El gladiador de Roma

Although star Gordon Scott only trains as a gladiator and never actually gets into the arena and most of the action takes place outside of Rome, this peplum classic is entitled Gladiator Of Rome. It derives its plot from many different sources.

Watching this today I caught bits from Ben-Hur, Quo Vadis, Spartacus, and the Cecil B. DeMille classic The Sign Of The Cross. The film involves persecution of Christians under Emperor Caracalla and a dynastic struggle in Silesia which takes place in Italy.

Gordon Scott is a Silesian servant to a princess who family was killed by a usurper and she and Scott sold into slavery by the Romans. The Silesians are friendly barbarians in the pay of Rome guarding the Empire's boarders and the usurper wants the princess found and killed.

But Roman politics intervene and the Roman house to which she and Scott were sold into is similarly ravaged and the head of the household who is a Senator is killed. A Roman general who has the contract on the princess is on the hunt again.

In the meantime Scott is trained as a gladiator, but they haven't seen a gladiator like him since Spartacus was running amuck in Italy. He gets the other gladiator trainees incited and the action really pops.

Of course this film is not anywhere as good as any of the sources I could identify for it. But Gordon Scott certainly had the build for these films though why he was given up for Tarzan films I'll never know.

For peplum and pecs fans.

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!

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.

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.

Gordon Scott is a Silesian servant to a princess who family was killed by a usurper and she and Scott sold into slavery by the Romans. The Silesians are friendly barbarians in the pay of Rome guarding the Empire's boarders and the usurper wants the princess found and killed.

Gordon Scott stars in a fairly average peplum which has some dull moments, however a little action and some striking visual (such as the finale with Scott, a chunk of barbed wire around his neck, and others tied to a post) keeps thing at least a interesting. The problem is that this peplum gets convoluted and over complicated as well as talky. There's a subplot with persecuted Christians, there's a gladiator uprising. Gordon Scott acts well, though, he's one of the best peplum stars and he's got the acting chops. Usually his films are top notch, but this one is an exception.