Demetrius and the Gladiators (Widescreen)

This DVD looks great, but the first time I viewed it, years ago, I couldn't watch it all the way through because I wanted to HEAR it. I wrote on these pages that to hear this film presentation I had to crank the volume way, way up....to the point where I had to endure hiss along with dialogue and special effects.

The fact of the matter is, I was taking the word of the folks who sold me my receiver, DVD player and surround speakers that the optical hookups converted audio signals for both DTS and 5.1CH. And the 5.1, for years, was a very undesirable sound for me -- and I couldn't understand why folks liked it.

Now I know why. My receiver does not convert to 5.1 via the optical cables. (And that's why both the receiver and DVD have separate input panels for 5.1CH hookups).

Now that the hookups are completed, I have to say the sound on this DVD is A-W-E-S-O-M-E for a 1954 6-channel stereo film.

I apologize to Fox Video for criticizing the sound quality. I'd have loved for there to have been more bonus features on this, but the film is splendid on its own.

The packaging remains lacking, IMO. The film is vivid and colorful and the DVD cover is drab.

-The intelligent subtext. With all the fights and -admittedly cheesy- effects and spectacle, it is about a man's fundamental doubts. Demetrius's faith is shaken because he can't cope with the fact that an evil world, in which harm is done to the innocent, is the creation of an all-loving God that fails to show Himself when most needed.

-Extraordinary supporting cast. Jay Robinson is wonderful "over the top", as they say. Absolutely and unashamedly flamboyant. I imagine that he liked the part very much and had fun with it. It is unfortunately that his career wasn't successful enough afterwards. He is Caligula! Or rather, I wish Caligula were this way: at least he would have been funny, cunning and extravaganly alluring! Susan Hayward is not wrong as Mesalina. See the final farewell to Demetrius,in which see seems experiencing an imagined or remembered orgasm. Michael Rennie is an over-dignified "Peter", but the most noble character, as another reviewer has suggested is Glycon. Clearly a superior to all the others, particularly to Demetrius himself. At the end he is put on the same level as the Apostle himself. The fact that he was a black actor is very positive (the film was realeased in 1954).

-Great score: Franz Waxman at his most heroic and religious. Or sometime, ominous, as the sinister fanfare that accompanies the gladiators to the arena, in order to perform "the marriage of life and dead", is.

-The film has given me food for thought. About slavery, about the plight of men forced to fight or die, about faith and religion, about men as warriors... "Demetrius and the gladiators" can be read as mere entertaiment, but if you habor some thought about those bygone ages and how human fate was tackled in the Classical world, it gives you material -forceful images and plot- to do that. Don't expect, of course, historic accuracy. This is not necessary at all and it is not the fuction of cinema.

Well, I have here "Demetrius and the Gladiators", I've watched it a couple of times, and I know that I can watch in many more. Then, worth the purchase. By the way, "Spartacus" depends on this one in many places.

Join Demetrius in his journey as he battles gladiators, tigers, Caligula, and most dangerous his feelings for the wiley and seductive Susan Haywood. What makes this movie so entertaining is the moral dilemma he faces, and his fall and redemption. This is a real man facing real temptations in an immoral world, much like we are in today.

Jay Robinson makes a welcome return as the emperor Caligula, chewing up the scenary with his wonderful performance.

This is like gladiator with heart.