The Fall of the Roman Empire

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The Fall of the Roman Empire

Released Apr 26, 1964

2h 33m

History

Drama

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Popcornmeter

93%

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14 Reviews

68%

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2,500+ Ratings

Toward the end of his reign, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Alec Guinness) intends to hand over his throne to the steadfast soldier Livius (Stephen Boyd). Before he can enact his intentions, a loyalist to Commodus (Christopher Plummer), the de facto heir, poisons Aurelius. Commodus becomes an ineffectual leader, corrupt and pompous -- and although Livius concedes to Commodus' rule, he cannot stand by when Commodus threatens to kill Aurelius' daughter, Lucilla (Sophia Loren).

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Michael Sragow

The New Yorker

Commodus, played here by the flamboyant Christopher Plummer, forsakes the Pax Romana and turns Rome into an empire of camp.

Mar 9, 2015

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Fernando F. Croce

Slant Magazine

Put bluntly, the difference between El Cid and Fall is the difference between faith in a concept of heroism that can transcend even death.

Rated: 3.5/4

Apr 26, 2008

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Penelope Gilliatt

Observer (UK)

It is an astonishing picture to watch.

Mar 5, 2024

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Judith Crist

New York Herald Tribune

The Fall of the Roman Empire, costing sixteen million dollars, is half the price of Cleopatra but twice as tolerable because there's a complete lack of pretension, a childish innocence, about it.

Aug 15, 2022

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Yasser Medina

Cinefilia

Mann pompously puts on a sword-and-sandal spectacle, but with a rather uneven result that only makes his chronicle of the decline and corruption of an empire to collapse more quickly. Full review in Spanish

Rated: 6/10

Apr 12, 2022

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Michael E. Grost

Classic Film and Television

Spectacular crowd scenes, costumes and snow-filled landscapes mix with intelligent, powerful pro-peace and Civil Rights commentary.

Aug 6, 2013

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David T

This movie could have been an hour shorter. A lot of mugging for the camera (sorry Sophia). Some of the speeches were unnecessary and the battle scenes were somewhat silly. Plummer is a good actor and Boyd is the usual eye candy. The sets were good and the history was fairly accurate. They spent some cash on this thing and I think it lost money. In 1964 American tastes were changing, these epics were becoming history. All in all, not a bad movie just too long a a little messy.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

09/05/25

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chris t

Terribly slow and ponderous, wooden dialogue, the male bonding scene at start is cringtastic . I think they watched this before they made gladiator, and said let's remake except we leave out the boring crap bits

Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars

12/06/24

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Audience Member

Stellar cast give wonderful performances in this great historical romp - albeit let down by limp battle sequences.

Rated 4 out of 5 stars

12/05/24

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John A

Doesn't have the status that Ben Hur and Lawrence of Arabia have but don't let that discourage you. This is an involving and strikingly photographed epic.

Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars

01/11/24

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Loyd W

Very well acted by an outstanding cast. Impressive staging of Imperial ceremonies. Poor choreography of fight scenes and almost silly crowd staging of extras in crowd scenes.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

09/23/23

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Mike R

Unwatchable. The audio assistants must have had many coconut shells (for the hosses' hooves). There are lot of hosses in this fillum. Too many, some might argue. Then you've got to buy into the whole cod-Shakespearean dialogue, seemingly inspired by the notion that Marcus Aurelius was a "philosopher". And apparently we're meant to buy into the whole star-vehicle stuff. Spoiler alert: Alec Guiness takes blinking ages and ages to die. The punters in the 60s who had paid hard cash to sit through this dirge in cinemas, sandwiched by ads for Kia Ora and local Indian restaurants, had no choice. We have though: I bring you the FAST FORWARD button. This took all of 30 minutes to watch, despite my best sincere intentions to watch the whole thing at normal speed at the start (all 172 minutes).

Rated 0.5 out of 5 stars

06/19/23

Full Review

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Anthony Mann

Director

Sophia Loren

Lucilla

Alec Guinness

Marcus Aurelius

Stephen Boyd

Livius

James Mason

Timonides

Christopher Plummer

Commodus

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Synopsis

Toward the end of his reign, Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Alec Guinness) intends to hand over his throne to the steadfast soldier Livius (Stephen Boyd). Before he can enact his intentions, a loyalist to Commodus (Christopher Plummer), the de facto heir, poisons Aurelius. Commodus becomes an ineffectual leader, corrupt and pompous -- and although Livius concedes to Commodus' rule, he cannot stand by when Commodus threatens to kill Aurelius' daughter, Lucilla (Sophia Loren).

Director: Anthony Mann
Producer: Samuel Bronston
Screenwriter: Ben Barzman, Basilio Franchina, Philip Yordan
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Production Co: Samuel Bronston Productions
Genre: History, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Apr 26, 1964, Original
Release Date (Streaming): May 1, 2012
Runtime: 2h 33m

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