Spartacus

SPARTACUS (Blu-ray)

Release date: January 24th 2011
Certificate (UK): PG
Running time: 187 minutes
Year of production: 1960

Director: Stanley Kubrick

Cast: Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, Tony Curtis, Peter Ustinov

After losing out to Charlton Heston in William Wyler’s Ben Hur (1959), Kirk Douglas set out make his own historical epic. Together with Edward Lewis he produced Spartacus based on the novel by Howard Fast.

The movie begins after a four minute overture with the music of Alex North. Spartacus (Douglas) is a slave sentenced to death for his kindness, but is spotted by Lentulus Batiatus (Peter Ustinov) who buys him on account of his spirit, health and good shape to train as a gladiator. He will be cleaned, shaved, oiled, massaged and if Spartacus pleases him, he will be given a woman for companionship.

Varinia (Jean Simmons) is brought to him and he falls in love with her but when Roman senator Crassus (Laurence Olivier) purchases her from Batiatus, it stirs him to start an uprising. Slaves and gladiators alike join him.

Antoninus (Tony Curtis), a tutor from Sicily is bought by Crassus and after some suggestive talk about oysters and snails while helping him bathe, he runs away to joins Spartacus’ uprising. It seems Crassus was not to the tutor’s taste.

As Rome sends in more and more recruits to deal with Spartacus’ uprising, he crushes them all, but eventually the rebel army will feel the fist of Rome. Their defeat leads to another of the film’s famous scenes where Crassus promises the prisoners will not be punished if they can identify Spartacus’ body. One by one they stand up and declare “I am Spartacus!”

There’s a handful of special features including 2 alternate scenes where Spartacus meets Varina and a shorter version of the final scene from the movie. As the footage from Gracchus’s suicide was lost, only the audio is presented here.

The archival interviews are interesting as they show how interviews were conducted during the ’60’s. Peter Ustinov talks about his role and explains how the film sheds a different light on Batiatus. He ends the interview with an assortment of impressions including a car battery and a cello!

Jean Simmons talks about how hard it is working with Olivier; he is so good she forgets what she is supposed to be doing in the scene.

Although deeply inaccurate and generally overlooked by Kubrick fans, Spartacus remains a Hollywood classic and features one of Douglas’s best performances but he is outshone by Olivier and Ustinov who bring to the table the full force of their acting skills.

Patrick Samuel

The founder of Static Mass Emporium and one of its Editors in Chief is an emerging artist with a philosophy degree, working primarily with pastels and graphite pencils, but he also enjoys experimenting with water colours, acrylics, glass and oil paints.

Being on the autistic spectrum with Asperger’s Syndrome, he is stimulated by bold, contrasting colours, intricate details, multiple textures, and varying shades of light and dark. Patrick's work extends to sound and video, and when not drawing or painting, he can be found working on projects he shares online with his followers.

Patrick returned to drawing and painting after a prolonged break in December 2016 as part of his daily art therapy, and is now making the transition to being a full-time artist. As a spokesperson for autism awareness, he also gives talks and presentations on the benefits of creative therapy.

Static Mass is where he lives his passion for film and writing about it. A fan of film classics, documentaries and science fiction, Patrick prefers films with an impeccable way of storytelling that reflect on the human condition.

Patrick Samuel ¦ Asperger Artist

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