Fall of the Roman Empire, The
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TODO: this is very much a work in progress... I started writing half way through due to a recording error that led me to believe that the first half of the movie was all there was.
Spoiler alert.
Like many of the grand Hollywood epics, this movie is wonderfully casted, sumptuously dressed, and beautifully produced. Unfortunately, there is nothing in this films that reaches out and grabs the viewer. The movie suffices, and is noteworthy for the costuming and sets which, fittingly for one of the last grand epics, are among the best of the best.
The casting and acting is also very strong. Alec Guinness is touching and powerful as the wise and just Marcus Aurelius coming to terms with a life now in its twighlight. Sophia Loren is almost as good as his melancholy daughter, Lucilla. James Mason, not unfamiliar to Roman epics gives a sensitive performance as Marcus Aurelius' friend Timonides.
It is the interplay between the naive Livius (Stephen Boyd) and his boyhood friend, Commodus (Christopher Plummer) that drives the early action. Commodus, son of Ceasar Marcus Aurelius, is disinherited early in the film in favor of Livius. It's interesting that Boyd as Livius is caught up in a similar dynamic, albeit on the other side, as he was in Ben Hur. This seems a much better role for him than the callus Tribune.
Livius and Lucilla play out a version of the formulaic romance of the time. I find this straightforward, at times simplistic type of love story a bit tiresome, but to be fair, I'm a guy. It no doubt appeals to some, and to be fair I feel the movie isn't about the romance, so it is perhaps appropriate that the simplicity of that story allow it to somewhat fade into the background of the story as a whole.
The bigger drama is the fate of the Roman empire itself, which dies with Marcus Aurelius. The movie, however, has been so focused on the human elements--Livius and Commodus, Livius and Lucilla, and Marcus Aurelius' coming to terms with his life--that this larger historical drama is largely lost.
For the dedicated movie watcher, there's lots to recommend this film. The acting is noteworthy. It's hard to say if I've ever seen grander costuming. The Gaul castle sets are grand, and the Rome sets are simply breathtaking. In the end, I couldn't connect to
