Ursus, O Gladiador

One of countless Italian gladiator movies, this one covers some of the ground that made up the more recent success "Gladiator" starring Russell Crowe, though most of the elements of the story differ to some degree. Ciani plays a strong, tough, spoiled soldier who stands to inherit the crown of Rome as his father the emperor has died. His endless terrorizing and pillaging is threatened only by Vadis, a former Roman soldier who is now a Christian who expounds the virtues of non-violence. When Vadis offends Ciani by refusing to kill him upon capture, he in turn kidnaps Vadis's girlfriend, holding her hostage in order to force Vadis to fight in the arena. The two square off in a first encounter and later in an extended and well done bout. A later battle sequence contains a massive assembly of extras and the destruction of a bridge (this being handled primarily in close-up.) Though Ciani (who looks like a pumped up James Brolin) only holds a limited amount of acting skill, he is Olivier compared to Vadis who resembles a happy monkey half the time, smiling inappropriately or staring blankly and failing to bring any significant dramatic weight to his role. The female cast here is utilized a little better than in some gladiator movies. As is usually the case, the film has large amounts of sword-clanking, battle, exotic women and badly dubbed voices. However, this one appears to have had a sizable budget with some impressive sets. It also contains some reasonably good directorial touches and camera-work, not always strong points for this genre. It might even be a little more impressive if a better print were in circulation, but that isn't the case at present. Even so, despite his impressive physique, Vadis is not one of the better leading men of this realm.

Alan Steel and Dan Vadis duke it out...not just once, but twice in this above average peplum opus. That alone is worth your time, but the film is actually a good one, with lots of action, telling the story of Marcus Aurelius' heir, Commodus, who succeeds to the purple but is more interested in being a gladiator than a Ceasar. Steel has a great time and does a good job portraying this whack-job of an emperor, more convincingly than Joaquin Phoenix and just as good as Christopher Plummer. The scriptwriters got it right,as far as they went, but it's tame compared to the facts. Vadis (who is better playing villains and whack-jobs himself) is miscast and the weakest part of the film. It would have been a much better film if the Ursus character were eliminated and the chief opponent of Commodus were Septimius Leto (Carlo Delmi), the handsome young senator's son who resembles a wavy-haired Lex Barker. His role starts off promising to be an important character and then just gets lost and forgotten during the proceedings which sorely need him. This film needs to be restored and seen by those who enjoy this fare, it's one of the better entries in the genre.

Until fairly recently, I hadn't heard of director Domenico Paolella and the only films of his I'd seen prior to this one were two good Italian comedies featuring legendary Italian comic, Toto'; one of them, IL CORAGGIO (1955), was a revamping of Jean Renoir's BOUDU SAVED FROM DROWNING (1932), tailored to suit the star's unique brand of mimicry! As it happens, this muscleman epic is quite another thing, with the mythical giant Ursus – who was made famous by Buddy Baer in the MGM super production of QUO VADIS (1951) and played here by the aptly (and hilariously) named Dan Vadis! – somehow incongruously inserted into another retelling of the events which were much better, and more spectacularly, handled in Anthon Mann's THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE (1964) and Ridley Scott's GLADIATOR (2000). Unfortunately, I was unable to keep a straight face most of the time especially with Alan Steel (another muscleman who featured heavily in such fare) playing a very athletic Commodus – rather than the mad wimp which history tells us he was!

I'd like to correct an error made by a previous reviewer, who tells us, "I was unable to keep a straight face most of the time especially with Alan Steel...playing a very athletic Commodus – rather than the mad wimp which history tells us he was!"

In fact, the historian Herodian tells us that Commodus "was the handsomest man of his time, both in beauty of features and in physical development...inferior to no man in skill and in marksmanship." It is Hollywood, not history, that insists on making Roman emperors into effete wimps. For historical accuracy, Russell Crowe would have been better cast to play Commodus than wimpy Joaquin Phoenix. But Hollywood will insist on making the worldly villain "less manly" than the straight-arrow hero.

Another reviewer here berates the performance of Dan Vadis as the hero in this movie, saying he "resembles a happy monkey half the time, smiling inappropriately or staring blankly..." But remember that Vadis is playing a slap-happy Christian, and doesn't that description fit a lot of the Christians you know?

Alan Steel's muscular and brutish portrayal of Commodus is probably the cinema's most accurate, even though this movie, no less than "Gladiator" and "Fall of the Roman Empire," pulls its punches when it comes to Commodus. The truly shocking, hair-raising accounts of his reign (found in Dio Cassius, Herodian, and the Historia Augusta) go far beyond anything Hollywood or Cinecitta have ever dared to put on the screen!

Was this film an influence on Ridley Scott's Gladiator? Who can tell.

Set at the same time as the awarding winning film this is the story of Commodus, son of Marcus Aurelius, who takes power when his father dies. Unable to find anyone to match him in the arena he runs rampant over the empire killing and pillaging as he goes. The only man who can stop him is Ursus, who is tricked in to becoming a gladiator so that he might be able to kill the mad Commodus.

This is a well made spectacle with lots of action and a pacing that never really flags.

If you get the chance to see it, there are worse ways to spend a rainy afternoon.