Spartacus [VHS]

Spartacus [VHS]
by Anthony Mann, Stanley Kubrick

Spartacus [VHS]

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Product details

Actor: Charles Laughton, Jean Simmons, Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Peter Ustinov
Director: Anthony Mann, Stanley Kubrick
Writer: Peter Ustinov
Producer: Edward Lewis
Producer: James C. Katz
Writer: Calder Willingham
Writer: Dalton Trumbo
Writer: Howard Fast
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC, Original recording remastered
Running Time: 196 minutes
Release Date: 2001-02-06
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Publisher: Universal Studios
Studio: Universal Studios

VHS Movie Reviews of Spartacus [VHS]

Movie Review: Still good after all these years
Summary: 4 Stars

Made in the same year I was born (so it can't be bad, can it?) this is one of the so-called 'classic' films of the genre that were made in this period, along with others such as Ben Hur, Lawrence of Arabia and El Cid. To those who haven't seen this film - and surely there can't be that many - it portrays the events based on actual incidents of a slave revolt against the Romans in the century before Christ.

Its a long film, over 3 hours, and the version I have oddly has an intermission at around 1 hour 37 minutes. Very strange indeed, but it gave my partner and I ample opportunity for comfort breaks and to make a cuppa. Very thoughtful.

Kirk Douglas plays the title character role and acts the surly, rebellious gladiator very well; its almost a perfect role for him to play. The main opposition comes in the form of the fantastic and much missed Laurence Olivier, who plays the ambitious and ruthless Crassus to the hilt, as one would expect from a character actor of his calibre.

The supporting cast are somewhat hit and miss; Peter Ustinov is good as the cowardly and sycophantic owner of the school where Spartacus breaks out from, and the guy who plays Gracchus, the senator in opposition to Crassus, for me steals the show as the epitome of a corrupt and morally bankrupt politician, something we see too much of in our own time. Herbert Lom, too, as the pirates' emissary was amusing and convincing.

But Tony Curtis as Antoninus and Jean Simmons as Spartacus' love interest? They added nothing really to the story except maybe as convenient padding to a storyline that really didn't need them.

The battle scene towards the end was too brief and without much in the way of realism, but I suppose these days we're used to the more realistic in-close and brutal fighting as portrayed in Gladiator, Alexander and the like. Also I felt the ending, where Hollywood sacrificed historical accuracy (Spartacus died on the battlefield) for the gut turning reunion while he was dying with his woman and child.

Movie Review: Spartacus- Universal Cut
Summary: 3 Stars

SPARTACUS. A great motion picture. A film whose message is man must live free or die. A film budgeted at twelve million dollars in 1960 (easily one-hundred and twenty million in 2009 dollars). A cast of supreme stars- Kirk Douglas, Lawrence Olivier, Charles Laughton, Jean Simmons and Tony Curtis. A supporting cast of ten thousand human beings. I first viewed this film in the early 1960's and was entirely engrossed by it. The dramatic music of Alex North paired with duelling gladiators was unforgettable to this (at the time) ten year old. I remember, too, the very touching love scenes between Douglas and Simmons. Their love was magnificent, real and precious.
Indeed, this epic rates as one of my all time favourite films because of it's huge scope and emotional appeal. There's passion, politics, betrayal. A timeless story that touches the heart and excites the mind.
I won't delve into the plot as other reviewers have given ample time to this. What I wish to say, however, is that this Universal Studios version, while the sound quality is superb, the visuals could have been better. Technically, the film colour displays a sepia or brownish bias, paticularly on the interior scenes. The contrast level is somewhat harsh and there is an unpleasant grainy texture throughout. Not the way I remember watching this film years ago. Granted the film is vintage, but the restorations of LAWRENCE OF ARABIA, NORTH BY NORTHWEST and VERTIGO are of a much higher standard. The Universal version is a cheap discounted version-they have cut corners galour and it shows. The CRITERION version is superior for it's technical pains and special bonus material. Universal SHAME ON YOU!

Movie Review: Spartacus
Summary: 5 Stars

Kirk Douglas at his best in this period film. Lots of name actors, and lots of action. I recommend to any fan of Douglas. (Like me)

Movie Review: worthy
Summary: 5 Stars

A great movie by Stanley Kubrick , please do buy if you have a hd-dvd forthe xbox 360, or a HD-DVD player do buy.

Movie Review: A Bit Long, But A Solid Epic Which Looks Better Each Time
Summary: 4 Stars

This is a solid adventure story that keeps looking better and better with each succeeding DVD. The excellent Criterion version was the last. Next up, I hope, is a solid Blu-Ray version.

*** This comment contains spoilers ***
The story is a no-nonsense dramatic tale of a slave who leads a revolt against Rome, is successful in building the movement from almost nothing to an army of thousands, only to be beaten and literally crucified in the end.....but leaving his mark, to use a clich?, on history.

The prelude to the final battle scene is awesome-looking when you see all the soldiers lined up. I liked the fact they didn't overdo the action scenes, which they could easily have done since they employed a cast of thousands. On the other hand, they could have cut down on the overall length of the movie which was over three hours long. At two-and-a-half hours this would have been a much tighter script and easier to view.

Kirk Douglas, as "Spartacus," the leader of that revolt, was excellent and Peter Ustinov shines, too. The dialog given Ustinov and Charles Laughton was intelligent. This movie also featured the acting talents of Jean Simmons, Laurence Olivier, Tony Curtis and John Gavin. Not bad, eh?

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Summary of Spartacus [VHS]

Stanley Kubrick was only 31 years old when Kirk Douglas (star of Kubrick's classic Paths of Glory) recruited the young director to pilot this epic saga, in which the rebellious slave Spartacus (played by Douglas) leads a freedom revolt against the decadent Roman Empire. Kubrick would later disown the film because it was not a personal project--he was merely a director-for-hire--but Spartacus remains one of the best of Hollywood's grand historical epics. With an intelligent screenplay by then-blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo (from a novel by Howard Fast), its message of moral integrity and courageous conviction is still quite powerful, and the all-star cast (including Charles Laughton in full toga) is full of entertaining surprises. Fully restored in 1991 to include scenes deleted from the original 1960 release, the full-length Spartacus is a grand-scale cinematic marvel, offering some of the most awesome battles ever filmed and a central performance by Douglas that's as sensitively emotional as it is intensely heroic. Jean Simmons plays the slave woman who becomes Spartacus's wife, and Peter Ustinov steals the show with his frequently hilarious, Oscar-winning performance as a slave trader who shamelessly curries favor with his Roman superiors. The restored version also includes a formerly deleted bathhouse scene in which Laurence Olivier plays a bisexual Roman senator (with restored dialogue dubbed by Anthony Hopkins) who gets hot and bothered over a slave servant played by Tony Curtis. These and other restored scenes expand the film to just over three hours in length. Despite some forgivable lulls, this is a rousing and substantial drama that grabs and holds your attention. Breaking tradition with sophisticated themes and a downbeat (yet eminently noble) conclusion, Spartacus is a thinking person's epic, rising above mere spectacle with a story as impressive as its widescreen action and Oscar-winning sets. --Jeff Shannon

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