O Gladiador de Roma

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!

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.

One reviewer here said Gordon Scott was the only player in the cast with any charisma. That's because he was the only cast member voicing himself with his own garsh golly Oregonian twang in the English version, EVERYONE else is so lacklusterly dubbed that, despite the intricate intrigues, plots, counterplots, brutal violence and passionate romance of the story, the monotone droning of the English translation could literally drone you to sleep!

Seen in the original Italian, it's actually a very engrossing historical drama chockful of elements that constituted the glory of Rome, at its best and worst.

If you want to see Gordon Scott in English, with all his usual muscles, he won't disappoint. Just be prepared to snooze thru the droning till the action wakes you up. But if you're willing to forgo his distinctive twang in favor of an otherwise fully rewarding movie experience, see it in the original Italian. . .

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.