Il gladiatore che sfidò l'impero

CHALLENGE OF THE GLADIATOR is an above average Peplum with many things going for it: excellent cast, excellent music score, solid if workman-like direction, excellent production values. The film could have been great but it's not because of one main problem: the story/script.

I don't think I've seen such a daft script in any Peplum. It's almost impossible to explain. There's Spartacus (played by humongous Peter Lupus). There are Romans trying to invade Thrace. Those Romans are lead by Metello, who's controlled by a corrupt Senator who hires a gladiator who looks like Nero. The Senator has plans to usurp the real Nero with the look-alike but also wants to get hold of a treasure that's somewhere in Thrace, which Spartacus has secretly hidden in a cave somewhere. To make matters more unbelievable, Spartacus falls in love with the daughter of the evil Senator. Anyway, that's the most I could figure out from it. There's also some plot point about an emerging Christian religion. Anyway, there are so many improbabilities in the story that I just couldn't take it seriously for one second.

There are several highlights in this film, certainly when Peter Lupus is chained to a torture device. What's a Peplum without an over-the-top torture scene? All in all, this film is fairly good, even if it's a bit difficult to see beefy Lupus as Spartacus. If you overlook the wonky script, this is one of the better Peplums for sure.