Review of Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954) by Jonathan B — 24 Jun 2014

There's nothing quite like an old school Biblical classic from the 1950s to evoke those old feelings of nostalgia for childhood Sunday afternoons. Demetrius and the Gladiators fulfils that role completely as it has all the stereotypes required for such a movie.

The film is a sequel to The Robe and picks up right from where that story leaves off. Starring Victor Mature as the eponymous Greek forced into the gladiatorial arena, it is a technicolor, bouffant haired, sword and sandal tale that's not really an epic.

Truth be told, it's a rather shallow tale and Mature makes for an uncharismatic lead. The hoard of 50s beefcake actors struggle to look anything more than camp and rather sorry these days and this is especially true of Mature who seems to have his features re-chiselled into a slightly more improbable semblance of a relevant emotion each time he's not in frame.

The rather tepid Susan Hayward makes for an unconvincing femme fatal as the scheming Messalina and Debra Paget's Lucia is woefully boring. The mood is lightened however by the fleeting presence of Michael Rennie as the disciple Peter (who wisely nips off to see to some business in Galilee for most of the movie) and the gloriously over the top Jay Robinson as the bonkers Caligula.

He is marvellous in this role and it is easy to forget that he only played this part twice as his performance as the mad emperor is so ingrained in my mind. The voice, the cloak clutching and the swooshing around the columns makes him like some malevolent, golden sandalled imp out to bring mayhem and havoc to the Roman empire.

He's a silent movie villain trapped in a technicolor age and brightens up an otherwise rather dull movie no end.