Subgenre Sampler

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Samson and Delilah (1984): Dir. Lee Philips
Feat. Antony Hamilton, Belinda Bauer, Max von Sydow…; Made–for–TV Old Testament epic centred on the classic Biblical tale of power, persuasion, and love between a Hebrew strongman and a…
Gandhi (1982): Dir. Richard Attenborough
Feat. Ben Kingsley, Candice Bergen, Edward Fox…; Epic retelling of the life of the inspirational Indian leader with Ben Kingsley as 'The Mahatma'. Won eight Academy Awards including Best Picture.
Peter and Paul (1981): Dir. Robert Day
Feat. Anthony Hopkins, Robert Foxworth, Eddie Albert…; Epic account of the early spread of Christianity follows disciples Peter and Paul as they struggle against violent opposition and their own personal…
Reds (1981): Dir. Warren Beatty
Feat. Warren Beatty, Diane Keaton, Jack Nicholson; A provocative political saga about an American journalist's involvement with communism, the Russian revolution and the love of a like–minded…
Kidnapped (1971): Dir. Delbert Mann
Feat. Michael Caine, Trevor Howard, Jack Hawkins…; A dashing Michael Caine heads this ambitious adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s tales of 18th century Scotland. Grand, if ultimately unrealised…
Nicholas and Alexandra (1971): Dir. Franklin J. Schaffner
Feat. Laurence Olivier, Michael Jayston, Janet Suzman…; The last Czars of Russia get an appropriately lavish send–off in this wagon–load of Hollywood corn. With Tom Baker (as Rasputin) and…
Hawaiians, The (1970): Dir. Tom Gries
Feat. Charlton Heston, Tina Chen, Geraldine Chaplin…; Brotherly relations are strained when the black sheep returns home, plantation building and pineapple stealing ensues. Bloated sequel to HAWAII…
Patton (1970): Dir. Franklin J. Schaffner
Feat. George C. Scott, Karl Malden, Michael Bates…; George C. Scott is unnervingly convincing as the real life WW2 General with whose military convictions were indeed unnerving. Co–written by…
Waterloo (1970): Dir. Sergei Bondarchuk
Feat. Rod Steiger, Christopher Plummer, Orson Welles; Napoleonic epic from the Russian director of WAR AND PEACE is dramatically woolly, but includes superb, sprawling battle–scenes. Rod Steiger…
Anne of the Thousand Days (1969): Dir. Charles Jarrott
Feat. Richard Burton, Genevieve Bujold, Irene Papas…; Opulent recounting of the doomed romance between Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn with a gallery of fine performances and stunning costume design.
Andrei Rublev (1966): Dir. Andrei Tarkovsky
Feat. Anatoli Solonitsyn, Ivan Lapikov, Nikolai Grinko; Enthralling historical drama vividly portrays the 15th Century Russian painter who was encumbered by the political turbulence of the time.
Bible, The (1966): Dir. John Huston
Feat. Richard Harris, Peter O'Toole, John Huston…; A sincere, if not entirely successful, attempt to transpose the Old Testament to the screen – from Adam to Isaac. Appropriately grand and…
Khartoum (1966): Dir. Basil Dearden
Feat. Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Charlton Heston…; Lavishly mounted biopic of General Gordon's defeat by Arab tribesmen in 1833.
