Fox Home Entertainment presents

The 300 Spartans (1962)

"Spartans! We have reached Thermopylae. The orders are: from this wall, we do not retreat."- Leonidas (Richard Egan)

Stars: Richard Egan, Ralph Richardson, Diane Baker, Barry Coe, David Farrar
Other Stars: Donald Houston, Anna Synodinou, Kieron Moore
Director: Rudolph Maté

MPAA Rating: Not Rated for (Violence)
Run Time: 01h:53m:42s
Release Date: 2004-05-11
Genre: historical adventure

Style Grade	Substance Grade	Image Transfer Grade	Audio Transfer Grade	Extras Grade
B	B+	B+	C+	B+

 

DVD Review

Sword and sandal epics have always provided ample fodder for Hollywood and the genre has achieved a new resurgence because of the success of the Oscar-winning Gladiator, and soon to include the upcoming release, Troy, from Wolfgang Peterson, as well as Alexander due soon from Oliver Stone. As always with Hollywood, the attempts at historical veracity vary widely from film to film. The characters in The 300 Spartans don't have much to do with the historical people of Sparta, except that they very much reflect the white-washed version of ancient Greek history that has come to be taught in school—similar to how Socrates is taught as teaching the young men, but not as loving them. The Spartans are shown here desiring to fight for freedom, but in reality it was the enslavement of the Helots, a nearby tribe, that allowed their civilization to enjoy the "freedoms" it did.

On the other hand, this is a stirring and reasonably accurate account of a historical event that cannot be overshadowed in its importance in shaping the future of our history. No gods are swooping in and out of this story, as in the Iliad. Here, a few thousand men hold off tens of thousands of invaders from Persia. The stand of these 300 Spartans at Thermopylae in 480 B.C., against such an overwhelmingly larger force, is one of the many storied tales of a few facing desperately hopeless odds. Khe Sahn, the Alamo, the 101st Airborne in Bastogne are examples in American history of this situation. The film, Zulu, tells such a tale and nothing in war cinema is as rousing as the desperate stand for a noble cause. The Lord of the Rings trilogy hinges much of the action and drama of The Two Towers on the seemingly hopeless defense of Helm's Deep. In The 300 Spartans the noble cause is the unity and survival of Greece and ultimately western civilization as we know it. Xerxes, king of Persia, has brought his huge army to Europe to avenge the defeat of his father, Darius, by the Athenians at the battle of Marathon. David Farrar portrays the Persian king in true B-Movie epic fashion, but, at some points, he does bring an interesting aspect to the "master of the whole world" who is determined to bend the stubborn Greeks to his will.

The Greeks meet in Corinth and squabble among themselves as Themistocles tries to convince the city-states to unite to fight the invader. Athenians recall that they were able to defeat the Persians at the battle of Marathon, despite the fact that the legendary fighters, the Spartans, were unable to attend due to a religious festival. Leonidas, as one of the two kings of Sparta, declares that even though he cannot act without the authority of his people, the Spartans will fight. Richard Egan is enthusiastic and energetic as legendary hero Leonidas. His career consisted of playing leading men in action-adventure films such as The Damned Don't Cry, Untamed, and Underwater!, and he appeared in 1956's Love Me Tender as Elvis Presley's older brother. Ralph Richardson as Themistocles of Athens adds a level of acting quality that lifts this epic above the run-of-the-mill sword and sandal of the era. Long a respected stage and film actor, Richardson appeared in a string of memorable productions in the 1960s including Anna Karenina, Richard III, and Exodus.

The participation of the feared Spartans gives heart to the other Greeks to unite, but when Leonidas returns to his home, he finds that the decision is delayed by Spartans who have no interest in shedding their blood far from their home. To prove his devotion to the ideal of Greek unity and to spur his fellow Spartans to fight, Leonidas leaves with his own personal guard of 300 soldiers to create a blocking force at the pass to hold off Xerxes' army until the Athenian fleet can be brought to bear against the Persian force.

Filmed in Greece, the film benefits from beautiful locations and a sense of reality that yet another battle shot in Death Valley could not achieve. The film starts slowly, with nothing much happening in the first hour except for one sword fight in Xerxes' tent. But once the Spartans and their allies are ensconced in the pass, the action picks up quickly as Xerxes is determined to clear the way for his domination of Europe. The Persians launch a series of overwhelming attacks that are fought off with a mixture of strength, courage, and guile. The typical Hollywood melodramatic touches are kept to a minimum and mostly reside in the subplot with the relationship Leonidas' neice, Ellas, portrayed by Diane Baker, and Phylon, the son of a traitor seeking redemption, who is played by Barry Coe. Baker made her film debut as Margot Frank in 1959's The Diary of Anne Frank and has had a long career as a supporting actor in film and television, including Alfred Hitchcock's Marnie. The cast is filled out with actual Greeks, including Anna Synodinou as Gorgo, Leonidas' wife, and Dimos Starenios as Samos the Goat Herd.

Director Rudolf Matá was a long-time cinematographer who lensed such classics as Stella Dallas, Pride of the Yankees, Sahara and Gilda and received five Academy Award nominations. Not as successful as a director, Matá did helm the film noir classic D.O.A. and the sci-fi classic, When Worlds Collide. He turned to westerns and television until the end of his career when he helmed The Barbarians with Jack Palance and this action epic.

Above average in may ways, The 300 Spartans is action for all ages and, in some ways, exemplifies a genre of films. A worthy addition to the collection of anyone who enjoys sword and sandal films.

Rating for Style: B
Rating for Substance: B+

 

Image Transfer

	One
Aspect Ratio	2.35:1 - Widescreen
Original Aspect Ratio	yes
Anamorphic	yes

Image Transfer Review: The widescreen video transfer is another fine job by Fox in bringing their classic films to DVD. The colors are sharp, the detail is excellently rendered and the grandeur of the location is lovely. Expert cinematographer Matá provides a look to his story that manages to avoid the unwatchable, dated quality of other epics of the era.

Image Transfer Grade: B+
 

Audio Transfer

	Language	Remote Access
Mono	English, Spanish	yes
DS 2.0	English	yes

Audio Transfer Review: The sound is presented in a stereo version in English as well as ones in mono in English and Spanish that are difficult to distinguish, but all serviceable in the home theater. There is a tinniness to the musical score that keeps the sound from really being good.

Audio Transfer Grade: C+ 

Disc Extras

Static menu
Scene Access with 12 cues and remote access
Subtitles/Captions in English, Spanish
2 Original Trailer(s)
3 Other Trailer(s) featuring Cleopatra, Demetrius and the Gladiators, The Robe
3 TV Spots/Teasers
Packaging: Amaray
Picture Disc
1 Disc
1-Sided disc(s)
Layers: single

Extras Review: An unexpected extra is the inclusion of some vintage TV spots. They are fairly typical of the overripe hype often found in such ads and form an interesting comparision to those we see today. There is a 60-second version and two shorter ones. Both these and the trailers emphasize the unparalleled carnage of the battle sequences.

Also included is an original Spanish trailer (02m:36s) that is quite enjoyable and a rousing prelude to watching the film.

Extras Grade: B+
 

Final Comments

Recommended highly for fans of the genre, with excellent action and limited Hollywood goofiness. The 300 Spartans has a reasonable relationship with the historical event it depicts that is almost a bonus.

Jesse Shanks 2004-05-17