THE JOSEPHINUM REVIEW
November 1960
SPARTACUS
Movie Review by John J. Fritscher (Jack Fritscher)
Article also available in PDF
A new kind of Hollywood movie...a super-spectacle with spiritual vitality and moral force...another Ben Hur...wide screen, full color process known as Super-Technirama 70...runs for three hours and twenty- five minutes...employs 100 major sets...8,000 extras...such stars as Kirk Douglas, Sir Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, Tony Curtis, John Gavin, Nina Foch, John Ireland...As to historical character, Spartacus was a leader of a band of 78 slaves who in the year 73 B. C. escaped from a training school for gladiators at Capua...He revolts for two years, during which time he defeats nine armies...Spartacus commands a force of 90,000 cavalry and foot...He is the patron saint of revolutions, and today the Communists have claimed him...Young, talented Stanley Kubrick directed this movie and shows mastery in all departments...Action is followed with delicacy and precision...Olivier makes a memorable Crassus, a moral idiot whose only feelings are in his skin...Laughton plays a jolly demagogue, Gracchus...The script is adorned with humor, eloquence, and sophistication...
©1960, 2002 Jack Fritscher
 |
||||||
|
|
||||||