Der Koloß von Rhodos (1961)

Der Koloß von Rhodos: Directed by Sergio Leone. With Rory Calhoun, Lea Massari, Georges Marchal, Conrado San Martín. While on holiday in Rhodes, an Athenian war hero becomes involved in two different plots to overthrow the tyrannical king: one from Rhodian patriots, and the other from sinister Phoenician agents.

“Now that this film is at last available on DVD (having never been issued on tape or laserdisc), more people will get a chance to see it and hopefully it will be better appreciated. Until now, the only way to see it was to wait for it to show up on TCM, which happened once or twice.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhile this is Sergio Leoneu0026#39;s first credited film as a director, you wonu0026#39;t see the hallmarks of the distinctive Leone style. Heu0026#39;s working here more as a director for hire, just as Stanley Kubrick had done the year before with u0026quot;Spartacus.u0026quot; Rory Calhoun is woefully out of place, his hairstyle wildly anachronistic (full of that greasy kid stuff), he grins idiotically at inappropriate moments and gives his inane dialogue all the gusto it deserves. The story is fairly straightforward, although refreshingly free of the ersatz piety that infects so many epic Hollywood films of the era. Thereu0026#39;s a lip-smacking taste for brutality, as some of the heroes are fiendishly tortured; this appears to have been a hallmark of Italian epics of the time.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eWhere this movie works — and it does — is in the spectacle itself. You might not think that set decoration, production design, costumes, and cinematography can carry a picture, but in this case these elements are so well done it more than offsets Calhounu0026#39;s dorky performance and the weaknesses of the plot. Bear in mind when you watch this that Leone did not have a computer to work with. Everything that you see had to be built or painted, and itu0026#39;s remarkably effective.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe film is perhaps a bit overlong, but the story has enough energy to carry the action sequences and bring all those incredible sets to life. The supporting cast is good enough to make up for Calhoun, although the dubbing is poorly done.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eItu0026#39;s not as sophisticated as u0026quot;Spartacusu0026quot;, but itu0026#39;s certainly more effective than, say, u0026quot;Clash of the Titans.u0026quot; If you like sword-and-sandal films, this one is well worth your time.”