Demetrius and the Gladiators

Demetrius and the Gladiators, a 1954 sequel to The Robe, is a decent film set in ancient Rome that bears a lot of similarities to films made during the period--grandly-scaled epics about the era of the life of Christ, and bearing more than a little Christian propaganda, but with plenty of juicy drama and violence.

I haven't seen The Robe, but essentially it was about a Roman soldier who ends up with the robe Christ wore before the crucifixion. As this film begins, it ends up in the hands of Peter (Michael Rennie), who entrusts it to the former Greek slave Demetrius (Victor Mature), who hides it with his girlfriend (Deborah Paget). The emperor, Caligula (Jay Robinson), wants it for its supposed magical powers, and when Roman soldiers search the Christian community Mature assaults an officer and ends up sentenced to gladiatorial school.

Though he's new, the wife of Caligula's uncle Claudius, Messalina (Susan Hayward) wants to see him fight. He wins, and then takes on three tigers at once. Although the fight scenes in this film are very well choreographed and, based on my recent reading, fairly accurate, a gladiator did not fight animals at this point in the program, certainly not after fighting another gladiator. And I doubt any man could so easily dispatch three tigers.

Through a series of events, Mature comes to doubt his faith, and ends up in the praetorian guard. Hayward has an affair with him. But of course he will see the light, and be there when the guard turns on Caligula and proclaim Claudius emperor.

Shot in Cinemascope (The Robe was the first such film), and directed by Delmer Daves, Demetrius and the Gladiators is a satisfying mixture of Biblical epic and gladiator flick. Most of the history is right, but it's a shame that some details were left out, such as Claudius found hiding behind a curtain after Caligula was assassinated. And when Messalina, at the end of the film, proclaims that she will be a faithful wife to Claudius, it wouldn't be rude to shout, "Hah!" as Messalina was a notorious adulterer and would end up dying for her promiscuity.

The acting is largely wooden, which is par for the course. Mature specialized in sword-and-sandal films like this one, and acted mostly with his forehead. Robinson really chews the scenery as Caligula, who is portrayed as crazy, but given the time period, his sexual perversity is omitted. Anne Bancroft has a small role as a courtesan, and William Marshall, who would one day play Blacula, is a gladiator whom Demetrius befriends.