Kirk Douglas had the vision to back the previously black-listed Dalton Trumbo with his excellent screenplay for this epic tale of slavery and the struggle for freedom. He also led a cast with some of the best actors to ever grace the silver screen. Olivier, Laughton, Ustinov, Curtis and a wonderfully tender Jean Simmons who all lift this tale of a slave who rebelled against the tyrannical rule of his Roman masters and inspired thousands to follow him as they strove to escape, then defeat the armies of Rome. The cinematography, colour, costumes are all the stuff of artists and Alex North creates a score that carries the intimate and the grand scenes in equal measure. The principles of struggle against oppression and of brotherly loyalty ring true even now, and this film is so much more than a sword-and-sandals melodrama.