Alone Against Rome (1962)

Much of this follows a rather well trammelled plot, but the last twenty minutes do redeem it somewhat. The gist? Well,"Silla" (Philippe Leroy) is left in charge of a small town. The power goes to his head somewhat, and his lust for the delightful "Fabiola" (Rossana Podestà) further clouds his judgement to the extent that rebellion is soon in the offing. That takes the shape of the man she truly loves - "Brenno" (Lang Jeffries). There is a punishment scene where "Brenno" is lashed whilst strapped to a column. It will only stop once the public "donate" sufficient gold to fill an upturned shield. I wonder if this could be a punishment re-introduced for modern day politicians? Anyway; there is a fine gladiatorial ending that, though without much jeopardy, is well staged. The dubbing isn't the best - the dialogue editor has only a limited command of colloquial English, but it's still at the better end of the Peplum production spectrum. The costumes and sets look good and there is plenty of action and scheming to keep it interesting. Worth a look!