USA,
1960, 197 min
Shown in 1991
CREDITS
- dir
-
Stanley Kubrick
- prod
-
Kirk Douglas, Edward Lewis
- scr
-
Dalton Trumbo, Howard Fast
- cam
-
Russell Metty
- editor
-
Robert Lawrence
- cast
-
Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, Tony Curtis
- source
-
Universal Pictures
-
COMMENTS
Peter Ustinov in person. Print restored by Robert Harris.
OTHER
During its titanic struggles with TV for the attention of mass audiences during the ’50s and ’60s, Hollywood re-invented the historical epic. Screens of the day were splashed with color-saturated, wide-format spectacles. Star/producer Kirk Douglas chose Howard Fast's best-selling novel of slave revolt in ancient Rome, Spartacus, as his vehicle for the most grandiloquent superproduction to date. An all-star cast (Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Peter Ustinov, Charles Laughton and Tony Curtis), and lavish production values (over 10,000 extras, including 8,000 Spanish soldiers) provided grandeur on a truly Roman scale. Young director Stanley Kubrick revealed his talent for keeping the human touch amidst pomp, glitter and vast budgets, making this one of the most enduring of the "sword and sandal" spectacles. Sadly Spartacus fell victim to the practices of the time, with scenes cut to pass censorship, running time shortened for "road show" release and the original negative neglected. When Universal sought to re-release the film in its never-seen original length, it found the negative damaged beyond salvation. Specialist Robert A. Harris, the restorer of Lawrence of Arabia and producer James Katz, who worked with Harris to restore Napoleon, were called in and a "frame by frame" restoration commissioned. Tonight's audience will be among the first to experience, in Technicolor 70mm widescreen and Dolby sound, the full glory of Spartacus.
—George Eldred
FACTOID #175
In 1967, two years prior to her death, the Festival honored Judy Garland in the first (according to the program note) American homage of her work. Garland was unable to attend.
