His conscience, however, is troubled, especially after he is reproached by his old friend St Peter. The film-makers were clearly more interested in the element of godliness, and, unlike some films of this type, 'Demetrius' raises genuine moral issues about pacifism, non-violence and Christian forgiveness.ĭemetrius himself is a man who goes through a crisis of faith and abandons his Christian beliefs in favour of an ethic based on revenge and worldly ambition. Messalina's notorious promiscuity is alluded to rather than shown on screen, and the scene between the gladiators and the women brought in to entertain them may be an orgy, but it is a very decorous one. There are elements of this strange combination of godliness and sexiness in 'Demetrius', but the sexiness is very much downplayed. Several of the epics of this period combined, incongruously, an improving religious message with a good deal of eroticism, with much bare female flesh on display- examples include 'Solomon and Sheba', 'Esther and the King' and 'Salome', where we get to see the famous dance of the seven veils, but it is made clear that, contrary to the Biblical version of the story, Rita Hayworth's character is in fact a virtuous heroine who only is flashing her legs in public in a desperate attempt to save John the Baptist from his fate. As in 'The Robe', the robe which Christ wore to His crucifixion plays an important part in the film Caligula wants to get his hands on it because he believes that it has magical powers and that it will give him the secret of eternal life. His courage and skill with a sword lead to his being made a tribune in the Praetorian Guard, and he becomes Messalina's lover. Later, believing that Lucia has accidentally been killed by another gladiator, Demetrius renounces his Christian faith, and fights fiercely, killing the man he believes to have been responsible for her death and several others. He survives, however, largely because he attracts the attention of Messalina, the wife of Claudius, uncle of the Emperor Caligula. This causes him difficulties as he is a Christian whose moral code will not permit him to kill another man, even in self-defence. The central character, Demetrius, is a former slave who, after assaulting a soldier who is molesting his girlfriend Lucia, is sentenced to fight in the arena as a gladiator. The stories told by such films were normally fictitious, but were set against a background of historical fact.

'Demetrius and the Gladiators' is one of a number of films (the most famous is 'Ben Hur', but others include 'The Robe', to which 'Demetrius' is a sequel, 'Quo Vadis' and 'The Fall of the Roman Empire') which deal with the early days of the Christian church and its persecution by the Roman emperors.

Thus the central character of 'Spartacus' is treated as a metaphorical Christ-figure, and 'The Egyptian' draws parallels between Christianity and the monotheistic religion of Atenism which briefly flourished under the heretical Pharaoh Akhnaten. Some were based on stories taken directly from the Bible ('The Ten Commandments', 'Solomon and Sheba', 'King of Kings'), while others tried to convey a Christian message indirectly. The historical epics which were so popular in the fifties and early sixties frequently had a religious theme.

Rush hour 3 tall china man