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| Kirk
Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Peter Ustinov, Tony Curtis,
Charles Laughton, John Gavin, Herbert Lom |
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Anamorphic
widescreen |
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Dolby Digital
5.1 |
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DTS |
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Trailer(s) |
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Featurette(s) |
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Documentary |
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Audio commentary
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Deleted scenes
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Concept art
/ storyboards |
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Multi-angle
feature |
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Gracchus
(Charles Laughton): You and I have a tendency towards corpulence.
Corpulence makes a man reasonable, pleasant and phlegmatic. Have you
noticed the nastiest of tyrants are invariably thin?
A
slave trained to be a gladiator leads an army of slaves in revolt against
Rome.
 The
last of the great, expensive Roman epics that were so popular in the
1950s, Spartacus has stood the test of time better than any other.
Concentrating on Roman politics rather than burgeoning Christianity,
the movie still has a remarkably contemporary feel to it, and will hopefully
be revisited by new audiences more frequently now that Gladiator
has brought the genre back in style. Even without a digitally created
Collisseum, any viewer will confirm that the good old-fashioned Hollywood
tricks used in Spartacus succeed in bringing Rome and its armies
to life far more vividly than digital trickery could ever do. There's
a peculiar thrill to watching rank upon rank of Roman legions come down
a hillside for battle like ants in formation that is quite distinct
from the pleasure of watching digitally created effects work.
Stanley Kubrick may have been a gun for hire on this film and never
considered it to be part of his real body of work, but his cynical eye
for political machinations and his negation of the heroic individual
makes this a much more interesting movie than any of its peers. Spartacus
and his army of slaves are framed within a political context that almost
completely reduces them to pawns in a fascinating game played in and
around the Roman Senate. This intrigue, played to perfection by Laughton,
Olivier and Ustinov on top form, is balanced quite nicely by more intimate
and restful scenes of the semi-communal slave army, adding a human dimension
that is lacking from Kubrick's later works. The perfect balance between
producer Douglas's compassion and exuberance and Kubrick's delightful
cynicism makes this one a true classic. |
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The Region 1 release does not have an anamorphic
widescreen transfer, whereas the Region 2 release does. The two versions
otherwise have similar features.
A much better two-disc release is available from the Criterion Collection (see separate review).
The widescreen image is framed
at its correct aspect ratio of 2.20:1. The Region 2 release has an anamorphic
transfer, and though this yields a slightly clearer picture on 16:9
TV sets, it also suffers from flicker and softness due to the fact that
it was interpolated from the NTSC master rather than a high-definition
one. The extensive restoration by Katz and Harris performed in the early
1990s brought back the bright colors, but there were several defects
in the source print that were beyond repair. Quality is therefore variable,
and a more careful transfer would be most welcome.
The sound mix is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1. The soundtrack has
a limited dynamic range due to its age, but the score and sound effects
have been integrated into a surround sound stage with astonishing success.
The only annoyance is the way the dialogues are presented: as was the
custom with early stereophonic sound mixes for Cinemascope pictures,
the dialogues are spread across the front soundstage in accordance with
actors' positions on the screen. This makes for a distracting experience
for contemporary audiences that takes a lot of getting used to.
The
well-known theatrical trailer is included, as are some production notes
and cast biographies. Menu
screens feature the familiar clunky Universal design with generic icons
and some odd colors.
Dan Hassler-Forest
Reviewed: 2001
Click
here for IMDB info on Spartacus.
Click here
to return to the front page.
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