War and Peace (1966): Dir. Sergei Bondarchuk
Feat. Lyudmila Savelyeva, Vyacheslav Tikhonov, Irina Gubanova; The definitive version of Leo Tolstoy's gargantuan novel, set during the Napoleonic invasion of Russia in the early 19th century. Nothing else quite…
Agony and the Ecstasy, The (1965): Dir. Carol Reed
Feat. Charlton Heston, Rex Harrison, Diane Cilento; Hollywood portrait of Michelangelo's struggle to paint the Sistine Chapel under the patronage of belligerent Pope Julius II. Rex Harrison fares…
Doctor Zhivago (1965): Dir. David Lean
Feat. Geraldine Chaplin, Julie Christie, Omar Sharif; Omar Sharif plays the Russian doctor exiled for writing poetry during WW1, and separated from his only love. Complex, beautifully conceived epic will…
Greatest Story Ever Told, The (1965): Dir. George Stevens
Feat. Max von Sydow, Dorothy McGuire, Robert Loggia…; Not the greatest movie ever made, however one might get a kick out of spotting all the famous faces in this reverant, picturesque epic about the life…
Lord Jim (1965): Dir. Richard Brooks
Feat. Peter O'Toole, James Mason, Jack Hawkins…
War Lord, The (1965): Dir. Franklin J. Schaffner
Feat. Charlton Heston, Richard Boone, Rosemary Forsyth…; Charlton Heston stars in this muscular historical adventure as an honoured knight who takes over a castle tower in the swampland of Normandy.…
Becket (1964): Dir. Peter Glenville
Feat. Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole, John Gielgud…; Stinging, fact–based epic turns the trusted relationship between King Henry II (O’Toole) and his best friend, the Archbishop of Canterbury…
Fall of the Roman Empire (1964): Dir. Anthony Mann
Feat. Alec Guinness, Sophia Loren, James Mason…; Monumental event is given a proportionate treatment with sets reputed to be the largest ever built and a literate script to boot.
Zorba the Greek (1964): Dir. Michael Cacoyannis
Feat. Anthony Quinn, Alan Bates, Irene Papas; Keynote role for Anthony Quinn as the title–character of Nikos Kazantzakis' novel, a bawdy, womanising,…
55 Days at Peking (1963): Dir. Nicholas Ray
Feat. Charlton Heston, David Niven, Ava Gardner; Set in the turmoil of 1900 China, during the Boxer Rebellion, this splashy Hollywood epic succeeds on the strength of its stylish visuals and…
Cleopatra (1963): Dir. Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Feat. Rex Harrison, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton; Magnificent sets and Rex Harrison's dynamic Caesar are the saving graces of this, Hollywood's most extravagant turkey. Both Liz Taylor and Richard…
Kings of the Sun (1963): Dir. J. Lee Thompson
Feat. Yul Brynner, George Chakiris, Shirley Anne Field…; Rollicking tribal adventure has a Mayan tribe searching for new homelands while being pursued by vengeful Indians.The athletic Brynner dominates…
300 Spartans, The (1962): Dir. Rudolph Mate
Feat. Richard Egan, Ralph Richardson, Diane Baker; Richard Egan leads the hardened best of Sparta into the famous battle at Thermapayle between the Greek and Persian empires in in the 5th century…
Barabbas (1962): Dir. Richard Fleischer
Feat. Anthony Quinn, Jack Palance, Arthur Kennedy…; Lavish, literate and thrilling by equal measure, this Hollywood Roman speculation follows the wanderings of the legendary thief (Quinn) who was saved…
Lawrence of Arabia (1962): Dir. David Lean
Feat. Peter O'Toole, Alec Guinness, Anthony Quinn…; Superlative epic biography of enigmatic adventurer T.E. Lawrence played by a charismatic Peter O'Toole in his first leading role. The spectacle is…
El Cid (1961): Dir. Anthony Mann
Feat. Charlton Heston; The tale of the 11th century warrior–king who drove the Moors from Spain. By dint of its fine acting and avoidance of the obvious, this epic…
King of Kings (1961): Dir. Nicholas Ray
Feat. Jeffrey Hunter, Hurd Hatfield, Robert Ryan…; Faithful, intelligent telling of the life of Christ, with Jeffrey Hunter in the robes of JC, benefits from a lesser–known cast. Orson Welles…
Samson (Sansome) (1961): Dir. Gianfranco Parolini
Feat. Brad Harris, Serge Gainsbourg, Irena Prosen; Pioneering film in "sword and sandal" genre about Samson, the character from the Hebrew bible who joins Queen Mila and a rebel army to take back the…
Esther and the King (1960): Dir. Raoul Walsh, Mario Bava
Feat. Joan Collins, Richard Egan, Denis O'Dea…; The Book of Esther is retold in this minor Biblical epic, with Joan Collins as a Jewish girl saves her people from a pogrom launched by the evil…
Exodus (1960): Dir. Otto Preminger
Feat. Paul Newman, Eva Marie Saint, Sal Mineo; Paul Newman stars in this epic adaptation of Leon Uris' novel about the founding of modern Israel and the plight of the Palestinians. Ernest Gold won…
Gladiators 7 / The Giant of Marathon (1960-1962): Dir. Pedro Lazaga, Jacques Tourneur, Mario Bava
Feat. Steve Reeves, Mylene Demongeot, Gerard Tichy; Two dubbed 'spaghetti epics' from the heyday of the early 1960s: Gladiators 7 (1962) Directed by Pedro Lazaga – A Greek riff on THE…
Rocco and His Brothers (1960): Dir. Luchino Visconti
Feat. Alain Delon, Renato Salvatori, Annie Girardot…; An uncompromising, richly detailed portrait of an impoverished family who travel to Milan where they are beset by violent misfortune.
