''Duel of Champions'' (Italian: ''Orazi e Curiazi'') is a 1961 film about the

Roman legend Roman mythology is the body of myths of ancient Rome as represented in the literature and visual arts of the Romans. One of a wide variety of genres of Roman folklore, ''Roman mythology'' may also refer to the modern study of these represen ...

of the Horatii, triplet brothers from Rome who fought a duel against the Curiatii, triplet brothers from Alba Longa in order to determine the outcome of a war between their two nations. This film was directed by

Ferdinando Baldi Ferdinando Baldi (19 May 1917 – 12 September 2007) was an Italian film director and screenwriter. Biography Baldi was born in Cava de' Tirreni, Salerno, on 19 May 1917. His early film work began in Italy in the early 1950s with films s ...

and Terence Young. The screenplay was written by Ennio De Concini,

Carlo Lizzani Carlo Lizzani (3 April 1922 – 5 October 2013) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and critic. Biography Born in Rome, before World War II Lizzani worked as a scenarist on such films as Roberto Rossellini's '' Germany Year Zero' ...

Giuliano Montaldo Giuliano Montaldo (born 22 February 1930) is an Italian film director. Biography While he was still a young student, Montaldo was recruited by the director Carlo Lizzani for the role of leading actor in the film '' Achtung! Banditi!'' (1951). ...

and Luciano Vincenzoni. It was shot at the

Cinecittà Studios Cinecittà Studios (; Italian for Cinema City Studios), is a large film studio in Rome, Italy. With an area of 400,000 square metres (99 acres), it is the largest film studio in Europe, and is considered the hub of Italian cinema. The studios we ...

in Rome.

Plot

During the period prior to the unification of Alba and Rome, the legendary Roman hero Horatius leads his troops against the forces of Alba in the region of Tullus Hostilius. He is wounded and taken prisoner but escapes and hides in the hills. The king of Rome, believing Horatio to have been a coward, announces the engagement of his daughter Marcia to Horatio's brother Marcus, whom he names his heir. Both Alba and Rome are anxious to find a peace. After consulting an oracle, the two kings decide that three brothers from each side should compete in a fight to the death, the winning side to dominate in the unification of the two kingdoms. Horatio comes back to Rome, but finding his name dishonored and Marcia married, he returns to the hills. On the day of the contest, however, he comes to fight alongside his two brothers. Both are killed. Horatio continues the fight alone and kills the three Alban brothers, including Curiazio, who was the lover of Horatio's sister, Horatia. She stabs herself to death. Horatio is now free to marry Marcia.

Cast

* Alan Ladd as Horatius * Franca Bettoia as Marcia *

Franco Fabrizi Franco Fabrizi (; 15 February 1916 – 18 October 1995) was an Italian actor. Life and career Son of a barber and a cinema cashier, Franco Fabrizi started his career as a model and an actor in fotoromanzi. Fabrizi also starred on several revu ...

as Curiatius * Robert Keith as Tullus Hostilius *Jacqueline Derval as Horatia * Luciano Marin as Eli *

Andrea Aureli Andrea Aureli (5 March 1923 – 5 November 2007) was an Italian actor. Life and career Born in Terni, Aureli graduated from the Liceo classico in his hometown, then he enrolled the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome, graduating in ...

Gaius Cluilius Gaius Cluilius was the king of Alba Longa during the reign of the Roman king Tullus Hostilius in the mid seventh century BC. Alba Longa was an ancient city of Latium in central Italy southeast of Rome. He constructed the Cluilian trench, sometimes ...

Mino Doro Mino Doro (6 May 1903 – 13 April 1992) was an Italian actor who appeared in more than a hundred films between 1932 and 1970. Doro generally played supporting and character roles. He appeared as a blackshirt in the 1934 Fascist propaganda fi ...

as Caius *Osvaldo Ruggieri as Warrior of Alba *

Jacques Sernas Jokūbas Bernardas Šernas (30 July 1925 – 3 July 2015), commonly known as Jacques Sernas and sometimes credited as Jack Sernas, was a Lithuanian-born French actor with an international film career. Biography He was born in Kaunas, Lithuania, ...

as Marcus

Production

Tiberia Films had to cooperate with

Lux Film Lux Film was an Italian film distribution (and later production) company founded by Riccardo Gualino in 1934. Gualino was an anti-fascist businessman who had clashed with the regime of Mussolini in 1931 and had been forced into internal exile on ...

in order to finance the venture. Lux were making a number of movies aimed at the international market around this time, others including '' The Tartars'', '' The Thief of Bagdad'', and '' The Wonders of Aladdin''. The film was originally called ''Horatio'' and was also known as ''Ojario'' and ''The Gladiator of Rome''. Shooting took place in Yugoslavia and Rome. Ladd walked off the set after 11 weeks of filming because he had not been paid. When his salary was guaranteed he resumed filming. "My advice to any American actor making a film abroad is to develop his own foreign policy beforehand", said Ladd. "My own, for the future, will be 'Speak softly, but carry an iron contract'."

Bibliography

References

External links

* *
Complete copy of film
at

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...