The Not-So-Epic Stuff  A.K.A. The Complaints Department: THE DISCLAIMER ON DISC 2: Tucked away on Disc 2 is the vaguely entitled "About This Film". Pressing this menu item reveals the following message: "This Miriam Collection edition of The Fall of the Roman Empire is the original Roadshow release, which is the longest version of the film for which a complete set of film elements exisits. A scene which was deleted from the Roadshow release was recently discovered, but could not be mastered in time to be included as a bonus feature on this DVD. We hope to include this on a future Miriam Collection release." Okay, points for admitting they may have jumped the gun by releasing the movie now, but why not wait for the missing scene to be mastered? As things stand, they're telling us it's the original Roadshow release, but not really. I guess we'll just have to wait for the Super Ultra Limited Collector's Edition on BluRay or BlipDot or whatever video format happens to be around when they release the ORIGINAL original Roadshow version. Final Thoughts:   As DVD presentations go, I can understand the makers wanting to cram everything possible into a collector's set for fans of the film, but they should also remember that quality will always win out over quantity. Personally, I think this is a case where trimming a few features would have strengthened the overall presentation.   However, The Fall of the Roman Empire is still a very good movie - It's story is surprisingly downbeat as epics go, but I think that's also a reason the film holds up better than some other epics of the 50's and 60's. For one thing, there's no happy ending. At the time, some critics attacked it for that, but what would you expect from a film called The Fall of the Roman Empire? The movie also features some of the most spectacular sets ever built for a film, and some great scenes that use thousands of real extras. For its film history significance alone, it's a sure winner. They just don't make them like this anymore!

THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE The Technical Stuff Format: Region 1 (US and Canada) Disc One:  The Fall of the Roman Empire Pt 1 / Special Features Disc Two:  The Fall of the Roman Empire Pt 2 / Special Features  Disc Three:  Bonus Special Features Feature Presented in Letterbox Widescreen Format Audio: Dolby 5.1 - English Subtitles:  Spanish, English SDH

The Epic Stuff     Best Feature: I'm going to have to say that the movie itself is this set's best feature. Good storytelling, great locations, and beyond-lavish sets combine to make The Fall of the Roman Empire an epic in every sense of the word. In fact, the story was so good that Ridley Scott borrowed much of it for use in his own epic, Gladiator. An additional parallel is that The Fall of the Roman Empire even has a bit in common with the real Roman Empire. Just as the events of this movie depict the fall of Rome from a position of world domination, this wildly expensive production (along with the financially disasterous Cleopatra), helped to signal the fall of epic films from box-office favor. Put simply, if you're a film buff, you're going to want The Fall of the Roman Empire!            Commentary Track: Feature Commentary with Bill Bronston (son of producer Samuel Bronston) and Mel Martin (biographer of Samuel Bronston). Though it's a bit dry at times, this commentary gives some great in-depth background to the making of The Fall of the Roman Empire, and lot's of dirt regarding the fall of epic movies! Very interesting for fans of movie history.               Rome in Madrid - 1964 Promotional Film (Disc One): Okay, this is awesome. A wonderful 22 minute promotional film narrated by James Mason, which outlines the production of The Fall of the Roman Empire from the very genesis of the idea to the finished film. Lots of behind-the-scenes moments, building of the incredible sets, and more!         Limited Edition Materials: More cool stuff for film buffs - included with the Limited Collector's Edition an entire third disc (see below), as well as a full color reproduction of the original 1964 souvenir program and 6 lobbycard-style production stills created especially for this DVD release.    BONUS DISC: After the production of The Fall of the Roman Empire had been completed, the Encyclopaedia Brittanica was allowed to use its incredible sets to produce educational shorts about ancient Rome. Included here, along with two introductions, are films entitled "Life in Ancient Rome", "Julius Ceasar: The Rise of the Roman Empire", and "Claudius: Boy of Ancient Rome". Neat stuff!

The Usual Features & Stuff:      Trailer Gallery (Disc One): Includes the theatrical trailer for The Fall of the Roman Empire, as well as other Miriam Collection releases - El Cid, Cinema Paradiso, and Control.     Filmographies (Disc One): Filmography lists for the filmmakers and principal players in the film.    Still Galleries (Disc One): About 75 uncaptioned black & white and color stills from the making and promotion of the film.     The Rise and Fall of an Epic Production - The Making of the FIlm (Disc Two) The Rise and Fall of an Empire - An Historical Look at the Real Roman Empire (Disc Two) Hollywood vs History - An Historical Analysis (Disc Two) Dimitri Tiomkin - Scoring the Roman Empire (Disc Two): You may wonder why I've lumped these featurettes together... well, that's because the above "features" are better described as individual "chapters" of a decent "Making of" documentary. There is a bit of overlap between segments, but they still get the job done. Unfortunately, no one involved seems to notice that the job had already been done sufficiently by the 1964 promotional film mentioned earlier, or that most of the historical content added here is pure fluff. Subtitles: English captions are provided for the hearing impaired, and subtitles are available in Spanish.      Language Track: English.

A.J.'s DVD Rating: 3.5 Stars

Review published April 27, 2008

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