Spartacus (1960): Dir. Stanley Kubrick
Feat. Kirk Douglas, Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton…; First–rate epic details the revolt of the ancient Roman slaves as led by Kirk Douglas in the title role. Production spares little expense but…
Ben-Hur (1959): Dir. William Wyler
Feat. Charlton Heston, Jack Hawkins, Stephen Boyd; Spectacular production of the Jews plight against the Roman empire, complete with landmark chariot race, awesome sea battle and a cast of thousands…
Hannibal (1959): Dir. Edgar G. Ulmer
Feat. Victor Mature, Gabriele Ferzetti, Rik Battaglia…; Virile extravaganza recounts the journey of Cathiginian general Hannibal as he marches on Rome in a war of revenge. Brilliant direction from…
Last Days of Pompeii / City of Metropolis (1959-1961): Dir. Mario Bonnard, Umberto Scarpelli
Feat. Steve Reeves, Christine Kaufmann, Fernando Rey; Two dubbed 'spaghetti epics' from the heyday of the 1950s and 1960s: The Last Days of Pompeii (1959) Directed by Mario Bonnard –…
Solomon and Sheba (1959): Dir. King Vidor
Feat. Yul Brynner, Gina Lollobrigida; Colourful biblical epic with Yul Brynner and Gina Lollobrigida as the noble rulers of Israel.
Night to Remember, A (1958): Dir. Roy Ward Baker
Feat. Kenneth More, Ronald Allen, Robert Ayres…; Vivid re–enactment of events that led to the sinking of the Titanic, with careful attention payed to the human drama. Kenneth More leads a…
Raintree County (1957): Dir. Edward Dmytryk
Feat. Elizabeth Taylor, Montgomery Clift, Eva Marie Saint…; Civil War set romance has Montgomery Clift as a schoolteacher whojoins the Union Army as they march into Georgia in the hope of finding his estranged…
Alexander the Great (1956): Dir. Robert Rossen
Feat. Richard Burton, Fredric March, Claire Bloom; Earnest epic follows the life and early death of the Greek warrior who conquered the entire known world. This seismic production has Richard Burton…
Giant (1956): Dir. George Stevens
Feat. James Dean, Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor; A beautifully conceived saga of life on a Texas cattle ranch told through two generations. James Dean's final performance.
Helen of Troy (1956): Dir. Robert Wise
Feat. Rossana Podesta, Sir Cedric Hardwicke, Niall MacGinnis…; Homer's epic of the Trojan War is treated with Hollywood gloves in this above–average adaptation. Centering around the the ambiguous figure of…
Ten Commandments, The (1956): Dir. Cecil B. DeMille
Feat. Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter…; The director remakes his 1923 silent epic with improved results and Charlton Heston as Moses, who battles the odds to lead the Israelites to the…
War and Peace (1956): Dir. King Vidor
Feat. Audrey Hepburn, Henry Fonda; In treating Tolstoy's literary sprawl, Hollywood pinned its hopes on a high–profile cast and extravagant battle sequences to redeem a…
Land of the Pharaohs (1955): Dir. Howard Hawks
Feat. Jack Hawkins, Joan Collins, Dewey Martin; High–camp spectacle about treachery in ancient Egypt during the building of the great Pyramid has procured something of a cult following, with…
Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954): Dir. Delmer Daves
Feat. Victor Mature; Efficient sequel to THE ROBE follows Demetrius, the Greek slave (Victor Mature), to Rome where he is trained as a gladiator. Rousing combat sequences.
