Constantine & The Cross

One of the more notable scenes in which historical fact comes together with a fudging of Constantine's life is the arena scene. In this segment, Constantine jumps down into a pit where Christians are maliciously being slaughtered. Historically, the feeding-the-Christians-to-the-lions motif is right on. Under the emperor Galerius (ruled 305-311 A.D., shortly before Constantine ascended to the throne), Christian persecution was at its height. While it is untrue that Constantine slew lions to save Christians, the arena scene nevertheless serves as an excellent depiction of incidents which really happened.

The really notable quality of this movie lies in its portrayal of major historical happenings. As a previous reviewer noted, Diocletian and Maximian really did abdicate the throne in 308. It is also true that his mother, Helena, was a Christian (although the details re: his relationship w/her in the movie are fictional). He did marry Fausta (although he had her and his eldest son Crispus put to death for treason in 326 - long after the time period covered in this movie). The inclusion of Constantine's "divine vision" before his battle with Maxentius is essential; perhaps one of the defining moments in the entire history of Christianity. The actual battle itself is also given accurate treatment as Maxentius' cavalry was ambushed and trapped by Constantine's forces, just as the film claims.

Now, for the bad news. I found the acting of the females in this movie quite well done, but the male actors were stilted, overly-dramatic & pretty much downright awful. The quality of the film itself also leaves quite a bit to be desired. All of the scratches and skips are amplified by the DVD picture.

All in all, this film is most definitely not for everyone. However, it is well worth the time for anyone who is interested in Roman history, world history or the history of Christianity.

Well, how does it stack up 34 years after the first viewing? Suprisingly, not as badly as I would have thought. It's an Italian-American co-production starring Cornel Wilde as Constantine and a bunch of Italian sword-and-sandles stock players, made circa 1960 to cash in on the "Ben Hur" biblical epic craze. The budget was obviously pretty slim, and the cinematography, costumes and sets all have the standard Italian budget production look. Despite this, the script is suprisingly literate. I was amazed at the amount of real history the makers crammed in, resisting the temptation to "dumb down" one of the most complex and fascinating eras in history, the early 4th Century AD. At any one time, there were as many as six Emperors ruling different parts of the Empire, and the scriptwriters make a creditable stab at sorting through this confusion. My favorite was the scene where the co-Emperors Diocletian and Maximian jointly abdicate their thrones and name four new rulers--an event that actually took place pretty much as depicted!

They even had enough extras to field a pretty good size Roman army, although the battle scenes are all pretty hokey by "Spartacus" or "Braveheart" standards. Cornel Wilde gives a suprisingly nuanced performance as Constantine, starting out as an arrogant young hothead and maturing into a man bent on creating a free and just Roman Empire. The actress who plays Constantine's love interest, Fausta, is pretty luscious, and the Italian actor who plays Maxentius, the bad guy, is silkily effective (and looks pretty much like the real Maxentius, whose face is still recognizable from his coins--likewise for Wilde as Constantine). Anyway, I watched this whole film with a huge grin on my face, reliving the spark that had set me on my life's course. My only real complaint is the state of the film itself--the color is very washed out, and there are numerous scratches, blips and color blobs--this looks like a print that was scored from a High School AV closet.