Production
The Fall of the Roman Empire was one of Samuel Bronston's superproductions in Spain, with Marcus Aurelius's winter camp on the Danube shot in snow in the Sierra de Guadarrama, northern Madrid. The 'Battle of the Four Armies' involved 8,000 soldiers including 1,200 cavalry and was shot on an undulating plain at Manzanares el Real which allowed large numbers of soldiers to be visible over a long distance. The film's reconstruction of the Roman Forum at Las Matas near Madrid, at 400 x 230 meters (1312 x 754 feet) holds the record for the largest outdoor film set. The various ancient Rome settings covered 55 acres (220,000 m2).
The film was shot in 70mm Ultra Panavision by Robert Krasker, and the historian Will Durant was engaged to advise on period detail and plot.
The film was a costly financial failure for producer Samuel Bronston who, after making such epics as John Paul Jones (1959), King of Kings (1961), El Cid (1961), and 55 Days at Peking (1963) had to stop all business activities. A bankruptcy notice in the New York Times on 6 August 1965, stated the cost of The Fall of the Roman Empire at $18,436,625. He announced his return with a planned epic about Isabella of Spain, but the film was never made.
This was one of the few Ultra Panavision 70 films not exhibited in Cinerama.
In later years, Miramax would acquire the US distribution rights to the film. After the founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein split with Miramax parent Disney, they formed the Weinstein Company, who currently owns US distribution rights.
UK distribution rights would pass to PolyGram Filmed Entertainment and subsequently Universal Studios.
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