Egyptian, The (1954): Dir. Michael Curtiz
Feat. Jean Simmons, Victor Mature, Edmund Purdom…; Epic "CinemaScope" drama set in ancient Egypt where a poor orphan becomes a genial physician and is eventually appointed at the Pharaoh's court where…
Prince Valiant (1954): Dir. Henry Hathaway
Feat. James Mason, Janet Leigh, Robert Wagner…; Star studded tale of a young Viking prince striving to become a knight in King Arthur's Court and restore his exiled father to his rightful throne.
Sansho Dayu (Sansho the Bailiff) (1954): Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
Feat. Kinuyo Tanaka, Yoshiaki Hanayagi, Kyoko Kagawa…; One of Mizoguchi's great classics, based on an 11th century Japanese folktale elaborated into a sprawling vision of a cruel, mysterious cosmos, where…
Seven Samurai, The (1954): Dir. Akira Kurosawa
Feat. Takashi Shimura, Toshiro Mifune; Kurosawa's classic 'Eastern Western' about a village who hire an elite band of warriors to fend off marauders. Compassionate storytelling with combat…
Ulysses (1954): Dir. Mario Camerini
Feat. Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Silvana Mangano…; Kirk Douglas muscles his way home in this admittedly pretty, but vacant, adaptation of Homer's Odyssey. Anthony Quinn is gets all the best lines, but…
Robe, The (1953): Dir. Henry Koster
Feat. Richard Burton; Richard Burton acquires Jesus' robe after supervising his crucifixion and becomes wreaked with fear and guilt. A lavish biblical epic, the first film…
Salome (1953): Dir. William Dieterle
Feat. Rita Hayworth, Stewart Granger, Charles Laughton…; Biblical epic loaded with Hollywood opulence and famed for its erotic dance sequence by Rita Hayworth. The star plays Jewish Princess Salome who…
Greatest Show On Earth, The (1952): Dir. Cecil B. DeMille
Feat. James Stewart, Charlton Heston; Roll up for an Oscar–winning spectacle from Hollywood's greatest showmeister. The big–top excitement features a tent–load of stars.
David and Bathsheba (1951): Dir. Henry King
Feat. Gregory Peck, Susan Hayward, Raymond Massey…; The Hollywood romance as Biblical epic, with Gregory Peck as an adulterous King David who falls for the foxy Bathsheba (Hayward) – nevermind…
Quo Vadis? (1951): Dir. Mervyn LeRoy
Feat. Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Peter Ustinov…; Lavish Roman epic, set during the decadent reign of Nero, has legionnaire Robert Taylor falling for lion–bait Christian Deborah Kerr, amid…
Green Dolphin Street (1947): Dir. Victor Saville
Feat. Lana Turner, Van Heflin, Donna Reed…; One of the biggest box office hits of its time, this sweeping colonial melodrama of unrequited lovers who migrate to Aotearoa in the 1850s has dated…
Caesar and Cleopatra (1945): Dir. Gabriel Pascal
Feat. Vivien Leigh, Stewart Granger, Claude Rains…; The oft–told tale of the First Roman Emperor and the Queen of Egpyt, here adapted from George Bernard Shaw's play. Stagey filming is offset by…
Ivan the Terrible Pts. 1 & 2 (1943): Dir. Sergei Eisenstein
Feat. Nikolai Cherkassov, Serafima Birman, Lyudmila Tselikovskaya; Spectacularly staged chronicle of the life of Czar Ivan IV, and his struggle to consolidate the Russian empire in the 16th Century. One of the…
Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The (1943): Dir. Michael Powell, Emeric Pressburger
Feat. Roger Livesey, Deborah Kerr, Anton Walbrook; The numerous off–beat adventures of a British soldier are chronicled over a period of three wars, with Deborah Kerr playing all three of the…
Arabian Nights (1942): Dir. John Rawlins
Feat. Jon Hall, Maria Montez, Sabu…; Lavish sets and costumes distinguish this story of two brothers competing for the throne of Turkey and the hand of the fiery dancing girl played by…
Loyal 47 Ronin, The (47 Ronin) (1941): Dir. Kenji Mizoguchi
