Instead, Aurelius decides to nominate Livius, Commodus' closest friend and the lover of the emperor's daughter Lucilla.īefore Aurelius can announce his plan, he is poisoned by Commodus' cronies, who hope to secure their own political future by putting their friend on the throne. Privately Aurelius holds egalitarian ideals, and wants a successor who will reform the empire and grant equal rights to all its subjects this disqualifies his son Commodus, who prefers to rule by force. His deputies are the Greek ex-slave Timonides and the stern and honest general Gaius Livius. In the winter of 180 AD, the ailing Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius fights to keep Germanic tribes from invading his northern territories on the Danube frontier. The film was a financial failure at the box-office. Critics criticized the script as void of emotion and humanity and the directing as misguided, but showed some praise for the large spectacles. On March 24, 1964, the film premiered at the London Astoria. It deals extensively with the problem of imperial succession, and examines both the relationship between father and son on the background of imperial politics as well as the nature and limits of loyalty and friendship. The film's name refers not to the final fall of the Roman empire, which did in fact survive for centuries after the period depicted in the film, but rather to the onset of corruption and decadence which led to Rome's demise. Additionally, the film featured the largest outdoor film set in the history of film at that time, a 92,000 m 2 (990,000 sq ft) replica of the Roman Forum. Filming began in January 1963 and wrapped in July. The final screenplay was written by Ben Barzman and Basilio Franchina with a prologue written by historian Will Durant. Prominent actors were cast to portray multiple roles in the film. However, Heston backed out of the film and agreed to star in 55 Days at Peking (1963). Philip Yordan was enlisted to write the script while Charlton Heston was initially set to star. He pitched a film adaptation of the book to Samuel Bronston, who then agreed to produce the project. When filming for El Cid (1961) had finished, Anthony Mann saw a copy of Edward Gibbon's 1776–1789 six-volume series The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire inside the Hatchards bookshop. The film stars Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd, Alec Guinness, James Mason, Christopher Plummer, Mel Ferrer, and Omar Sharif. The Fall of the Roman Empire is a 1964 American epic historical drama film directed by Anthony Mann and produced by Samuel Bronston, with a screenplay by Ben Barzman, Basilio Franchina and Philip Yordan.
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