CONSTANTINE AND THE CROSS, as in the Roman emperor Constantine, who ruled from AD 306 to 337. He was the first Empire overlord to convert to Christianity, and he ended the sect’s illegal status and persecution. He also founded Constantinople (today’s Istanbul). Which accomplishment was of more benefit to humanity is a commandment that we’ll leave for some other heathen to break. “We deal in movies, friend.”

You call yourselves Romans?”

Rome, the early 300’s. After the emperor Diocletian abdicates, a power struggle develops between war-veteran Constantine (Cornel Wilde) and conniver-in-chief Maxentius (Massimo Serato, going full sly). Their mutual dislike isn’t helped when Constantine saves a little Christian boy from the lions (single-handedly—and unconvincingly—killing one in the process) during a persecution fest Maxentius was enjoying. Both men become co-emperors, setting the stage for the big fight that finishes the cut & paste history lesson after a lot of boring, badly dubbed talk. Others involved include Constantine’s wife Fausta and ‘Livia’, a fictional Christian maiden who is among those ravaged by drunken soldiers while awaiting her date with the big hungry cats. Fausta is vamped by British sexpot Belinda Lee (dubbed), who looks more ravenous than the African felines. Livia is well done by young German-Austrian actress Christine Kaufmann (15, soon to be the female lead in the epic Taras Bulba and marry Tony Curtis. Twenty years her senior, he dumped Janet Leigh in the process. Idiot.

Eventually the intriguing, backstabbing (literal), martyr making and light-seeing wraps up with the Battle Of The Malvian Bridge in 312, one of those total wipeouts that were fashionable at the time. Like most of the sword & sandal affairs slapped together in Europe in the early 60s, it features a large number of extras, sloppily choreographed, with a noisy soundtrack of clanging, yelling, neighing and arrow whoosh noises. It looks like maybe a thousand guys are jostling around: the actual battle involved around 25,000 soldiers on each side. Some of the bits with the archers are so clumsy that you feel sorry for Wilde for taking the gig. When a centurion bellows to his phalanx (try it sometime) the exhortation”Are we ready to kill these Christian dogs?” the less devout may be inclined to answer aloud to the TV.

Filming was done in Italy and Croatia. Cornel, 48, soldiers thru manfully, keeping his dignity intact. Mario Nascimbene injects vigor and lyricism with his score; it’s the best aspect of the production. This came out in Italy in 1961, making its way to the States a year later. We could not find any box office info on it. Wilde’s next outing was another sword-swinger done in Europe, one he directed, produced, wrote and starred in, the considerably better Lancelot And Guinevere.

“Do you really think I’m doing all this to avenge our father? Hah, how naive you are. That old fool met the end he deserved. All I needed was his death to make the Senate believe this war was justified. Now Constantine will have to humble himself before me.”

Another item where a multiplicity of hands dabbled with the screenplay, including those of the credited director Lionello De Felice. Irving Rapper (Now Voyager, The Brave One) did uncredited directing. The show goes 120 minutes, and also features Fausto Tozzi, Tino Carraro and Elisa Cegani, as Helena, Constantine’s mother, later canonized as a saint.

In a tragic note, Belinda Lee, 25, was killed in a car crash two months after this movie came out. She was on the way from L.A. to Vegas, going 100 mph. A tire blew out, the car somersaulted and she was thrown sixty feet.