Constantine and the Cross

This is a better than average Italian "Sword and Sandal" movie with a very Christian bent. It recounts the story of the rise and fall and rise again of the Empower Constantine who made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. As is the case with movies like this if you are looking for Historical Accuracy or Academy Award performances, go elsewhere. All that having been said, I found it decently entertaining. The main reason though for the three stars is not the movie acting, direction or dialogue but this is one of the worst transfers of a movie to digitization, The print is not only faded but it is grainy and in many scenes, slightly out of focus. For interests sake, the dvd is much like this also. My fear is that they simply transfer it from the dvd and in doing so made it worse than it was. However, you if you can soldier through those issues, it is a fairly enjoyable movie. I think as a whole the movie deserved better than the treatment it got over the decades.

Most of the movie centers around political intrigue between Constantine and those in Rome who want to usurp his power and prestige. There is a good amount of Roman battle scenes (Civil war). A very small part of the movie is also taken up fighting the barbarians.However, it is a good example of just what Christian Martyrs by the tens of thousands had to endure (death) before Constantine came on the scene. Some here say that it is not factual. Yet evidence from antiquity is strong that Constantine did have a conversion due to divine intervention. He was alone among emperors to fight for religious freedom. Constantine did not convert immediately after seeing the cross in the sky. But the stage was set. His mother (Helena/to Catholics: St Helena) is portrayed very well in this movie.In this movie, I was glad to see that we see in the Christians of the time, a sincere, unwavering love for Christ. How else could they go so willingly to their deaths.At such a very small price for this fully restored and digitally enhanced film, you just can't go wrong.

I am not an expert on movies, but I do enjoy most biblical dramas. A long time ago, I recorded this movie off TV; (not a very good recording), so I was very thrilled to find that it is availlable on DVD. When it arrived in the mail, I sat down to watch it right away. I was surprised at the poor quality of this reproduction. The colours are kind of pale and keep fading in it out. However, I did enjoy the story and it is still watchable. Hopefully, some day they will release a better reproduction of this movie. Be aware of low priced DVD's, I will be in the future.

This is a classic movie placed on a DVD, and as a consequence, no viewer should be disappointed at the quality of the a preserved movie of this type. Rather, the viewer should take into account the foreign actors who participated with Cornel Wilde in its production. Furthermore, the movie is a superb portrayal of life and issues during 303 A.D. in the Roman Empire. More than oncein the Roman History, religion such as the Roman hierarchy of Gods, Christianity and other types were the perfect excuse in a grab for political power. Furthermore, during the time of Emperor Constantine, the movie gave an excellent portrayal of civil wars. Also,the superb re-creation of Roman Military equipment and tactics, as well as the politics in the Roman Empire are a benefit to the viewers.

Of course the film quality is not great but it was made in 1962. Historically it's a very good and accurate movie. Yes Constantine was a pagan but how many thousands and thousands of Christians did he save ? Plus it was he that organized the Council of Nicea which gave us the Creed and in this Council the Catholic Church gave the world the Bible. Of course over the past 1700 years or so every Protestant denomination has changed the Bible to fit their own theology. Constantine was a great movie if you take it in a historical context and get was not a perfect emperor but he brought Christians out of the catacombs and for that he will be forever blessed

Exciept for some basic caracter names this is lusy history. A super slow story and little to get you envolved with the characters. Most actors are B grade at best. I fell asleep to it so I’ll tag it to watch when I have insomnia.Technically it’s also a bad transfer. It looks like otiginal 35mm was transfered to 8mm film then put on VHS and then a digital was made from that. In outher words fuzzy, bleeding colors, and merky looking.

First of all the quality of the movie is okay, but not the best and at some points of the movie the picture seems to be blurry. The movie is presented in Widescreen and color. This is a good movie starring Cornel Wilde. Overall this is a good movie but I wouldn't recommend it due to the quality.

Constantine was the first Christian Emperor of Rome. He was a German. He ended the persecution of Christians.

I really wanted to like this film - but I simply couldn't. Below, some more of my impressions, with some limited SPOILERS.Precision: this is the review of the NTSC (Region 1, US Import) version of this film.First, the technical aspects. This is a very bad transfer from a clearly very heavily used tape. Both images and sound are of rather poor quality. Also, this film was initially turned in Italian and English dubbing is par moments ATROCIOUS! But all of that would be secondary, if the film was good - but it is not...Now, being Christian myself I was very eager to watch the only (to my knowledge) film about Constantine the Great (272-337, Roman Emperor 306 to 337) and especially the miraculous event which occurred in 312 when following a prophetic dream this emperor decided to adopt Christian cross as the sign of his army for the incoming decisive battle before the walls of Rome. Constantine's life and adventures before he became emperor in 306 are already a great tale, but everything what happened after is even more incredible - sometimes even stranger than things we can see in "Game of Thrones"... But for some reason, there is only one film telling this story - and to my considerable regret it tells this story poorly.Although the real story of Constantine's life was extremely interesting, here director and scenarist managed to make it into a standard-issue peplum, with stereotyped characters: noble and generous Constantine, villainous treacherous Maxentius, brave heroic sidekick Hadrian, virginally immaculate young Christian Livia (played by German actress Christine Kaufmann - who was once Tony Curtis wife - lucky b@st@rd!), etc. etc. The only little touch of originality comes from the character of Fausta, Constantine's wife (and Maxentius sister!) played by sculpturally beautiful Belinda Lee (who tragically died in a car accident immediately after this film was finished). Everything here is predictable, dialogs are lame and we heard them all one thousand times before, all form of humor is missing in action, etc. etc.Fighting scenes are also the same thing we saw a thousand of times. There are however some unwillingly funny moments - when at one moment a Roman general dies in battle, well, even if this is not the most ridiculous scene I ever saw, it definitely must qualify into the Top 5...))) Also, at one moment it really becomes amusing how all Romans wear armor (helmets included!) everywhere and for every occasion...))) And finally, the scene of the "Miracle of the Cross" and the key moments which follow are shown in such a lame way, with Cornel Wilde giving such a wooden, tired, unconvincing "I am saying this just because they made me - I do not believe one word of it - but if I do not play the script I will be fired" way, that at that moment I really felt sorry that I forced myself to watch this film...The only reason I give to this film two stars instead of one are two scenes of Christian persecutions. They are pretty strong and they give a good idea of the horrors inflicted by pagan Romans to the first Christians - honestly those two scenes shocked me greatly... And I do not think I will ever be able to laugh again at any jokes about Christians and lions...Bottom line, this is a bad film and watching it is mostly a loss of time. And it is a pity. I do not think I will keep this DVD for any future viewings. And I really, sincerely hope one day somebody will make a super production about Constantine the Great and the "Miracle of the Cross" thanks to which Roman Empire became Christian, allowing Christianity to spread (much) later to other continents - and make the world a better place. Amen!

Very happy with this purchase from Amazon for my home collection of films concerning ancient historyproduced in Hollywood and other places.

OK

The quality of this dvd is appalling and looks as if it was taken from an old print that was ready for scrapping. Avoid!

Very pleased