Demetrius And The Gladiators (1954)

The former slave Demetrius (Victor Mature) is arrested for assaulting a Roman soldier and sentenced to the arena to be trained as a gladiator. It is there he attracts the attention of the promiscuous wife (Susan Hayward) of the Uncle (Barry Jones) to the emperor Caligula (Jay Robinson). He struggles to maintain his Christian values among so much decadent and earthly temptations. Directed by Delmer Daves (3:10 TO YUMA), this sequel to THE ROBE  is much more fun than the solemn ROBE. At least until the very end when it turns pious in repentance for all the trashy fun it provided. Until then it's more like a DeMille biblical epic with equal parts of sex and religion. Robinson's shrieking performance is less effective this time but Susan Hayward as Messalina slinks and plots away wickedly. It's all kitschy fun and it lacks the high energy of DeMille's bible stories, it's still highly watchable. With Anne Bancroft, Michael Rennie, Debra Paget, Ernest Borgnine, Richard Egan, William Marshall and Julie Newmar.