Rated 4 out of 5 This is one of Stanley Kubrick’s masterpieces, but he rejected the film

Stanley Kubrick, who died at the age of 70, made only thirteen feature films in his fifty-year career. From melodrama (Eyes Wide Shut) to science fiction (2001: A Space Odyssey) to horror (The Shining), from comedy (Doctor Strangelove) to war films (Paths of Glory and Full Metal Jacket) or period (Barry Lyndon), Stanley Kubrick offered each genre an undisputed seventh art. jewelry.

We can happily add the peplum genre to this short but brilliant filmography with an absolute classic of the genre: Spartacus. However, the master was not satisfied with this film. So much so that he even denied itBecause he had almost no control over this production, of which he was absolutely not at the head.

An experience and disappointment that would weigh heavily on his career, as Kubrick was known as one of the most demanding filmmakers, insisting on controlling absolutely everything, down to the smallest detail.

A project that got off to a bad start

Based on the novel written by Howard Fast, the script of the film was first assigned to this author. qualified as “True Disaster” With Kirk Douglas producing the film, the script quickly fell into the hands of Dalton Trumbo. Still on McCarthy’s infamous anti-communist “blacklist,” Trumbo was forced to work under the pseudonym Sam Jackson during the production of Spartacus. As Douglas himself explained, The desire to hire Trumbo was a purely political choice.

The choice of the director also created a problem. After considering Martin Ritt and David Lean, Universal decided to hire veteran director Anthony Mann. Between the shooting schedule being delayed, the almost useless rush and the actors struggling to keep up, Manny seems to be completely overwhelmed with the project.

He is then thrown out of the film by Douglas, who goes to find Stanley Kubrick, then 30 years old. He really enjoyed working with him Paths of Famewhich was produced by the actor.

This was the first and last time Kubrick agreed to work on a film over which he had no creative control. He had already clashed with Dalton Trumbo, who controlled the script and with whom he often clashed over characters. Kubrick also regularly clashed with cinematographer Russell Matt, who could not get his work done properly under Kubrick’s intrusive perfectionism. Ironically, Matty won an Oscar for his fabulous photography; One of four the film won at the 1961 ceremony.

Censorship sets in, the church gets involved

Even Spartak, with its rocky production, became a victim of censorship. Already demanding cuts from Universal, in the face of Ed Mull, especially those involving political intrigue at the heart of the Roman Empire. In fact, the entire political subtext was toned down, much to the dismay of Kubrick, Trumbo and Douglas.

If the relationship between the three was tumultuous on set, they still agreed that the cut slowed down the film. This was not the only one, as the battle sequence was also overlooked, for example, important Metaponto.

The National Legion of Decency, a pressure group created by representatives of the Catholic Church in the United States in 1933, joined the dance. The goal of this conservative organization? Clean up the cinematic productions that allegedly had a bad influence on the population in general and children in particular…

At his request, Universal toned down the film’s graphic violence (blood), but also censored the famous bath scene between Crassus (Laurence Olivier) and Tony Curtis, who plays his slave Antoninus, whose exchange actually leads to bisexuality. characters.

In the restored version of the film, supervised by Robert Harris, released in 1991, some of these cuts, lasting 23 minutes, were restored, including the bathroom scene. But other sequences are missing, such as passages featuring the character of Gracchus (Charles Laughton), who at the time of the film’s release had already threatened Kirk Douglas with a lawsuit when he discovered his character had been brutally cut from the planned assembly. A threat he won’t follow through on.

However, this restored version of Spartacus never benefited from the label Director’s Cut; Kubrick never returned to it to convey his vision. Even if the master disowned the work, it remains an absolute classic and was a huge success upon its release. In 1998, the American Film Institute ranked it 81st List of his 100 best movies From the history of American cinema.