''Constantine and the Cross'' (Italian: ''Costantino il grande'') is a 1961

historical drama film A historical drama (also period drama, costume drama, and period piece) is a work set in a past time period, usually used in the context of film and television. Historical drama includes historical fiction and romances, adventure films, and sw ...

about the early career of the emperor

Constantine Constantine most often refers to: * Constantine the Great, Roman emperor from 306 to 337, also known as Constantine I *Constantine, Algeria, a city in Algeria Constantine may also refer to: People * Constantine (name), a masculine given name ...

, who first legalized and then adopted

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

in the early 4th century. The fictionalised film only stretches as far into his life as the Battle of the Milvian Bridge in AD 312. It was also known as Constantine the Great or Constantino il Grande - In Hoc Signo Vinces.CONSTANTINE THE GREAT "(Costantino Il Grande - In Hoc Signo Vinces)" Monthly Film Bulletin; London Vol. 29, Iss. 336, (Jan 1, 1962): 153.

Premise

Constantine wins a battle and is sent to Rome. On the way he and his friend Hadrian are attacked by bandits. Hadrian is nursed back to health by some Christians, including Livia, wh falls in love with Hadrian. Constantine discovers the bandits were sent by Maxentius, Constantine's rival for power. Constantine watches some Christians be eaten by the lions. He jumps into the arena to defend a surviving child, and asks for the other Christians to be set free. Livia is arrested. Hadrian, who has fallen in love with her, arranges for her to escape from prison. Constantine is blamed, and branded a traitor by the Romans. Constantine leaves his bride to be, Princes Fausta, and learns from his dying father, the Emperor of Gaul, that his mother Helena is a Christian. Maxentius persecutes Christians and attacks Constantine in Gaul. Constantinus defeats Maxientus and becomes Emperor of Rome alongside Fausta, while Helena blesses them both.

Cast

Cornel Wilde Cornel Wilde (born Kornél Lajos Weisz; October 13, 1912 – October 16, 1989) was a Hungarian-American actor and filmmaker. Wilde's acting career began in 1935, when he made his debut on Broadway. In 1936 he began making small, uncredited app ...

Belinda Lee Belinda Lee (15 June 193512 March 1961) was an English actress. A profile for the British Film Institute's Screenonline website asserts: "of all the Rank Organisation's starlets, Belinda Lee stands out as the most notorious, yet paradoxicall ...

as Fausta *

Massimo Serato Massimo Serato, born Giuseppe Segato, (31 May 1916 – 22 December 1989) was an Italian film actor with a career spanning over 40 years. Serato was born in Oderzo, Veneto, Italy and started appearing in films in 1938. He played leading roles in ...

as Maxentius *

Christine Kaufmann Christine Maria Kaufmann (; 11 January 1945 – 28 March 2017) was a German-Austrian actress, author, and businesswoman. The daughter of a German father and a French mother, she won the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress f ...

as Livia *

Fausto Tozzi Fausto Tozzi (29 October 1921 – 10 December 1978) was an Italian film actor and screenwriter. He appeared in 70 films between 1951 and 1978. He wrote the script for ''The Defeated Victor'', which was entered into the 9th Berlin Internation ...

as Hadrian *

Tino Carraro Agostino Carraro (1 December 1910 – 12 January 1995) was an Italian stage, television and film actor. Life and career Born in Milan, Carraro started acting at young age in several amateur stage companies. Carraro then graduated at the , ...

as Maximian *

Carlo Ninchi Carlo Ninchi (31 May 1896 – 27 April 1974) was an Italian film actor. He appeared in more than 120 films between 1931 and 1963. He was born in Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, and died on 27 April 1974 in Milan, Lombardy, Italy. Selected filmogra ...

Constantius Chlorus Flavius Valerius Constantius "Chlorus" ( – 25 July 306), also called Constantius I, was Roman emperor from 305 to 306. He was one of the four original members of the Tetrarchy established by Diocletian, first serving as caesar from 293 ...

Vittorio Sanipoli Vittorio Sanipoli (1915–1992) was an Italian stage, film and television actor. He appeared in around a hundred films and television series between 1942 and 1980. Life and career Born Luciano Sanipoli in Genoa, he made his acting debut in 1939 ...

