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The Fall Of The Roman Empire (film)
''The Fall of the Roman Empire'' is a 1964 American epic historical drama film directed by Anthony Mann and produced by Samuel Bronston, with a screenplay by Ben Barzman, Basilio Franchina and Philip Yordan. The film stars Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd, Alec Guinness, James Mason, Christopher Plummer, Mel Ferrer, and Omar Sharif. When filming for '' El Cid'' (1961) had finished, Anthony Mann saw a copy of Edward Gibbon's 1776–1789 six-volume series ''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'' inside the Hatchards bookshop. He pitched a film adaptation of the book to Samuel Bronston, who then agreed to produce the project. Philip Yordan was enlisted to write the script while Charlton Heston was initially set to star. However, Heston backed out of the film and agreed to star in '' 55 Days at Peking'' (1963). Prominent actors were cast to portray multiple roles in the film. The final screenplay was written by Ben Barzman and Basilio Franchina with a prologue ...
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Renato Fratini
Renato Fratini (October 1932, in Rome – 1973 in Mexico)Branaghan, S. & Chibnall, S. (Ed.) (2006) ''British film posters: An illustrated history''. London: British Film Institute, pp. 185-190. was an Italian commercial artist who specialised in cinema posters and book covers. His heyday was in 1960s London. Career in Italy Renato Fratini studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma. He began his career in the early 1950s by joining the studio owned by the Guerri brothers. There he mostly worked on illustrations and comic strips. In 1952 he joined the Augusto Favalli's studio, which was at that time Italy’s biggest producer of film posters. He worked with artists such as Nicola Simbari, Enrico DeSeta and Giorgio De Gaspari."Taking the rough with the smooth"
by David Roach in ''Illustrators'', No ...
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Samuel Bronston Productions
Samuel Bronston Productions was an independent American film production company, founded by Samuel Bronston in 1943. The company produced several epic films, the most notable of which are, ''John Paul Jones'' (1959), ''King of Kings'' (1961), ''El Cid'' (1961), ''55 Days at Peking'' (1963) and ''The Fall of the Roman Empire'' (1964). The films were made in Spain in the company's newly created studios in Las Rozas, near Madrid. Due to financial difficulties, the company ceased its business activities in 1964. During the ensuing bankruptcy proceedings, Bronston's answer that the company had once had a bank account in Zurich in response to a question under oath about whether he personally had had a Swiss bank account led to his prosecution for perjury Perjury (also known as foreswearing) is the intentional act of swearing a false oath or falsifying an affirmation to tell the truth, whether spoken or in writing, concerning matters material to an official proceeding."Perjury T ...
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Wrap (filmmaking)
Wrap, as used in the phrase "That's a wrap" has been used by directors since the early days of the film industry to signal the end of filming. Since the 1920s, filmmakers have been using this phrase when principal photography is concluded and the film is ready to go into post-production. At that point, it is traditional to hold a wrap party for the cast and crew of the film. This marks the end of the actors' collaboration with each other, the director, producer, and crew on the film (except for possible dubbing or pick-ups). However the leading cast members may be called in several months or years later to help promote the film when it is ready to be released. The term "wrap" is sometimes said to be an acronym for "Wind, Reel and Print", although this is disputed. Printing would typically be done at the end of each shoot day (or when else desired, usually as soon as possible for safety of the picture) and not at the end of an entire shoot. This is illustrated by use of the p ...
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Will Durant
William James Durant (; November 5, 1885 – November 7, 1981) was an American writer, historian, and philosopher. He became best known for his work '' The Story of Civilization'', which contains 11 volumes and details the history of eastern and western civilizations. It was written in collaboration with his wife, Ariel Durant, and published between 1935 and 1975. He was earlier noted for '' The Story of Philosophy'' (1926), described as "a groundbreaking work that helped to popularize philosophy". ''The details of this book appear to be wrong – see talk page'' Durant conceived of philosophy as total perspective or seeing things ''sub specie totius'' (i.e., "from the perspective of the whole")—a phrase inspired by Spinoza's '' sub specie aeternitatis'', roughly meaning "from the perspective of the eternal". He sought to unify and humanize the great body of historical knowledge, which had grown voluminous and become fragmented into esoteric specialties, and to vitalize ...
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55 Days At Peking
''55 Days at Peking'' is a 1963 American epic historical war film dramatizing the siege of the foreign legations' compounds in Peking (now known as Beijing) during the Boxer Rebellion, which took place in China from 1899 to 1901. It was produced by Samuel Bronston for Allied Artists, with a screenplay by Philip Yordan and Bernard Gordon with uncredited contributions from Robert Hamer, Julian Halevy, and Ben Barzman. Noel Gerson wrote a screenplay novelization, under the pseudonym Samuel Edwards, in 1963. The film was directed primarily by Nicholas Ray, although Guy Green and Andrew Marton took over in the latter stages of filming after Ray had fallen ill. Both men were uncredited. It stars Charlton Heston, Ava Gardner, and David Niven, with supporting roles by Flora Robson, John Ireland, Leo Genn, Robert Helpmann, Harry Andrews, and Kurt Kasznar. It also contains the first known screen appearance of future martial arts film star Yuen Siu Tien. Japanese film ...
