''Sheba and the Gladiator'' ( it, Nel Segno di Roma) is a 1959

historical drama film A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and sw ...

loosely pertaining to the

Palmyrene Empire The Palmyrene Empire was a short-lived breakaway state from the Roman Empire resulting from the Crisis of the Third Century. Named after its capital city, Palmyra, it encompassed the Roman provinces of Syria Palaestina, Arabia Petraea, and Egypt, ...

and its re-annexation back into the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Mediter ...

Cast

Anita Ekberg Kerstin Anita Marianne Ekberg (; 29 September 193111 January 2015) was a Swedish actress active in American and European films, known for her beauty and stunning figure. She became prominent in her iconic role as Sylvia in the Federico Fellini ...

Zenobia Septimia Zenobia ( Palmyrene Aramaic: , , vocalized as ; AD 240 – c. 274) was a third-century queen of the Palmyrene Empire in Syria. Many legends surround her ancestry; she was probably not a commoner and she married the ruler of the city ...

Georges Marchal Georges Marchal (10 January 1920 – 28 November 1997) was a French actor. Born Georges Louis Lucot in Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, France, the strikingly handsome Marchal was discovered in the early-1940s by director Jean Grémillon. By the ear ...

as Consul Marcus Valerius *

Folco Lulli Folco Lulli (3 July 1912 – 23 May 1970) was an Italian partisan and film actor. He appeared in more than 100 films between 1946 and 1970. He was the brother of actor Piero Lulli. Selected filmography * ''How I Lost the War'' (1947) * ' ...

as Zemanzius * Chelo Alonso as Erica *

Gino Cervi Luigi Cervi (3 May 1901 – 3 January 1974), better known as Gino Cervi (), was an Italian actor. He was best known for portraying Peppone in a series of comedies based on the character ''Don Camillo'' (1952-1965), and police detective Jules ...

as Aurelian *

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 Julianus * Lorella De Luca as Batsheba *

Alberto Farnese Alberto Farnese (3 June 1926 – 2 June 1996) was an Italian actor. He appeared in more than 80 films and television shows between 1951 and 1989. He starred in the film ''Whom God Forgives'', which won the Silver Bear Extraordinary Prize of ...

as Marcello *

Mimmo Palmara Domenico "Mimmo" Palmara (25 July 1928 – 10 June 2016) was an Italian actor. Biography Born in Cagliari, Palmara made his film debut in 1952 as a character actor in drama films by eminent directors such as Luchino Visconti, Mario Monicelli and ...

as Lator

Production

''Sheba the Gladiator'' was shot in 1958. Director

Guido Brignone Guido Brignone (6 December 1886 – 6 March 1959) was an Italian film director and actor. He was the father of actress Lilla Brignone and younger brother of actress Mercedes Brignone. Brignone was born in Milan, Italy. He was the first Italian ...

fell ill during the production on the film leading to two other directors to enter the production to help complete it: Michelangelo Antonioni and

Riccardo Freda Riccardo Freda (24 February 1909 – 20 December 1999) was an Italian film director. He worked in a variety of genres, including sword-and-sandal, horror, ''giallo'' and spy films. Freda began directing '' I Vampiri'' in 1956. The film became ...

. For Antonioni, he visited Brignone in the hospital and reported on what he filmed and received instructions for the next day. Freda was in charge shooting the battle scenes which he did with cinematographer

Mario Bava Mario Bava (31 July 1914 – 27 April 1980) was an Italian filmmaker who worked variously as a director, cinematographer, special effects artist and screenwriter, frequently referred to as the "Master of Italian Horror" and the "Master of the M ...

and Antonioni working with cinematographer Luciano Trasatti shooting the indoor scenes. Other people credited to the film included Sergio Leone as a screenwriter.

commented that Antonioni "couldn't care less" about the film and "didn't direct the actors." Freda had an argument with Palmara and unsuccessfully tried to court Chelo Alonso on set.

Release

''Sheba and the Gladiator'' was distributed in Italy on March 5, 1959. It was released in West Germany as ''Im Zeichen Roms'' on 2 October 1959.

American International Pictures American International Pictures (AIP) is an American motion picture production label of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. In its original operating period, AIP was an independent film production and distribution company known for producing and releasing fi ...

acquired the American rights to the film and re-titled it ''Sign of the Gladiator'' (''Sign of Rome'' "was a pretty dismal title" according to Samuel Z. Arkoff) and cut 18 minutes from the original running time. There was no gladiator in the film so they redubbed it to change the general played by Jacques Sernas into a gladiator. It was released in September 1959 in the United States. American International Pictures added an end title song called "Xenobia" sung by Bill Lee which was released on AIP Records. The film grossed a total of $1.25 million in rentals."Rental Potentials of 1960", ''Variety'', 4 January 1961 p 47. Please note figures are rentals as opposed to total gross. "We did quite well with the picture" said

Samuel Z Arkoff Samuel Zachary Arkoff (June 12, 1918 – September 16, 2001) was an American producer of B movies. Life and career Arkoff was born in Fort Dodge, Iowa, to Russian Jewish parents. He was the son of Helen (Lurie) and Louis Arkoff, who ran his ...

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* 1959 films 1950s historical films Peplum films French historical drama films West German films German historical drama films Yugoslav historical drama films Films directed by Guido Brignone Films with screenplays by Sergio Leone Films set in ancient Rome Films set in the Roman Empire Films set in the 3rd century Films set in classical antiquity American International Pictures films Films scored by Angelo Francesco Lavagnino Sword and sandal films Cultural depictions of Aurelian 1950s Italian films 1950s German films {{1950s-Italy-film-stub