanley Kubrick brought to the screen a few years later with Kirk Douglas as Spartacus. Though it seems to have had a decent budget, with good sets and a well done climactic battle, it can't help but feel a bit puny next to the 1960 movie, as it's not in widescreen or color, and gets fairly talky. Despite the presence of gladiators and an arena, we are shortchanged in terms of action scenes. In fact, it conforms more to the formula of the later Hercules and Maciste movies than to the historical epic genre. And up against the Hollywood epics of the same era (Quo Vadis, The Robe), it didn't stand a chance in the States and was roundly panned by critics. Massimo Girotti (Spartacus) is handsome and commanding; he played a wide range of roles over his long career, though he did get typecast a bit as an action hero in the peplum era. For me, Gianna Maria Canale (Sabina) outshines Ludmilla Tcherina (Amitys) in the sex appeal department. Interesting for me more as a novelty, not quite swords-and-sandals, not quite an epic. Pictured are Girotti and Canale. [Streaming]