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2/22/09-Just a label that amazon has idiotically elected to COMBINED the reviews for the regular edition of “Spartacus” with the Criterion reviews–THIS review is strictly for the Criterion edition of the film on DVD NOT the regular edition. Amazon, I wish you folks would come by this stuff straightened out.
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If you’re a fan of the movie “Spartacus”, this is the version to get; the Universal DVD is as bare bones as they win with honest the movie. The Criterion version looks tremendous. The facelift the film received befriend return remarkable of its luster. Kubrick later disowned his version of the tale Hollywood Sword & Sandal genre, but Kubrick brings considerable of his sensibility to bear; the fight sequences and legend vistas bring to mind Kubrick’s work on Paths of Glory and 2001. Legal, this isn’t a complete Kubrick picture; Kubrick had nothing to do with the screenplay and Douglas had all but cast the portray in collaboration with director Anthony Mann (dismissed after butting heads with Douglas one too many times) .
Is it Kubrick’s finest film? Well, frankly no it isn’t. It’s an absorbing mishmash between Kubrick’s quiet, ironic style and Hollywood glitz. Spartacus is Kubrick for people who don’t care for Kubrick’s smooth style. It doesn’t measure up to Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001 or A Clockwork Orange although it does compare pleasant to the distinguished darker Paths of Glory.
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Kubrick stated that his intent at the time was to subvert the cliches of the genre. As a result, Kubrick manages to reinvent a genre that was in inconvenience of becoming a parody of itself. As a collaborative pain, Spartacus is a gargantuan section of entertainment and far more sophisticated than almost everything else that came out of Hollywood at the time.
The transfer is ravishing with great of Kubrick’s plucky consume of color restored. The strong acting of most of the cast has always been a virtue of Sparatcus. The soundtrack has been meticulously transferred to 5.1 and Alex North’s beatiful come by has never sounded so sweet, tragic and worthy before. The audio commentary is the same one that was on the laserdisc version. It provides additional belief about the complexity of making an independently produced project like Spartacus. Kirk Douglas’ doughty decision to do the film himself (with Universal-International distributing) was a leap of faith in both the material and the talented director.
The second disc is stuffed with supplements that are found nowhere else.There’s two older interviews with Peter Ustinov, Jean Simmons plus one that Ustinov did in 1992 for the laserdisc edition. It’s scrumptious and he shares a number of silly stories about the report. There’s also a text overview of Kubrick’s career and his involvement with the record. Included also are sketches Kubrick made for the motion recount (artistically they’re nothing special but they do provide insight into Kubrick’s role in the visualization of the film) . Included are some vintage newsreels and a promotional film originally made but unfinished for Spartacus that gives us a peep slow the scenes. The promotional film is missing it’s soundtrack (in fact, it might have been lost if not for the forsight of a private collector) and has grand from North’s gain. We also come by to leer at Saul Bass’ fabulous title produce sequence.
Criterion has been both praised and criticized for their DVDs and laserdiscs before. While they tend to be expensive, this is the complete package. Occasionally Criterion will release a package that isn’t up to their usual standards. Spartacus isn’t one of them. Robert Harris (Harris restored the film along with Vertigo) evidently was also interested in the transfer to DVD. If you want a spectacular transfer of the film, loads of extras about the making and background of the project from those fervent, this is the area to seize up.
Long before Russell Crowe picked up his sword and battled defective Roman emperors, Kirk Douglas showed him the device in “Spartacus”. This record 1960 film smooth ranks as one of the best performances in Douglas’s celebrated career, and it marked his second collaboration with noted director Stanley Kubrick. Even more than “Gladiator”, “Spartacus” is based on a precise historical event, although it greatly exaggerates the genuine history. Spartacus was a Roman slave in the first century AD who became a gladiator for the Romans, but then escaped and formed an astronomical army (estimated at anywhere from 50,000 to 75,000) of freed slaves and gladiators. For the next year this army, under Spartacus’s leadership, timid the Italian countryside, until they were finally trapped and destroyed in battle with the still-powerful Roman Army. As an dilapidated Hollywood tale, “Spartacus” doesn’t disappoint the viewer - there are fable battle scenes, high drama, and some spacious acting by several Hollywood legends. Interestingly, the film’s producers felt that the disagreement between the slave-gladiators and their imperfect Roman masters would be given greater difference if they cast British actors (Sir Laurence Olivier, Peter Ustinov, Charles Laughton) as the leading Roman characters, and American actors as the slaves (Douglas, Tony Curtis, Jean Simmons) . All of the actors listed above shine in this film - Olivier simply drips with menace and hypocrisy as the astronomical Roman General Crassus, who will cessation at nothing to crush the slave revolt and bring the entire Roman Empire under his personal control. Laughton is delectable as Gracchus, a plump and somewhat wicked, but also clever and freedom-loving, Roman Senator who loathes Crassus. Gracchus tries desperately to hold Crassus from becoming a dictator and destroying the freedoms of the Roman Republic. He fails, but nonetheless emerges as the sole Roman hero of the movie. Peter Ustinov steals every scene as the bumbling and craven owner of a gladiator training school who rescues Spartacus from clear death and makes him into a gladiator, then reluctantly helps Gracchus net one last “victory” over Crassus by stealing Crassus’s fresh esteem interest (and Spartacus’s feeble wife) and taking her to freedom. As for the slaves, Douglas is advantageous as Spartacus - if the exact Spartacus had been as grand and gallant as Douglas’s character, then Roman history might have been very different! (Historically, the sincere Spartacus and his slave army could have escaped from Italy, but instead went on a wild looting and stealing spree across the Italian countryside, thus eliminating any true advantage they had over their cross Roman masters, and also throwing away their chance to earn permanent freedom. This led many sympathetic Romans to join the fight to crush the slave revolt, which was done, brutally) . Jean Simmons portrays Spartacus’s “wife” (they’re never legally married) as a strong and wonderful woman; and Tony Curtis is the cultured and well-educated, but also tragic slave of Crassus who escapes and becomes like a son to Spartacus. The scene come the extinguish of the movie where Crassus forces the two men to fight to the death is especially poignant. In many ways this is a movie ahead of its’ time - it delicately but smooth decisively suggests that Crassus was bisexual and had a strong sexual interest in Tony Curtis’s character (which caused his character to run from Crassus’ estate) . In terms of scope, emotional impact, and visual splendor it’s hard to top this film. Anyone who’s alive to in the golden age of Hollywood films and enjoys watching some legendary actors in their prime will worship “Spartacus”!
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