Julius Cäsar, der Tyrann von Rom

Expatriate American actor Cameron Mitchell stars as Julius Caesar in the Italian production Caesar The Conqueror. The title is something of a misnomer because he's not conquering anything here, merely trying to hold on to what he's already conquered in Gaul.

Here as in other films Julius Caesar refers to himself in the third person by his proper name. Except in Spartacus where he's a young up and coming man of the hour, in just about every other film I've seen him in he always refers to himself as Caesar. It was his way of saying I'm a man of destiny and something special.

In fact this film is a bit too ambitious for its own good. Films like Cleopatra and Spartacus even more so successfully manage to balance the military campaigns at home with the politics in Rome. But Caesar The Conqueror fails in that task though the battle scenes are nicely staged.

This film concerns Gaul chief Vercingetorix played by Italian peplum film hero Rik Battaglia who is stirring up the people of Gaul and playing for time while Caesar's political enemies seek to do him in at the Roman Senate. Not everyone in Rome was impressed by the man on horseback and that would include Senate's greatest orator Marcus Cicero.

Caesar The Conqueror is a bit better than most peplum offerings, but falls far short of Cleopatra or Spartacus.