Demetrius and the Gladiators

Described by George MacDonald Fraser as "(r)ipe melodrama, but not bad history", 'Demetrius and the Gladiators' manages to be that rarest thing: a sequel that improves upon the original. Returning from 'The Robe' is writer Philip Dunne (who provides a script according to Fraser "well above par for this kind of film") as well as composer Franz Waxman and cameraman Milton Krasner.

In the title role Victor Mature is upped to star billing, with Jay Robinson's very mad Caligula ("why should I suffer death like any plebeian?") and Michael Rennie as St. Peter returning from the earlier film. New additions to the cast include Barry Jones, who gives the thing gravitas as Claudius, and Ernest Borgnine and black American actor William Marshall in dignified supporting roles. (It also has a strong female contingent led by Susan Hayward's haughty, flame-haired Messalina who boasts that "my claws are sharper than the tiger's"; with Anne Bancroft in a small part and even an unbilled Julie Newmar shaking those hips as a dancing girl.)

The most decisive piece of casting, however, is director Delmer Daves, who just rolls up his sleeves and gets stuck into delivering all this nonsense with gusto.