Loosely based on historical events around 74 BC, Stanley Kubrick’s 1960 film epic tells the story of a slave uprising in ancient Rome, which begins in a gladiators’ school under the leadership of Thracian slave Spartacus and builds into a national movement. This social revolutionary utopia adapted from the novel by Stalin Prize winner and Communist Party member Howard Fast and filmed from a script by Dalton Trumbo was Stanley Kubrick’s breakthrough, who had replaced Anthony Mann following a dispute with leading actor and producer Kirk Douglas after just a few days of shooting. “The only film I didn’t have absolute control of” impressed with its extraordinary visual compositions and choreographed crowd scenes, as well as with its all-star cast, including Laurence Olivier, Jean Simmons, Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov and Tony Curtis. We are showing the 1991 reconstructed, uncut version. (hjf) (7. & 22.4.)
