Spartacus - Der Gladiator Von Rom

Emperor Caracalla is ruling the Roman Empire with a rod of iron and it's his excessive brutality that sees "Marcus" (Gordon Scott) forced into the life of a gladiator. Initially, he was a bodyguard for the fleeing princess "Nisa" (Wandisa Guida) before they were sold into their first unsavoury predicament. Their new owner "Valerio" (Roberto Risso) is a decent enough man, though, and even a bit keen on his new captive but before they can be freed the emperor orders the execution of his parents and so the couple are swiftly forced into a life of hard labour. The furious "Valerio" has sworn vengeance on those who slaughtered his parents, but he is also determined to marry the young "Nisa" and so tracks them down hoping to help them to escape. That doesn't exactly go to plan but with death looming, the Governor (Charles Borromel) takes them to work in his household where "Marcus" is to be trained as a gladiator. All the while, we know that "Astarte" (Piero Lulli) has been dispatched from her homeland of Silesia with orders to kill her before she can accede to it's recently usurped throne. Things don't get any safer for the pair when "Nisa" is accused of being a Christian and it's unlikely she will get the same lion as Daniel got. Now it is down to "Marcus" to rally his highly trained colleagues whilst he hopes more disaffected troops can arrive from the tenth legion to save their bacon and set up a grand denouement in the Coliseum. Now this hasn't much originality to it, but boy does it pack a lot into one hundred minutes of mythology, murder and mayhem. If only someone had bothered to write it a little better and spend more time directing with more finesse, then it could have been a good solid adventure. As it is, though, it's all a bit sloppy and derivative with Gordon Scott even more wooden that the cross he might be nailed to and there's simply not enough action to accompany the various episodes in the colourful adventures of "Marcus" and "Nisa". It is a good idea and probably looked fine on paper, but the execution is lacklustre, sorry.

More or less u know what u will find in a peplum film. the genre which started in Italy in late 50s with reeve's classic Hercules film and grew with more than....300 films until the late 60s when spaggeti westerns took over causing peplum (sword and sandal genre) to decline. the peplum films are divided in two categories. those who are not so much worth the time and those which have some value. this film is belonging in the 2nd category. we get a lot of politics in the time of the cruel emperor Caracalla (211-217) and we even get to see for the first time in a movie the only official roman emperor who was promoted to the throne while he was serving as leader of the praetorians before the assassination of Caracalla. yes...i'm talking about macrinus who ruled for a brief period from martch 217 to the summer of 218 before he was defeated and executed by the Syrian legions who promoted the mad boy emperor elagavalus to the throne cause he was the supposed illegal son of Caracalla. Anyways if u like this B Movie genre then this movie is for you.

Sword and Sandals film with Gordon Scott and Wandisa Guida

The Roman Empire under Emperor Caracalla (around 217 AD): The country house of the respected Valerians is attacked by the emperor's henchmen because they are suspected of being followers of the emerging Christianity. In the absence of young Valerius (Roberto Risso), who is currently fulfilling his military obligations, his parents are cruelly murdered and all of the house's slaves are condemned to building roads. Among the slaves who are still loyal to the Valerians are the beautiful Nisa (Wandisa Guida) and the powerful Marcus (Gordon Scott). Nisa, who is actually a princess (that's it!), sincerely loves the young Valerius, who also wants to marry her. The loyal Marcus becomes her battle-hardened protector on their journey together. This leads to all sorts of complications. Nisa falls into the clutches of an unscrupulous new mistress, and Marcus quickly becomes a gladiator in the arena. But love is not neglected even for the broad-shouldered hero. Aglaja (Ombretta Colli), the muscle man's great love, will give the returning Valerius the crucial clue to finding his beloved Nisa again. She is in great danger, from which even the brave Valerius cannot save her until an action worthy of Spartacus takes place...

In terms of plot, nothing out of the ordinary happens in this classic sandal film by veteran director Mario Costa. The time of persecution of Christians in which the whole thing takes place is interesting. The gladiator theme isn't as central to the game as one might expect from the title. But there are plenty of fights with fists and swords to see. A big plus of the film is the actors. Gordon Scott (1926-2007), retrained Tarzan from the US cinema, is convincing as always as an ancient muscle hero. Wandisa Guida, born in 1935, is also an experienced Peplum actress. Roberto Risso (1925-2010), who is best known as the admirer of Gina Lollobrigida in "Brot, Liebe und Phantasie / Bread, Love and Fantasy" (1953), acts really well. And the beautiful Ombretta Colli (born in 1945) surprises with her further career. The actress was also successful as a singer and later became a member of the European Parliament. Raf Baldassare and Nello Pazzafini appear in smaller roles as gladiators.

Solid and entertaining sandal film that scores incredibly high points thanks to the actors' enthusiasm.

A must for genre fans!

The film is not all that bad, but it is dry except for a few scenes of action now and then. It's a lot of political and religious talk. Most all of the the leading actors play their characters flat, mundanely save for Gordon Scott who has a little bit of charisma as Marcus Lucilius. (I am speaking of facial expressions, movements and of the voice actors for the dubbing into English).

This is set in the times of Pagan Rome and Christians were considered to be outlaws. Nisa is a princess but only Valerio knows she is a princess and she's valuable to him. Marcus has become enslaved and Valerio wants him released as well. It ends up that the Christians and Gladiators escapes from the Pagan Romans. Of course there is big hunt for the escapees. In the end, some of the Christians and Marcus are being crucified... but if they make it out or not you'll have to watch it for yourself to find out.

It's barely entertaining. I really needed something else to pick it up and get it moving along a bit faster and in a better way. Could have been a good film - the potential was there.

2.5/10

After making six Tarzan movies in the 1950s, Gordon Scott re-located to Europe where he continued his career in a series of sword-and-sandal adventures -- most notably "Duel of the Titans" in which he went pec-to-pec with Steve Reeves. While a somewhat lesser effort, "Gladiator of Rome" is still a satisfying piece of entertainment, though it suffers from the miscalculation of having two heroines. There's the blonde princess-turned-slavegirl whom Scott is pledged to defend and then there's the brunette barmaid whom he's said to fall in love with. (The romantic angle here is weak and unconvincing.) Combining these two women into one character might have made for a stronger plot.

However, "Gladiator of Rome" does deliver on what its audience wants to see. Gordon Scott, for example, never wears a shirt and thus is bare-chested from first scene to last. At about age 34, Scott was just a mere shade past his physical prime here, and he looks convincingly heroic in all the various actions he's asked to perform. As you'd expect, he's also put into the required bondage-and-torture positions. In the first, he's chained flat against a wall and threatened with hot irons designed to put out his eyes. In the second, he's chained to an X-shaped cross with the makings of a bonfire piled up below him. Curiously, while his legs are spread apart on the cross, thus making him especially vulnerable to that fire, his arms are not chained to the cross but are bound behind his back.

These bondage scenes are far more striking and memorable than the movie's few scenes of gladiator combat. In fact, the only arena scenes we're shown are when Scott is in training to become a gladiator and this training occurs at a small, provincial arena far from the magnificence of Rome. Thus, "Gladiator of Rome" may be an impressive title on the marquee but it's not really an accurate summation of the movie's contents.

A word of praise for Roberto Risso, the young Roman who's in love with the princess-turned-slavegirl. Despite formidable competition from Gordon Scott, he dares to do a bare-chest scene of his own. This courage on his part makes up for the fact that his physique is not at all impressive.