KAMPF UM ROM (aka THE FIGHT FOR ROME [1968])

[Harvey Chartrand]

Check out KAMPF KLASSIC at Shadowplay: http://dcairns.wordpress.com/2009/12/29 ... /#comments
Orson Welles, Laurence Harvey and Honor Blackman co-starred in this "giant Euro-pudding epic about the fall of Rome."

[Harvey Chartrand]

A very detailed account of the history and production of THE LAST ROMAN (aka KAMPF UM ROM, THE FIGHT FOR ROME, THE STRUGGLE FOR ROME, etc.) – illustrated with excellent color photos and a theatrical poster – can be found at the French-language PEPLUM site: http://www.peplums.info/pep29.htm

A user comment from IMDB (reproduced below) has piqued my curiosity about this obscure, two-part epic. Could the original uncut version of KAMPF UM ROM, along with the spaghetti western TEPEPA, be one of Welles' best films from the late sixties as actor only?

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A great, underrated historical epic: not a gladiator movie, 3 March 2006

Author: Morris Vescovi from United States
Around 500 A.D., after Rome has fallen, a Roman politician, Cethegus, played by Laurence Harvey, tries to return Rome to greatness. He plays the Goth leaders, who really ruled Italy at this time, against each other. The surviving leader attacks Rome, at which point Cethegus gets military help from the Emperor Justinian (Orson Welles), while he keeps his army in reserve to take on whoever is left. Events don't quite go as he planned.

This is a complex, well-plotted film. It is no Ben-Hur, but the characters are engaging, the political intrigue is very well developed, the acting quite good (Laurence Harvey's final scene is great) and the battle scenes truly epic. In an unusual bit of casting, Michael Dunn (a dwarf) plays Justinian's general Narses and, in a great performance, steals almost every scene he is in. This is a quite good, unjustly neglected epic well worth tracking down and seeing. It was released on videotape in the late 1970s but not in widescreen which this film really needs, and Honor Blackman's topless scene was, alas, cropped to just a closeup from the neck up.

[mteal]

I believe the film is also known as the o ULTIMO ROMANO, as shown on this DVD for that other 1968 film with Welles, HOUSE OF CARDS. Maybe both films are offered on the same DVD (in which case I'll buy it), but I think they just got their titles mixed up instead.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ULTIMO-ROMANO-HOUSE ... 1149wt_907

[tonyw]

I have TEPEPA (aka BLOOD AND GUNS) on VHS.

Orson's performance is a mixture of Mr. Clay and late Marlon Brando. I think he resented that "Cuban bastard" just for one scene when he had to walk and Milian was on horseback.