Customer Reviews

Return of the Gladiator

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Coming a bit more than a dozen years after Steve Reeves' "Hercules" -- the "Ur" of sword-and-sandal movies -- this modest entry in the genre eschews mythological trappings in favor of a historical adventure set on the borders of the Roman Empire, circa 310 A.D. As an adventure, it's a haphazard affair marred by a few doses of juvenile humor and a half-hearted bit of Christian piety, but there's enough action, romance, and intrigue to keep the indulgent viewer suitably entertained. Leading man Brad Harris is good-looking and brawny, (though not in a cartoony way), and he seems both more mature and more intelligent than the usual muscle-bound hero. Curiously, one must wait an entire hour before he takes his shirt off! After that point there's an entire beefcake-bonanza sequence in which Harris, stripped to a loincloth, is seen chained in a dungeon and then tied between teams of horses which attempt to pull him apart like a turkey wishbone. Fans of the male physique will not be disappointed. It's all downhill from there with the last part of the movie degenerating into a long but not particularly exciting battle sequence -- the outcome of which is never in doubt.

The title on the screen is "Three Giants of the Roman Empire" but you'll find it listed on the imdb as "Il ritorno del gladiatore piu forte del mondo" and the name on the DVD box is "Return of the Gladiator." Whatever. Running time is 85 minutes. The DVD is letterboxed and comes with either English or Italian dialog. The English-dubbing is adequate and color quality is good. If you're a "peplum" fan, you'll probably enjoy this.

Here's a strange entry in Italy's sword and sandal genre where it came after the films peaked and mutated into the spy and spaghetti western genres. It offers more in the way of intrigue and political backstabbing and also has a religious undercurrent in the 'QUO VADIS' vein where the young couple are torn between religious duty and also has a short sequence of Christians being fed to the lions. The film , however, suffers from the 'Buddy' Syndrome which peppered many genre films at that time and the mixture of slapstick and bathroom humor doesn't balance well with the seriousness of the plot. Euro stalwart Brad Harris swings and punches his way through the running time trying to win back his girlfriend after he's framed in the murder of her father. The scene stealers are the villains played with scenery chewing aplomb by the great Massimo Serrato billed here appropriately as John Barracuda and the French cult actor Michel Lemoine who graced many a Jess Franco film. The story and direction by Adalberto Albertini is adequate but the music score by Sergio Pagoni is terrible and the photography by Alvaro Lanzoni fluctuates as if he's going from 35mm to 16mm film stock. Mya Communication presents the film in a nice 2.35 transfer and gives you the option in watching it English dubbed or Italian subtitled. The film seems to have gone through many title changes: the credits list it as 'THE THREE GIANTS OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE'; the DVD box has it as 'RETURN OF THE GLADIATOR' and also lists the Italian title 'IL RITORNO DEL GLADIATORE PIU FORTE DEL MONDO'. Not a great movie but its worth it to see the short belly dancing sequence which occurs in a tavern about 40 minutes into the proceedings. What the girl does definitely woke me up from the films doldrums and makes you wonder why we are watching the film in the first place.

This is a full 2.35.1 WideScreen print, not 1.85 as it says on the box.
Its not 16.9 anamorphic though,but it zooms up good.

Good Color and print

A bit overpriced ,but recommended.