Aphrodite, Goddess of Love (1958)

Roman Emperor Nero has recently visited Corinth and left "Antigono" (Ivo Garrani) in charge. He is determined to build a magnificent temple to Aphrodite and to pay for this he must tax and enslave some of his people - and that earns him the enmity of just about everyone. Meantime, sculptor "Demetrius" (Anthony Steffen) is charged with crafting the face of the goddess, but when he is accidentally taken prisoner encounters the slave "Lerna" (Isabelle Corey) with whom he falls madly in love. It's never going to be simple for this couple, though, as the scheming "Diala" (Irène Tunc) has her own plans and then there's also a rather ghastly plague that many think is a result of the god's displeasure with the increasing number of Christians being tolerated. To that end, "Antigono" does his own mini-Nero and orders that these religious interlopers be sacrificed. Might this appease his increasingly restless population or might someone come to the rescue of the couple before they become lion fodder? The production detail here is really quite decent, with plenty of attention paid to the sets and costumes as the drama unfolds. There's also a fair amount of swordplay and plenty of conniving going on too. Sadly, the staccato nature of the dialogue drags it down a little and I'm afraid I just found Corey and Steffen about as wooden as a pair of rudii, but that said it's an enjoyably paced and quite entertaining drama that easily passed ninety minutes. Keep an eye out for Massimo Serato - he'd have made a good "Bond" villain, I think.