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  Directed by
  Starring
  Specs
  • Widescreen 2.35:1
  • 16:9 Enhanced
  • Dual Layer (RSDL )
  Languages
  • English: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  • Hungarian: Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
  • English: DTS 5.1 Surround
  Subtitles
    English, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Finnish
  Extras
  • Deleted scenes
  • Theatrical trailer
  • 2 Audio commentary
  • 2 Featurette
  • 4 Photo gallery
  • Animated menus
  • Behind the scenes footage
  • 3 Interviews
  • 2 Storyboards
  • DTS trailer
  • Alternate ending

Spartacus: SE

Universal/Universal . R4 . COLOR . 189 mins . PG . PAL

  Feature
Contract

Cecil B. DeMille once said, “Give me a page from the Bible, and I’ll give you an epic,” – or something like that anyway. Spartacus is not a page from the Bible ‘DeMille-ised’, but it is set in Biblical times (70 B.C.), is an epic, and could probably be summarised as; Slave gets picked for gladiator school, slave falls in love, slave escapes and becomes a hero and leader to thousands, slave loses war and gets crucified. But perhaps that’s being a bit flippant.

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"Ah! I've dropped my keys."

Spartacus (Kirk Douglas) was born a slave, as was his father and grandfather. A bit of a rebel, even for a slave, he is bought by Lentulus Batiatus (Peter Ustinov), the owner of a successful gladiator training school. Seeing in Spartacus the underlying courage of a fighter, he buys him off the chain gang along with a smattering of other ‘volunteers’ and takes them to his school.

All I can say is, school ain’t what it used to be, and Spartacus soon learns that the trick to surviving is to keep your eyes open and your mouth shut. Batiatus takes slightly more interest in Spartacus than the others, singling him out for the attentions of one of his prettier female slaves, Varinia, (Jean Simmons). Naturally, Spartacus and Varinia fall in love in about five minutes, only to be separated when a visiting Roman dignitary, Marcus Licinius Crassus (Laurence Olivier) with some hangers-on, pays a visit to the school for a ‘show’ and buys Varinia to take back to Rome.

"I'm not after glory! I'm after Spartacus."

Things hot up for Spartacus when he is chosen for a fight to the death at gladiator school. Of course he doesn’t die, not with almost two hours of the film to go, but he is shaken by the bout. When he learns from a trainer that Varinia has been sold to a Roman, he starts a riot, then the slaves escape and form marauding hordes that have the Roman Senate in a tizzy. Only one senator doesn’t have his toga in a knot, Gracchus (Charles Laughton), who persuades the Senate to charge his prodigy to command six cohorts from the Garrison of Rome to smite the hordes, and appoint the second in command, Julius Caesar (John Gavin), to command the Garrison left behind in Rome. Politics was always a dirty business.

As Spartacus emancipates more slaves, he gathers them into an army that seems unstoppable. He sends a message to Rome that they will no longer fight, if his army is allowed safe passage out of Italy. This request is, of course, denied.

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The smart money was on the dummy.

Meanwhile, Spartacus’s army ranks swell, and he befriends a fellow slave by the name of Antoninus (Tony Curtis), who manages to escape from the sleazy grip of Crassus. He also gets his girl back when he finds her wandering in the bush after she too escaped her new master, Crassus.

With the Roman Army poised to strike, the slave army ready to counter attack, and the Roman Senators fighting amongst themselves, the film is poised for a maximus climaxus, and there are going to be more losers than winners.

The story behind the film is almost as interesting as the film itself. Original director Anthony Mann was sacked (or quit, depending who you believe) and Stanley Kubrick took over, screenwriter Dalton Trumbo was one of ‘The Hollywood Ten” jailed for failing to dob in other commies during a House Committee into un-American activities, the main stars didn’t really get along, each believing they had better dialogue and script amendments to offer and, at the time, this was the most expensive movie Hollywood had produced, clocking in at around 12 million dollars; peanuts by today’s standards.

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Harry's days as a human Test Pattern were numbered.

The end result, however, is quite a triumph, with a good story (that doesn’t even refer to anything vaguely religious or Biblical, which is a rarity for sword-and-sandal epics), a cast of thousands, some rather impressive sets and scenery, plus advanced special effects for the time.

The book may not have had a central character, but the film makes it quite clear who he is. The supporting characters' political machinations are still important, but play a slightly less obvious role in defining character motives.

Those who adore the Golden Age of Hollywood will be well pleased with the big name cast, big name director and lavish sets, costumes and cinematography. Get your best sandals on, hitch up the chariot and seek out Spartacus. You will be maximus chuffedus if you do.

  Video
Contract

Basically, this looks pretty damned fine, and when its age is taken into consideration, well it’s bloody good. The aspect ratio of 2.35:1 is 16:9 enhanced. It opens with a still of Douglas and then the screen fades to black as the three-minute overture plays on, so don’t be fooled into thinking your telly has snuffed it. The movie is spread over two discs, with two layer changes in total (although both are well placed), with the disc change coming at the intermission.

