Cult Camp Classics 4 – Historical Epics | DVD Review

CINEMASCOPE! EASTMANCOLOR! WARNERCOLOR! And perhaps the coolest name of them all, SUPERTOTALSCOPE! Everything about historical epic films is larger than life: stunning vistas, casts of thousands, ornate costumes. The three films included in Warner Bros. fourth volume of their Cult Camp Classics series, aptly titled “Historical Epics”, fit the bill perfectly. They may not be the best of the genre, but the interesting fact about this set is that two of the films were made by directors who were better known for other styles.

When you think of historical epics, films like The Ten Commandments, Cleopatra, and Ben Hur are likely to come to mind. But surely you wouldn’t think of any of the three films included here. That’s not to say that each of them doesn’t have anything to offer as far as entertainemnt value goes, though.

• The Colossus of Rhodes (1961): Having just completed the building of a massive weaponized statue of Apollo to guard their port, the island of Rhodes enters into a secret alliance with Phoenicia to overpower Greece. At the same time, a group of slaves is plotting against the king of Rhodes. Darios, a Greek war hero and apparent playboy, is on vacation on Rhodes visiting his uncle and flirting with Diala, the daughter of the statue’s architect. Darios unwittingly gets caught up in both plots and eventually faces off against Thar, King Serse’s evil second in command, who has his own designs on ruling Rhodes. While the film has a fairly weak script and was made in the waning years of the sword and sandals epics when Europe was coming out with plenty of cheap copycats, this Italian film benefits from the already impressive talents of Sergio Leone in his directorial debut. Best known for his spaghetti westerns, Leone does the best he can here with a weak script. Plenty of familiar ‘Leone-isms’ are on display in The Colossus of Rhodes, including lingering shots to increase tension and plenty of battle scenes (substituting swords for six-shooters). The sadistic brutality that became the trademark of Leone villains is on display here as well, with slaves being tortured with hot wax (or is it molten lead?) and even one prisoner being placed inside a giant bell which is repeatedly rung until his ears are bleeding and he’s practically deaf. Just in case you weren’t sure this was a Leone film, there’s even a scene where horses are ridden through some scenic terrain, around hills and over dusty trails. You half expect a tumbleweed to roll through the scene. The acting in the film is nothing to write home about, except maybe for Rory Calhoun (TV’s The Texan) as Darios. His nonchalant demeanor and smirky attitude make for a charming hero. His strong performance is even more remarkable when you consider that he took on the role on one day’s notice as a replacement for John Derek.

• Land of the Pharaohs (1955): A young Joan Collins (Dynasty‘s Alexis Carrington!) vamps it up in this Howard Hawks-directed tale of a greedy pharaoh (Jack Hawkins, The Prisoner, Touch and Go) obsessed with ensuring that his huge cache of jewels and gold is buried safely with him when he dies. The pharaoh commissions an impenetrable pyramid to be built so that he can be sure no thieves will ever raid his tomb and make off with his treasure. Collins plays his second wife, Princess Nellifer, who plans on inheriting the pharaoh’s fortune and is quite angry when she finds out he intends to take it with him when he proceeds to the afterlife. It’s not so surprising that beloved author William Faulkner cowrote the script, considering that it’s thin on characters and heavy on atmosphere. What is surprising is that the film was directed by Hawks, who was known more for his character-driven films like His Girl Friday and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. With Land of the Pharaohs Hawks seems to be more interested in depicting the pomp and extravagance of ancient Egypt and showing the seemingly endless task of building a pyramid than he is in developing characters. Hawks wanted to make an epic-style movie and this was his attempt. He fills the screen with a cast of thousands of extras (nearly 10,000 in one scene alone!). The sheer scale of the film is impressive, if nothing else. Of course, the film failed at the box office and Hawks was so upset with the failure that he didn’t make another movie for four years. That movie turned out to be the classic Rio Bravo. The one redeeming factor in this movie is the gloriously over-the-top yet spot-on performance of Hawkins as the megalomaniacal pharaoh. Yes, it’s a one-note character, but boy oh boy does Hawkins play that one note very sweetly.

• The Prodigal (1955): Everyone knows the biblical story of the prodigal son, where the youngest of two sons demands his share of his father’s life’s work and goes off and squanders it while the older son stays at his father’s side and toils for him in the fields. When the destitute son comes home and is welcomed with open arms by the father, the older son is naturally quite upset and jealous until the father gives him a speech about how the younger son needed to do that in order to learn his lesson (or something like that). What everyone may not know is that the son squandered the fortune trying to woo a pagan high priestess whose cohorts are intent on ruining him because he saved the life of one of their slaves who was marked for death. It’s understandable that Micah (Edmund Purdom, 1953’s Julius Caesar), the young son, would become enamored of a woman as alluring as Lana Turner, who plays Samarra, the high priestess, but what’s not so understandale is how quickly he could become intent on destroying her religion after falling so deeply in love with her. Perhaps my lack of understanding has something to do with the fact that I dozed off for half an hour of this extremely boring film. Sure, it looks nice, with spectacular scenery and another cast of thousands, but besides the visuals it has nothing going for it.

Each of the films includes a feature commentary, with varying degrees of success. On The Colossus of Rhodes, Sergio Leone biographer Christopher Frayling discusses Leone’s career and compares this film to his later ones, pointing out elements that would be familiar to any fan of Leone’s westerns. What’s missing is information on any of the other players in the film. Apart from a few tidbits about Calhoun, not much else is discussed. On Land of the Pharaohs, filmmaker Peter Bogdanovich does an excellent job discussing historical epics in general and Hawks’ work as well, including some excerpts of recorded conversations he had with Howard Hawks, wherein Hawks recounts some fun anecdotes about Cecil B. DeMille and other contemporaries of his. What’s nice about Bogdanovich’s commentary is that it feels real, and he’s not afraid to point out that as fun as it is, the film will never be regarded as great cinema. As for the commentary on The Prodigal, let’s just say that I think that film historian Drew Casper’s voice is part of the reason I fell asleep watching the film.

Well, as that master thespian Meatloaf Aday once sang, two out of three ain’t bad. The Collosus of Rhodes and Land of the Pharaohs are both high-camp entertainment, but it’ll be a long time, if ever, before The Prodigal returns to my DVD player.

Movie rating – 2.5

Disc Rating – 2.5