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Charlton Heston
Charlton Heston (born John Charles Carter; October 4, 1923April 5, 2008) was an American actor and political activist. As a Hollywood star, he appeared in almost 100 films over the course of 60 years. He played Moses in the epic film ''The Ten Commandments'' (1956), for which he received his first nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama and the title role in '' Ben-Hur'' (1959), for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. He also starred in '' The Greatest Show on Earth'' (1952), '' Secret of the Incas'' (1954), '' Touch of Evil'' (1958) with Orson Welles, '' The Big Country'' (1958), '' El Cid'' (1961), '' The Greatest Story Ever Told'' (1965), ''Khartoum'' (1966), ''Planet of the Apes'' (1968), ''The Omega Man'' (1971) and '' Soylent Green'' (1973). In the 1950s and 1960s, he was one of a handful of Hollywood actors to speak openly against racism and was an active supporter of the civil rights movement. Heston left the Democratic ...
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Hatchards
Hatchards claims to be the oldest bookshop in the United Kingdom, founded on Piccadilly in 1797 by John Hatchard. After one move, it has been at the same location on Piccadilly next to Fortnum & Mason since 1801, and the two stores are also neighbours in St. Pancras railway station as of 2014. It has a reputation for attracting high-profile authors and holds three Royal Warrants granted by the Queen, the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Edinburgh respectively. History The oldest bookshop in the United Kingdom, Hatchards was founded at 173 Piccadilly, London, by John Hatchard in 1797. It moved within Piccadilly in 1801, to No.189–190; the site of the first shop was cleared in 1810 for the Egyptian Hall to be built. The second shop had a numbering change to 187, in 1820. It still trades today from the same address, and Hatchard's portrait can be seen on the staircase of the shop. It was founded with a collection of merchandise bought from Simon Vandenbergh, a bookseller of ...
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The History Of The Decline And Fall Of The Roman Empire
''The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'' is a six-volume work by the English historian Edward Gibbon. It traces Western civilization (as well as the Islamic and Mongolian conquests) from the height of the Roman Empire to the fall of Byzantium in the fifteenth century. Volume I was published in 1776 and went through six printings. Volumes II and III were published in 1781; volumes IV, V, and VI in 1788–1789.The original volumes were published in quarto sections, a common publishing practice of the time. The six volumes cover the history, from 98 to 1590, of the Roman Empire, the history of early Christianity and then of the Roman State Church, and the history of Europe, and discusses the decline of the Roman Empire among other things. Thesis Gibbon offers an explanation for the fall of the Roman Empire, a task made difficult by a lack of comprehensive written sources, though he was not the only historian to attempt it. According to Gi ...
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Edward Gibbon
Edward Gibbon (; 8 May 173716 January 1794) was an English historian, writer, and member of parliament. His most important work, '' The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'', published in six volumes between 1776 and 1788, is known for the quality and irony of its prose, its use of primary sources, and its polemical criticism of organised religion. Early life: 1737–1752 Edward Gibbon was born in 1737, the son of Edward and Judith Gibbon at Lime Grove, in the town of Putney, Surrey. He had six siblings, five brothers and one sister, all of whom died in infancy. His grandfather, also named Edward, had lost his assets as a result of the South Sea bubble stock-market collapse in 1720 but eventually regained much of his wealth. Gibbon's father was thus able to inherit a substantial estate. One of his grandmothers, Catherine Acton, descended from Sir Walter Acton, 2nd Baronet. As a youth, Gibbon's health was under constant threat. He described himself as "a ...
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El Cid (film)
''El Cid'' is a 1961 epic historical drama film directed by Anthony Mann and produced by Samuel Bronston. The film is loosely based on the life of the 11th-century Castilian warlord Rodrigo Díaz de Vivar, called "El Cid" (from the Arabic as-sidi, meaning "The Lord"). The film stars Charlton Heston in the title role and Sophia Loren as Doña Ximena. The screenplay is credited to Fredric M. Frank, Philip Yordan and Ben Barzman, with uncredited contributions by Bernard Gordon. ''El Cid'' premiered on December 6, 1961 at the Metropole Theatre in London, and was released on December 14 in the United States. The film received largely positive reviews praising the performances of Heston and Loren, the cinematography, and the musical score. It went on to gross $26.6 million during its initial theatrical run. It was nominated for three Academy Awards for Best Art Direction, Best Music Score of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture, and Best Original Song. Plot General Ben Yusuf of the ...
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Drama Film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-genre, macro-genre, or micro-genre, such as soap opera, police crime drama, political drama, legal drama, historical drama, domestic drama, teen drama, and comedy-drama (dramedy). These terms tend to indicate a particular setting or subject-matter, or else they qualify the otherwise serious tone of a drama with elements that encourage a broader range of moods. To these ends, a primary element in a drama is the occurrence of conflict—emotional, social, or otherwise—and its resolution in the course of the storyline. All forms of cinema or television that involve fictional stories are forms of drama in the broader sense if their storytelling is achieved by means of actors who represent ( mimesis) characters. In this broader s ...
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Historical
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well as the memory, discovery, collection, organization, presentation, and interpretation of these events. Historians seek knowledge of the past using historical sources such as written documents, oral accounts, art and material artifacts, and ecological markers. History is not complete and still has debatable mysteries. History is also an Discipline (academia), academic discipline which uses narrative to describe, examine, question, and analyze past events, and investigate their patterns of cause and effect. Historians often debate which narrative best explains an event, as well as the significance of different causes and effects. Historians also debate the historiography, nature of history as an end in ...
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