As said, everything looks good. The image is really quite sharp for the most part, shadow detail is only average at best, and colours are earthy in tone, but solid, consistent and have minimal bleeding and noise. Grain is present from time to time, but not of real concern. There are some artefacts remaining, mainly a few white specks, and one quick piece of footage of a boat on the water that looks quite artefacted, but that was sourced from elsewhere when the film was being edited.

Being spread over four layers, there are few if any compression artefacts such as shimmer and aliasing, and just the occasional minor edge enhancement for the overly observant.

  Audio
Contract

Few films from this era (1960) can be successfully mixed out to 5.1, and this one has been mildly successful with both the Dolby Digital and DTS 5.1 mixes a welcome addition. Neither will impress audiophiles, nor is there a lot to separate them. There is definite action from the rear channels, and good and impressive separation, but much of the time the surrounds are supplying little more than ambience. The musical score makes use of the full sound stage.

Dialogue is clear, audible and well synchronised. There has been some post-dubbing, including the infamous ‘snails and oysters’ scene between Tony Curtis and Laurence Olivier, redubbed with Anthony Hopkins’ voice after the original sound stock could not be found.

The battle scenes sound immersive, the indoor scenes sound suitably echoed and, all round, this audio is more than pleasant.

  Extras
Contract

Epic films deserve epic extras when it comes to DVD, and this Spartacus Special Edition has done well.

We kick off with an audio commentary supplied by Peter Ustinov, Kirk Douglas, novelist Howard Fast, co-producer Edward Lewis, restoration guru Robert Harris and design consultant Saul Bass. You’d be forgiven for thinking that a three hour commentary might get slow and dull, but you’d be wrong as this is really interesting and honest. Ustinov dishes the dirt on the actors and the crew, Douglas does much the same (sounding very old I might add), Fast highlights the film’s errors as he sees them, Lewis naturally enough talks about the design and Harris talks about restoration of the film. It is fairly clear that not all the commentators have the film in front of them, and are not in the room together or recorded at the same time.

There is a second and unusual commentary in the form of a written scene-by-scene analysis from co-screenwriter Dalton Trumbo (voiced by Matthew McConaughey), with additional score compositions from Alex North. It is hosted anonymously, but offers extra insight into the film, however there is some repetition from the first commentary. It is a truncated analysis with some gaps, but even Kirk Douglas raves about it and recommends it to any budding film maker. It certainly is detailed.

The remainder of the extras are not as lengthy or demanding. The three deleted scenes include the original 1967 Finale, Spartacus Meets Varinia, and Gracchus’ Suicide. They total eight minutes and are subtitled.

Vintage Newsreel Footage includes five newsreels featuring Kirk Douglas, Tony Curtis and Laurence Olivier at a variety of promotional bashes including the London Premiere, in New York, receiving film awards on set and in Hollywood. All are full frame black and white, rather poor quality all things considered, but historically intriguing. Each lasts less then two minutes, most clocking in under one.

There are also interviews on the set with Jean Simmons (who gives obviously rehearsed answers as there are no questions actually being asked in the four-minute interview), Peter Ustinov interviewed on set in the same manner for three minutes, plus a lengthy 24-minute interview again with Ustinov in 1992. The 1960 interviews are black and white

Behind the Scenes at Gladiator School is a five-minute, full frame, coloured look at the set for the gladiator school. It includes shots of the construction and the actors rehearsing, and is accompanied by music only.

Even 1960 Hollywood knew the value of promotional materials and the production stills (of which there are gazillions), lobby cards (English), posters/print ads, and excerpts from a comic book (in English) will provide plenty of quiet time as you browse.

14 of Kubrick’s sketches are included. He may be a great director, but he’s no artist.

An old 15-minute newsreel is next, detailing The Hollywood Ten, who were subpoenaed in 1947 to appear before the House Committee on Un-American Activities. They failed to co-operate and name names, and were subsequently gaoled. Spartacus co-screenwriter Dalton Trumbo was one of them. It is old, black and white, poor quality and quite ‘hissy’.

Most films come with an original theatrical trailer and this one is no different. The trailer runs almost three minutes, highlights the big name cast, is widescreen but not 16:9 enhanced.

Lastly, there are some coloured Saul Bass storyboards.

  Overall  
Contract

Spartacus is a true Hollywood epic, with a big name cast, top director and no dollars spared on sets, costumes and scenery. Ben Hur, Gladiator, and Spartacus make the perfect triumvirate for any DVD collection.


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      And I quote...
    "Before Gladiator, there was… Spartacus!"
    - Terry Kemp
      Review Equipment
    • DVD Player:
          Akai
    • TV:
          TEAC CT-F803 80cm Super Flat Screen
    • Receiver:
          Pioneer VSX-D409
    • Speakers:
          Wellings
    • Centre Speaker:
          Wellings
    • Surrounds:
          Wellings
    • Subwoofer:
          Sherwood SP 210W
    • Audio Cables:
          Standard RCA
    • Video Cables:
          standard s-video
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