Gladiator's plot bears quite a few similarities with The Fall of the Roman Empire. Here, rather than Maximus the hero is Livius, who is played by Ben-hur's Messala, Stephen Boyd. Livius and Lucilla (Sophia Loren) are in love and make no secret of it, while Commodus is once again the spoiled royal son (The Sound of Music's Christopher Plummer). The story gets going with the death of Marcus Aurelius (The Bridge on the River Kwai's Alec Guinness). The film is by no means a classic, but still worth watching because of the great cast and director and its similarities to Gladiator.
Partial Cast List
Sophia Loren
Stephen Boyd
Alec Guinness
James Mason
Christopher Plummer
Anthony Quayle
John Ireland
Omar Sharif
Mel Ferrar
Andrew Keir
