Fabiola (1948)
Director: Alessandro Blasetti
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
Ancient Rome, slavery, senatorial intrigue, the spread of Christianity, the Colosseum's circus of horrors - but Blasetti's credo of 'historical realism' founders on the proselytising melodrama of Cardinal Wiseman's source novel, and the result is awfully dull, until the spectacular violence of the climax. In her form-hugging costumes, Michèle Morgan (Fabiola) looks good enough to eat, a proposition almost put to the test by those Colosseum lions. Michel Simon as her dad, the genial Senator Fabius, is murdered far too soon for the film's own good: the appreciative way he eyes Fabiola is about all the picture has to offer by way of Roman decadence. An American dubbed version cut to 97 minutes is also around.Author: BBa
Cast & crew
Director: Alessandro Blasetti
Cast: Michèle Morgan, Henri Vidal, Michel Simon, Louis Salou, Massimo Girotti, Gino Cervi, Paolo Stoppa, Franco Interlenghi full cast
Genre(s): Epics, Period/Swashbucklers
Duration: 166 mins
Most popular on this site
Features
To the letter
Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.
Mind over matter
David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.
Fool's gold
Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.
We are the championed
Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."
A history of violence
Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.
True romantic
James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.
Playing in the dark
MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.
Junk bonds
Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.



What do you think?
Post your review now