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Rating:  - More accurate than Hollywood megabucks movies!
I'm a picky sort of person. If I see something historically incorrect in a movie then I complain - aloud. There was very little to complain about in this film. For example, Hollywood will INSIST on showing horsemen of this period using modern stirrups whereas these were not known until a bit later (horsemen on the later FEL TEMP REPARATIO coins of Antioch are shown using a rudimentary stirrup). But this film shows the riders are they were - no stirrups. Also the cuirasses of the emperors and caesars are exactly that - cuirasses (= made of LEATHER and not of Hollywood's beloved, shiny chrome which looks like it could be part of some US glam car)..
And all this rubbish which Hollywood spreads, about C. making his troops paint their shields with a chi-rho (something which is not documented anywhere in historical papers)? Not in this film, they don't.
Lots of other similar examples of historical accuracy and obviously directed or written or produced or whatever by someone who knew his onions (well, not exactly, because the Romans didn't know about onions)
Well done that man !
Rating:  - Strong Plot Weakened by Blotchy DVD
In CONSTANTINE AND THE CROSS director Lionello de Felice brings to the screen a period of time in Western history that is much misunderstood and even less recognized in history texts. The Roman Empire in the early 300s was a strange and unwieldy quilt of multi emperors all of whom ruled various subsets of what had once been a unified empire. There was an emperor for the Eastern provinces and another for the western. And in both there was a sort of junior emperor called a caesar. Cornell Wilde is Constantine, son of one of these caesars. His father is killed in battle, and Constantine is soon elevated to the emperorship as a result of a smashing victory over a barbarian army. The film is historically accurate in many areas, but suffers from an inexcusably poor job of transferral to DVD which includes blotches and blips aplenty. De Felice captures the historical sweep of events that must have seemed confusing even to contemporaries but due to a deft hand behind the camera never manages to lose the interest of the viewer.
Wilde begins the film as a hothead, who seems to be unwilling to heed the advice of his caesar father. As event follows event, we can see his slow maturation on several levels. As he moves to Rome to get embroiled in the power struggle that will later elevate him to emperor, Wilde becomes more astute as one who gets on the job practice as a young emperor to be. He meets and later marries Fausta, fetchingly played by Belinda Lee, who in real life died in a car accident just a few months before the film was released. Fausta is a woman who is torn between her love for Constantine and her knowledge that her brother and he must soon collide in a lethal duel for the crown. The film has several dramatic highlights. The much discussed scene of the moon morphing into a cross stands out. Further, De Felice had to stretch a tight budget so that a few hundred extras could sub for the tens of thousands that were seen in other films like Ben Hur and Spartacus. The film does not mention that in real life Constantine executed Fausta for fear that she had cuckolded him with a son from a prior marriage. The historical Constantine is mostly remembered as the first Roman emperor who made Christianity as the empire's official religion. Wilde is convincing as a ruler who slowly comes to value acknowledging a faith that places peace over mindless war. CONSTANTINE AND THE CROSS is one of those rare films that entertains even as it instructs. It succeeds well enough for one to overlook the admitted flaws. Recommended
Rating: - For anyone enjoying biblical drama, fact or fiction> It is worth watching.
I am not an expert on movies, but I do enjoy most biblical dramas. A long time ago, I recorded this movie off TV; (not a very good recording), so I was very thrilled to find that it is availlable on DVD. When it arrived in the mail, I sat down to watch it right away. I was surprised at the poor quality of this reproduction. The colours are kind of pale and keep fading in it out. However, I did enjoy the story and it is still watchable. Hopefully, some day they will release a better reproduction of this movie. Be aware of low priced DVD's, I will be in the future.
Rating: - It is a movie about discovery and acceptance
Most of the movie centers around political intrigue between Constantine and those in Rome who want to usurp his power and prestige. There is a good amount of Roman battle scenes (Civil war). A very small part of the movie is also taken up fighting the barbarians.
However, it is a good example of just what Christian Martyrs by the tens of thousands had to endure (death) before Constantine came on the scene. Some here say that it is not factual. Yet evidence from antiquity is strong that Constantine did have a conversion due to divine intervention. He was alone among emperors to fight for religious freedom. Constantine did not convert immediately after seeing the cross in the sky. But the stage was set. His mother (Helena/to Catholics: St Helena) is portrayed very well in this movie.
In this movie, I was glad to see that we see in the Christians of the time, a sincere, unwavering love for Christ. How else could they go so willingly to their deaths.
At such a very small price for this fully restored and digitally enhanced film, you just can't go wrong.
Rating: - Elaborate Italian Sword And Sandal Epic A Cut Above The Rest
The Roman Emperor Constantine who was responsible for making Christianity the official religion of the previously pagan Roman Empire has strangely enough been rarely the subject of movies set in Roman times. While this early 1960's Italian produced epic does play around heavily with historical fact, in particular with the details of Constantine's personal life and character, it does however make an earnest attempt to retell many of the significant historical moments in the period of Constantine's battle to become sole emperor of the crumbling Roman Empire in the 4th century A.D. For this kind of production which enjoyed great popularity in the early 1960's "Constantine and the Cross", is an elaborate entry and benefits from the presense of American actor Cornel Wilde who takes the lead roel of Constantine and does bear a good resemblance to the Emperor from the statues preserved from his time. Despite having to act many fictional events Wilde does an excellent job in the lead and manages to combine well with the Italian cast who make up all the supporting roles
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