Charming and brutal

Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

The movie turns out to be a little better than the average. Starting from a romantic formula often seen in the cinema, it ends in the most predictable (and somewhat bland) way.

This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

The Robe starred Richard Burton, Jean Simmons, and Victor Mature. It was a biblical epic about a Roman soldier who felt guilty condemning Jesus to death. The film was such a success, Hollywood spawned a sequel, without the two leads, but starring Victor Mature in a reprise of his role as Demetrius, a Christian slave.Susan Hayward joins him in the film, as does Michael Rennie, Deborah Paget, Ernest Borgnine, Richard Egan, and Anne Bancroft. Without Richard Burton's acting, the movie turns into a corny, over-the-top Ben-Hur wannabe. I've only seen Victor Mature in two good performances: one was After the Fox, in which he basically spoofed himself, and the other was Kiss of Death, which was more famous for Richard Widmark's breakthrough performance than Mature's dramatics. In Demetrius and the Gladiators, he gives a typical "Victor Immature" performance, and it turns into a B-picture. But if you're nuts about gladiator or biblical movies, it's not the worst one in the world. Trust me, I've seen that one.

Demetrius and the Gladiators is a fictional 1954 a sequel to The Robe. and it was based on characters created by Lloyd C. Douglas's novel.It features Victor Mature as Demetrius, a Christian slave made to fight in the Roman arena as a gladiator, together with Susan Hayward,Ernest Borgnine, William Marshall, Michael Rennie, Jay Robinson, Debra Paget, and a young Anne Bancroft in one of her early roles during her film career.Thrown in jail for defending an elderly merchant from a sadistic Roman legionnaire, Demetrius is forced to attend gladiator school and fight in the arena for the amusement of the mad, debauched emperor Caligula.This allows Demetrius to attract the attention of Messalina, the nymphomaniac wife of the soon-to-be emperor Claudius. For a short while,Demetrius lost his faith in God but he was allowed to get re-acquainted with his Christian faith through the Apostle Peter.This happens to be more of a gladiator epic rather than a religious one like its predecessor film,The Robe.People would probably watch it more for the action scenes.Too bad that it won't allow viewers to have some serious thoughts about their religion particularly their relationship to both God and Jesus.Despite being advertised as The Robe's sequel,it is definitely a different film compared to it.

You do not change a winning team.Unfortunately the two stars of "the robe" (Burton and Simmons )died in the first episode.Three of its characters are featured:Demetrius (Victor Mature),Saint Peter (Michael Rennie)and Caligula (Jay Robinson ).There are two extracts from "the robe" :the first one has additional shots of Susan Hayward (Messaline)who was not present when the two Christians were sent "to their kingdom".Demetrius becomes the center of the plot.A Christian ,his belief will be put to the test.They make him a gladiator against his will and he knows he shall not kill his brothers.There is a very good depiction of the gladiators'life ,even if history is given a rough ride:it was Nero before the Christians were really persecuted,as former classics such as "sign of the cross" (1932) or "quo vadis"(1950) testify .Susan Hayward plays a bitchy Messaline,even if her wish to " loyally assist" her dear husband Claudius (who was just pretending he was a moron to fool Caligula)is rather laughable.Best performance comes from Robinson's "Caligula" .The actor is given more time to display his madness and he really does:the scene when he "tests" "the robe "is really spooky.This is an entertaining sword and sandal by Delmer Daves,known for his remarkable westerns such as "broken arrow".

Filmed at almost the same time, this film was a fitting sequel to "The Robe," considering it did not have the star power of the earlier film. None the less it loses some of the reverence of the first film, as Demetrius, so passionate a Christian in the first film, seems to give in and give up on it all too quickly in this one. The tie-in of the final scene from "The Robe" as the opening scene to this movie was a good advertising ploy, and the musical score of Franz Waxman melded well with the earlier Newman themes. The powerful insanity of Caligula is once again handled well by Jay Robinson, who brought the character vividly to life, as I remember from my Roman History studies. If the Rome of those days was as charming as depicted in these films, I would not have minded living there and then. The performances of the cast, especially the minor characters, was excellent, although Mature was still awfully stiff in his performance. But a good sequel over all.