Duel of Champions

1961 "The fabulous spectacular of the legendary warrior who destroyed his enemies and united a nation!"
4.9| 1h26m| NR| en
Details

A Roman nobleman, Horatius leads an imperial legion during the long and bloody war between the Romans and the Albans. A desperate arrangement is agreed on how to settle the war. Three valiant brothers are chosen from each side to fight one last fierce and bloody duel...

AD
AD

Watch Free for 30 Days

Stream on any device, 30-day free trial Watch Now

Trailers & Clips

Reviews

IslandGuru Who payed the critics
GurlyIamBeach Instant Favorite.
filippaberry84 I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.
Scotty Burke It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review
Dee Mou Obviously we know historically how things turn out in the Roman-Alban conflict, so that element of the plot is obvious. Costumes and sets are very well prepared and the musical score is fairly good. Great job casting Alan Ladd. The supporting cast is also quite good. It's the story of the brothers that is quite moving and lends a unique touch to this film (no spoilers, go watch the movie for yourselves). The film quality on the version I saw was a little low-resolution and with subtitles, but I believe that there's a fairly decent English translation available here through IMDB.
Rainey Dawn Romans and the Albans both have been loosing way to many men in battles. 3 brothers from each are chosen in the end to fight to the death in one final battle to settle the dispute but it doesn't quite go as planned.This is rather drab film. Routine peplum with nothing special to add to the genre, it only gives us one more history peplum to throw into the mix - and a very bland account of it.Cheers for the costuming and prop eye-candy, boo for the tedious way of telling us the story.2/10
b_moviebuff Having read about but not seen I bought this movie on DVD and as the previous reviewer said the transfer is terrible, that is a real shame as this is one of the more enjoyable sword and sandal epics. The great movie writer Steven Shuerer said that Alan Ladd appeared rather foolish in this movie, I disagree, Ladd put's in a nice performance here as one of three Roman brothers who must fight a rival three to try and put an end to years of fighting with the Albans, I think how the film works is that most of the cast are speaking in English, not badly dubbed from Italian as most of these films are, agreed Ladd looks rather tired and the effects of his long term alcoholism are evident, but I don't think he got a good deal from reviewers who concentrated more on his size and his personal problems. I do wish the makers of these films would take more time to try and restore the movie to a better print on DVD, some of these Italian epics are highly regarded by their fans, myself included so in this day and age of digital restoration these things should be brought in by them.
heliopause While those of us interested in ancient stories and sword and sandals productions will find this story to be interesting, it falls short, well short, in production quality and script to be the epic it could have been.The plot follows the story of one of the Orazi brothers of Rome, at war with Alba. This brother is accused of cowardice in battle and is captured by the Albans. He escapes, but is not warmly welcomed upon his return to Rome. After years of war, the Romans and Albans agree to decide the battle in a duel of 3 Roman brothers (the Orazi's) vs. 3 Alban brothers. In the end, this Orazi wins the day but the victory is bittersweet as displayed with his disgust for the need for killing.What stands out is the epic musical score composed by Francesco Lavagnino at his peak. Clearly, the music is at a far different level than the movie, it elevates the story but cannot raise the production near to the realm of an epic. Still, it is a collectible for ancient movie fans. Available on budget DVD, the DVD transfer is terrible.