The Slave (1962)

Steve Reeves is at his muscle-bound best in this slightly too long and episodic story of that little baby that left his father nailed to cross a couple of decades earlier. He is unaware of his provenance and has been brought up as a Roman to be a valued aide to Julius Caesar (Ivo Garrani). With that man’s own mentor Crassus (Claudio Gora) causing some consternation with his behaviour in the East, “Randus” (Reeves) is duly despatched as a sort of legate-cum-spy. His journey is fraught with danger and it’s only after he manages to free himself from some slave traders, he makes it to his destination. Initially, if sceptically, welcomed at the court of Crassus, he soon gets wind not just of a plot by this man to take control of the empire, but also that he may not be quite who thinks he is, either! It’s this latter suspicion that gradually alerts him to the fact that he is a natural born rebel, and so is soon leading something of a double identity whilst trying to remain loyal to his original mission. As things become more perilous, he comes to rely on some unlikely allies to stay one step ahead of his wily foe. The production here is really quite impressive with plenty of attention paid to the costumes and settings. I could have done with a little more action, but what there is delivers entertainingly and despite his terribly wooden effort, both Gora and Gianna Maria Canale as his duplicitous wife “Claudia” make for quite a decent pair of baddies. The editing isn’t great, but otherwise this flows along well and I quite enjoyed it.