Apuleius Apuleius (; also called Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis; c. 124 – after 170) was a Numidian Latin-language prose writer, Platonist philosopher and rhetorician. He lived in the Roman province of Numidia, in the Berber city of Madauros, modern- ...

Nando Gazzolo Ferdinando "Nando" Gazzolo (16 October 1928 – 16 November 2015) was an Italian actor and voice actor. Biography Born in Savona, the son of the actor and voice actor Lauro Gazzolo and EIAR radio announcer Aida Ottaviani Piccolo, Gazzolo debuted ...

as Licinius * Annibale Ninchi as Galarius *

Elisa Cegani Elisa Cegani (11 June 1911 – 23 February 1996) was an Italian actress. She appeared in 60 films between 1935 and 1983. Partial filmography * ''Aldebaran'' (1935) - Nora Bandi * ''Cavalry'' (1936) - Speranza di Frassineto * ''The Countess ...

as Elena *

Franco Fantasia Franco Fantasia (5 March 1924 – 10 November 2002) was an Italian film actor, stuntman and fencing master. He appeared in more than one hundred films from 1951 to 2002. He was the brother of actor Andrea Fantasia. Illness and Death Septemb ...

as Roman Soldier *

Loris Gizzi Loris Gizzi (16 August 1899 – 6 October 1986) was an Italian actor and voice actor. Life and career Born in Rome, after his university studies Gizzi attended a school of dance and singing. He abandoned the courses when he became an employee ...

as Roman Prosecutor *

Enrico Glori Enrico is both an Italian masculine given name and a surname, Enrico means homeowner, or king, derived from ''Heinrich'' of Germanic origin. It is also a given name in Ladino. Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Henri ( French), ...

as Livia's Father * Jole Mauro as Celi *

Nando Tamberlani Nando Tamberlani (1896–1967) was an Italian film actor. A character actor in Italian cinema of the postwar era, he was the brother of actor Carlo Tamberlani. Another brother Ermete Tamberlani was also an actor. He appeared in a number of peplum ...

as Diocletian *

Renato Terra Renato Terra (26 July 1922 in Naples – 28 November 2010 in Rome) had a career working in film as an actor, and has appeared in over 80 movies. In 1977 he retired to become a poet. Young, he attended the Experimental Center of Cinematography in ...

as Jailer *

Lauro Gazzolo Lauro Gazzolo (born Ilario Gazzolo; 15 October 1900 – 2 October 1970) was an Italian actor and voice actor. Biography Born in Nervi in Genoa, Gazzolo began his career on screen in 1938 starring in the comedy film ''The Document'' and bec ...

as Amodius

Production

Filming took place in August 1960, with locations in Yugoslavia and studio work in Rome. While filming a scene in Rome Cornel Wilde was scratched by a lion. Filming was completed by November.

Release

''Constantine and the Cross'' was released in Italy in January 1961. It was released in the United States in December 1962.

Reception

The ''New York Times'' called it "one of those ponderous costumed tabloids that's trampled history to death and turned what's left of its fragments into boring banalities." The ''Monthly Film Bulletin'' said "the familiar ingredients of this tired spectacle - lions, fair haired Christian girls, torture chambers, battles, assassination attempts, intrigue - fail to arouse any noticeable excitement in the director or the cast." The movie was one of Belinda Lee's more widely seen European films. According to Gary Smith, film historian " The film is memorable for its impressive battle scenes (reused in countless peplum films for years to come) and because of the striking presence of Belinda Lee as Constantine’s wife Fausta."

References

Sources

External links

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''Costantine and the Cross''
at

Variety Distribution Variety Distribution is an Italian-based film distribution company. It distributes Italian films worldwide, produced from the 1930s onward. History Variety Distribution (formerly Variety Film and Variety Communications) has been in the film p ...

*[COSTANTINO IL GRANDE - IN HOC SIGNO VINCES
Constantine and the Cross
at Letterbox DVD {{Authority control 1961 films 1960s biographical films Italian biographical films Peplum films Films set in ancient Rome Films set in the Roman Empire Films set in the 4th century Religious epic films Biographical films about Roman emperors Films scored by Mario Nascimbene Sword and sandal films 1960s Italian-language films English-language Italian films 1960s Italian films