131 Spartacus (1960)
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This article is from the Movie Trivia, by Murray Chapman muzzle@cs.uq.oz.au with numerous contributions by others.
131 Spartacus (1960)
- 'Stanley Kubrick' (qv) was brought in as director after 'Kirk Douglas' (qv)
had a major falling out with the original director, 'Anthony Mann' (qv).
- Kubrick was not given control of the script, which he felt was full of stupid
moralizing. Since this film, Kubrick has kept full control over all aspects
of his films.
- Of the 167 days it took Kubrick to shoot Spartacus, six weeks were spent
directing an elaborate battle sequence in which 8,500 extras dramatized the
clash between the Roman troops and Spartacus's slave army. Several scenes
in the battle drew the ire of the Legion of Decency and were therefore cut.
These include shots of men being dismembered (Dwarfs with false torsos and
an armless man with a phony ``break-away'' limb were used to give
authenticity.) Seven years later, when the Oscar winning film was reissued,
an additional 22 minutes were chopped out, including a scene in which
Varinia watches Spartacus writhe in agony on a cross. Her line ``Oh, please
die, my darling'' was excised, and the scene was cut to make it appear that
Spartacus was already dead.
[Question: are the scenes mentioned as ``edited out'' of the other two
releases of Spartacus restored in the DC? I'm sure the ending features
Spartacus on the cross, with Varinia showing him their baby. What about the
graphic battle scene?]
- The original version included a scene where Marcus Licinius
('Laurence Olivier' (qv)) attempts to seduce Antoninus ('Tony Curtis' (qv)).
When the Production Code Administration and the Legion of Decency both
objected, the scene was cut. This scene was put back in for the 1991
restoration, but since the soundtrack had been lost, Curtis and
'Anthony Hopkins' (qv) (Olivier had died) dubbed the dialog.
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