La rebelión de los esclavos

The Revolt of the Slaves can be enjoyed by those 14 and older. The movie provides light entertainment with little thought. The Revolt of the Slaves does command your attention by its picturesque sets and wonderful costuming. The movie contains enough sword fighting and wrestling matches to keep you interested. The Revolt of the Slaves moves quickly. You go from fighting scenes to beautiful peaceful scenes where there are plenty of beautiful women to keep keep you looking for more. The musical scores in this film come at dramatic times. This is a typical Christian persecution film. Pass the popcorn and soda to enjoy a night of film. I give it four thumbs up.

As a lover of Roman history, I enjoy these old sword-and-sandal movies.

The reign of Maximinus was from 310 to 313. He was Augustus of the Eastern Roman Empire until he was defeated by Licinius, who was in turn defeated some years later by Constantine I.

Maximinus' persecution of Christians came some years after the Diocletian persecutions. Before his death, Maximinus issued an edict of tolerance allowing Christians to freely worship.

Like his uncle Galerius, Maximinus was a devout pagan of Dacian heritage. Galerius had been the architect of the Diocletian persecutions (before becoming emperor, Galerius the son-in-law of Diocletian, had been Diocletian's "Caesar" in the east, winning a great victory in the Battle of Satala). Both Galerius and his nephew Maximinus felt their own religion was threatened by the increasing popularity of Christianity.

Maximinius' persecution was the last persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire.

Vibio is being brought to be sold as a slave. He tries to escape and gets caught quickly. Before he is punished, Claudius bribes the overseer and buys Vibio. Claudia is Claudius' entitled daughter. Many are drawn to the new Christian church. Most are slaves like Vibio but there are some Romans including the powerful Sebastiano. Corvino is trying to track them down and pushing Emperor Massimiano to eliminate them.

This is an Italian sword and sandal flick. It's better than most of this genre. The second half gets a bit messy but the ending is quite good. It arrives in the correct place. All in all, it's not going to win any awards but it has some good aspects.

Those Biblical "epics" of the 1950's and early 1960's usually fell into two categories. There were the lavish, big-studio productions such as "Quo Vadis" and "The Robe" and then there were the lesser, sword-and-sandal productions exemplified by the "Hercules" movies.

"Revolt of the Slaves" is one of the few productions to fall in between these two categories. It has the big-budget look of a Hollywood spectacle -- sharp wide-screen photography, handsome sets and costumes, etc. -- coupled with the kind of script and direction more closely identified with those made-in-Italy mini-epics.

Even the star of the show, Rhonda Fleming, is something of an "in-betweener." She's not quite up in the Deborah Kerr or Jean Simmons league but she's clearly a notch above, say, Sylva Koscina. Unfortunately, she's about ten years too old to be playing this part, especially since she's matched with an obviously-younger Lang Jeffries. (Though about to be married in real life, there's not much on-screen chemistry between these two.)

As is often the case with these pious-Christians-vs-pagan-Romans affairs, the plot works best when it's content to be an adventure or a romance but turns stilted and even a bit cloying when the religious angle is stressed.

One item of note: the scene early in the movie when slave-boy Lang Jeffries is whipped across his bare chest is unusually well-staged, especially in terms of the physical relationship between the whipper, the whippee, and the camera. Seeing this scene on TV without the benefit of letter-boxing will not do it justice. (It ranks 2nd in the book "Lash! The Hundred Great Scenes of Men Being Whipped in the Movies.") Jeffries also feels the sting of a whip in "Alone Against Rome" but this time on his bare back, thus making him one of the few actors in screen history to be flogged on both sides of his torso.

Rhonda Fleming would shortly be ending her big screen career and would henceforth do roles mostly for television. I'm sure that Revolt Of The Slaves might have had a lot to do with that decision. It was a project of her's and the man whom she would soon marry, Lang Jeffries.

This is a Christian martyr film along the lines of The Sign Of The Cross and Quo Vadis. But Fleming's film takes place much later than the early Empire years of those classics. She plays Fabiola who in real life had an interesting story to tell, but this isn't it.

Nor for that matter are the stories of Sebastian and Agnes two other noted martyrs. The lives of Fabiola, Sebastian, and Agnes inter lap chronologically, but they apparently never knew each other unlike how The Revolt Of The Slaves tells the tale.

Jeffries plays Vibio a Christian slave who Fleming takes one look at stripped down and in the true DeMille tradition of sex and gospel falls for him. But Vibio missed the course in turning the other cheek. He's going to fight for his fellow believers in the way he was trained as a gladiator.

One fascinating bit of history that I will have to look up and change my review if it is correct, but this is the only Peplum film I've seen that has the Romans using black African mercenaries. Emperor Massimiano played by Dario Moreno apparently doesn't trust his Roman Guards and he's got a private army of black guards whom he uses for things like suppressing the heresy of Christianity.

They have a white commander, a sniveling little ferret of a human being played by Serge Gainsbourg. He has a death scene to beat all and I won't say another word. You should see Revolt Of The Slaves for that alone.