The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) the roadshow version

Anthony Mann: The Fall of the Roman Empire (US 1963). James Mason as Timonides.

La Chute de l'Empire romain / Rooman valtakunnan tuho / Romerska rikets fall.

    Anthony Mann

États-Unis / 1963 / 185 min / Numérique / VOSTF

Avec Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd, James Mason.

    Finnish premiere: 6 Nov 1964.

    Rétrospective Anthony Mann

    Sous-titres français: Laura Cynober.

    Viewed at La Cinémathèque française, Salle Henri Langlois, 51 Rue de Bercy, 75012 Paris, M° Bercy Lignes 14, 6, 30 March 2024.

La Cinémathèque française : " Dans une gigantesque réplique du Forum romain, un chapelet de stars s'affrontent autour de la succession impériale. Trois ans après la version spectaculaire du Cid, Anthony Mann prend les commandes d'un péplum aux milliers de figurants et aux courses de chars mémorables. "

AA: When we screened The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964) on 15 May 2000 at Cinema Orion in our tribute to Italian female stars, on display was the Finnish 1973 re-release print in 35 mm of the 153 minutes general release version. I now see for the first time the roadshow version in 185 minutes.

Also in May 2000 took place the Finnish release of Ridley Scott's remake Gladiator (US 2000), and seen back to back, Anthony Mann's superiority was unquestionable. Back then, the transition to digital was still new. Mann's physical effects were infinitely more powerful than Scott's digital ones. Mann's Roman Forum still "holds the record for the largest outdoor film set" and "the set was not extended through the use of matte paintings" (Wikipedia).

In the 185 minutes roadshow version, instead of choppy transitions, there is a smooth flow, often surprisingly meditative and elegiac. There is a lot of action, including some of the greatest action sequences ever filmed, such as the chariot race on narrow mountain roads, but there is also room for contemplation.

On display today was a digital presentation, and it would be interesting to know the source (the 2011 transfer for blu-ray?). The digital copy is integral, stable, clean and complete. The compositions are formidable and the close-ups look good, but in epic spectacular scenes the transfer fails to do justice to the Ultra Panavision 70 original. The fine soft detail is missing. Sophia Loren fails to radiate in digital, there is no warmth, no flesh impact. Maybe this is an old digital transfer, or maybe there are overwhelming difficulties with the original master.

In my mind I combine the digital version's narrative integrity with the film version's photochemical glory.

The winter camp on the Danube, the battle of the four armies, the funeral of Marcus Aurelius, the battle against the Germans, the revolt of the Eastern provinces, the war against Persia, the gladiator fight between Livius and Commodus and the mass burning at the stake belong to the magnificent setpieces.

They are more than that, because the movie is based on an idea of world history, visualized in the world map on Marcus Aurelius's wall and in his floor mosaic. Factually inaccurate, the movie is rewarding in the big outline. This is the epic tragedy of Pax Romana. The grand vision of Marcus Aurelius (Alec Guinness) of uniting provinces of Rome on the basis of citizenship instead of slavery is discarded by his son Commodus (Christopher Plummer). The Marcus Aurelius legacy lives on in his daughter Lucilla (Sophia Loren) and loyal successor Livius (Stephen Boyd).

The Fall of the Roman Empire is a tragedy of succession. Commodus is the legal heir, but in his heart an impostor, unworthy of his position, the weak and incompetent son doomed to eternal inferiority in the shadow of a great and revered father. To bolster his status, Commodus instigates a reign of terror and proclaims himself God. Yet he feels like an eternal stranger in his own empire. Plummer's interpretation radiates a sense of a "false self", a great role overwhelming the little man. His folie des grandeurs is also psychologically destructive. The crown too heavy finally crushes him. Before that, he commits double parricide: first symbolically by destroying his father's legacy and then literally by killing his biological father, the gladiator Verulus (Anthony Quayle) - Commodus is the offspring of an extramarital affair of his mother.

Like in Ben Hur, and probably inspired by it, the most powerful emotional bond emerges between two men, Livius and Commodus. They love to hate each other.

"The fall of the Roman Empire" in Edward Gibbon's book and Anthony Mann's movie means the end of the vision of the peace and prosperity of Pax Romana, which had started with the rise to power of the first emperor Augustus and ended with the death of Marcus Aurelius. The Western Roman Empire still lasted for 200 years and the Eastern Roman Empire 1200 years. But the spirit of the Roman Empire died in the year 175 in the vision of Edward Gibbon, Will Durant and Anthony Mann.

P.S. Among the rewards of following a retrospective are discoveries of continuities, among them the recurrence of actors in different periods. John Ireland, who stood out in intense performances in Mann's early crime films Railroaded and Raw Deal, returns once more as Ballomar, the formidable leader of the Germanic Marcomanni (Markomannen) people, swearing in the name of Wotan.

On display in the film is what was called at the time the Roman salute (also known as the Fascist salute). There is no evidence that it was in use in the Roman Empire. Inspired by Jacques-Louis David's painting The Oath of the Horatii (1784), it was adopted into popular culture, such as the movie Quo vadis? (FR 1901), also by the poet Gabriele d'Annunzio, in the movie Cabiria (IT 1914) and in d'Annunzio's occupation of Fiume.

On a provincial note I detect among the cast the Finn Lena von Martens (1940-2015) as Helva, the daughter of Ballomar and the love companion of Timonides.

Also shot in Spain (in 1964-1965) was Chimes at Midnight (Falstaff) by Orson Welles. There is an affinity between Alec Guinness as Marcus Aurelius and John Gielgud as Henry IV.