The sets are spectacular. The Rhodes statue, with its big child-like eyes, is a great design. The use of widescreen is excellent. Some scenes, like the one when they revel in the King’s chambers, are truly eye-filling. The memorable soundtrack is another plus. Overall, the amazing sets and the production values are well above average than your standard Sword & Sandal films and yet I was remarkably underwhelmed by it all. The carefully constructed film is let down by an uninteresting script which has very little focus or impetus to it. It moves along mechanically, intermingling 3 or 4 different (dull) story-lines, which after a while became confusing. Rebels want to overthrow the King of Rhodes because of corruption and the lack of justice but then people within the Kingdom also want to take over the goofy looking King by overthrowing him and his army with a group of Macedonian “slaves” captured by Phoenicians who are actually soldiers and are brought within Rhodes, sorta like the Trojan Horse ploy. The Rebels fight the Rhodes soldiers. The Rhodes soldiers fight the Macedonian “slaves”. The Macedonian “slaves” fight the Rebels. All of this happens while Rory Calhoun seduces every women on screen. After a while I couldn’t tell who was who and what they wanted to accomplish. The story is not complicated it’s just the direction is all over the place. And if that wasn’t enough, during the climax they throw in an earthquake which levels Rhodes to muddle up the whole thing.
The film is so all over the place that many scenes from this film have been used as stock footage in other Peplums made after this, including the fun and thrilling TRIUMPH OF THE TEN GLADIATORS, which didn’t have a tenth of this film’s budget and yet accomplished more in respect to entertainment than this first Sergio Leone effort.
The actors are mostly serviceable with the exception of Georges Marchal and Mimmo Palmara who clearly stand-out from the pact. Marchal, who was excellent in the ULYSSES AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES, is the best actor in this film too. He gives gravitas to his role, much more than any other actor in this crowded cast. ULYSSES AGAINST THE SON OF HERCULES, as uneven as it was, is sadly more memorable than COLOSSUS OF RHODES. Then there’s Mimmo Palmara, a regular actor in S&S films, who really shines in action scenes here. Thank god he was in it or else I would have thought this wasn’t an action film at all. But the main character is played by Rory Calhoun in what could be one of the best examples of miscasting in screen history. Calhoun is completely out of his element here and every moment he’s acting, it drags the film down considerably. I could easily overlook the muddled script but with Rory, who’s in almost every scene, he’s easily the film’s biggest liability. I have nothing against Rory. I’m sure he’s a swell fellow but he just didn’t belong in this film. He’s certainly unconvincing as a lady’s man. The loves scenes are really boring and I needed to fast forward through them because they were just too much to endure. Had someone like Lang Jeffries (as seen in REVOLT OF THE SLAVES, ALONE AGAINST ROME and FIRE OVER ROME) been cast in Rory’s role, everything about what the role demanded (action & romance), Jeffries’ presence would have been much more credible.
Sergio Leone had to start somewhere as a director and this film is good enough for a first film and as visually spectacular as it is, COLOSSUS OF RHODES features few of those Leone qualities that would become a staple of his style in his Spaghetti Westerns.
All in all, there are much more satisfying Peplums out there, maybe not as spectacular, like GIANT OF MARATHON or the TEN GLADIATORS sequels. If you’re a fan of Leone or Peplums though, this is a must see.
