For anyone who thinks that SPARTACUS and GLADIATOR are the definitive Hollywood accounts of Ancient Rome vs. Early Christians and the downtrodden I heartily recommend Alessandro Basetti's 1949 black and white Italian production of FABIOLA. Released in the Unites States a few years after its Italian premiere, the picture unfortunately was hacked to pieces so that it could afford more daily showings in theaters. What once was a nearly 3 hour epic was reduced to an incomprehensible 90 minutes. Nevertheless, the fairly large scope of the film manages to break through and the striking production design and visuals (even on a poor print in a less than satisfactory DVD transfer) somewhat make up for a severely truncated screenplay. A well-spoken English narration does help to tie the loose ends together. One can only imagine what the original cut of this film was like, but from the skeletal remains on view I suspect this was an above average sword and sandal epic.
Review of Fabiola