Feat. Yoshizaburo Arashi; Sombre rendition of a famous Japanese legend that's both quietly dignified and overtly nationalistic, tooled as propaganda during the height of…
Howards Of Virginia, The (1940): Dir. Frank Lloyd
Feat. Cary Grant, Martha Scott, Sir Cedric Hardwicke; Cary Grant rather bumbles through this melodrama set during the American Revolution, playing a rugged surveyor who marries aristocrat and royalist…
Beau Geste (1939): Dir. William A. Wellman
Feat. Gary Cooper, Ray Milland, Robert Preston…; Classic Hollywood gallantry with, Gary Cooper as the eldest of three brothers who run away to join the French Foreign Legion, only to clash bayonets…
Gone with the Wind (1939): Dir. Victor Fleming, George Cukor, Sam Wood
Feat. Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh, Olivia de Havilland…; One of the greatest examples of story–telling on film, this maintains one's firm interest for nearly four hours with its romantic story, strong…
Alexander Nevsky (1938): Dir. Sergei Eisenstein
Feat. Nikolai Cherkassov, Nikolai Okhlopkov; Eisenstein's first sound film is a patriotic epic about the 13th century hero who led his people against the Teutonic Knights. Monumental battle…
Crusades, The (1935): Dir. Cecil B. DeMille
Feat. Loretta Young, Henry Wilcoxon; Hollywood Heavyweight Cecil B. DeMille Directs this overblown spectacle that differs vastly from it's grisly historical origins.
Les Miserables (1935): Dir. Richard Boleslawski
Feat. Fredric March, Charles Laughton; Most faithful of the numerous film versions of Victor Hugo's novel, chronicling the lifelong harassment of reformed petty thief Ferric March by the…
Cleopatra (1934): Dir. Cecil B. DeMille
Feat. Claudette Colbert, Warren William; Claudette Colbert stars as the sultry Roman Empress in this baroque De Mille version. Most noted for the lavish barge scene and some startling action…
Tarzan The Fearless / Tarzan And The Trappers (1933-1958): Dir. Charles Haas, Robert F. Hill
Feat. Larry "Buster" Crabbe, Gordon Scott; "Tarzan The Fearless" is feature film stitched together in the 1960's from the first four chapters a 12–part 1933 serial starring Buster Crabbe…
Sign of the Cross, The (1932): Dir. Cecil B. DeMille
Feat. Fredric March, Claudette Colbert, Charles Laughton…; Pre–Code Hollywood epic from director Cecil B. DeMille, based on the Wilson Barrett play of the same name. Forms a biblical trilogy with…
Storm Over Asia (Potomok Chingis-Khana) (1928): Dir. Vsevolod Pudovkin; An epic of silent Russian cinema to rival Eisenstein, this is set around a young Mongol fur–trapper who is swindled by traders and develops a…
End of St. Petersburg, The (1927): Dir. Vsevolod Pudovkin
Feat. Vera Baranovskaya, Aleksandr Chistyakov; The tensions that exploded with the 'October Revolution' in Russia, 1917 are schematised here using understated characterisations (of workers and…
Hunchback Of Notre Dame,The (1923): Dir. William Worsley
Feat. Lon Chaney; Perhaps the first classic version of Victor Hugo's novel about a hunchback who becomes lovestruck with a gypsy lass in 18th century Paris. Features…
Orphans of the Storm (1921): Dir. D.W. Griffith
Feat. Lillian Gish, Dorothy Gish, Joseph Schildkraut…; Vivid melodrama with the sisters Gish caught up in the turmoil of the French Revolution, encountering misery and love along the way.
Intolerance (1916): Dir. D.W. Griffith
Feat. Lillian Gish, Mae Marsh; Staggeringly ambitious film has a rightful place in many critic's 'all–time' lists. Its mammoth story unfolds in four parts simultaneously…
Birth of a Nation (1915): Dir. D.W. Griffith
Feat. Lillian Gish; The cinema's first major epic marked the birth of an artform – newly defining the artistic boundaries of the medium. It retains much of its…

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Subgenre Sampler