History Trivia / TheFallOfTheRomanEmpire

* CreatorKiller: The film's massive box office failure effectively killed the career of Madrid-based Hollywood film producer Samuel Bronston, who could not match the success of his masterpiece, ''Film/ElCid''. He ultimately filed for bankruptcy and his lavish studio folded thereafter. It also might have cost 28-year Paramount executive Barney Balaban his job.

* GenreKiller: The film is one of the last, if not ''the'' last, of the {{Epic Movie}}s of the UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood, and its box office failure along with that of ''Film/{{Cleopatra}}'' made it unsustainable for studios to pursue more costly SwordsAndSandals projects. Further smaller scale attempts such as 1970's ''Film/{{Julius Caesar|1970}}'' and 1972's ''Antony and Cleopatra'' weren't successful despite packing star power, albeit the genre would survive on television with a few examples standing out such as ''Series/IClaudius'' and ''Series/{{Masada}}''. It wouldn't be until 2000 that the genre would be truly revived on the big screen, with ''Film/{{Gladiator}}''.

* GenreKiller: The film is one of the last, if not ''the'' last, of the {{Epic Movie}}s of the UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood, and its box office failure along with that of ''Film/{{Cleopatra}}'' made it unsustainable for studios to pursue more costly SwordAndSandals projects. Further smaller scale attempts such as 1970's ''Film/{{Julius Caesar|1970}}'' and 1972's ''Antony and Cleopatra'' weren't successful despite packing star power, albeit the genre would survive on television with a few examples standing out such as ''Series/IClaudius'' and ''Series/{{Masada}}''. It wouldn't be until 2000 that the genre would be truly revived on the big screen, with ''Film/{{Gladiator}}''.

* GenreKiller: The film is one of the last, if not ''the'' last, of the {{Epic Movie}}s of the UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood, and its box office failure made it unsustainable for studios to pursue more costly SwordAndSandals projects. Further smaller scale attempts such as 1970's ''Film/{{Julius Caesar|1970}}'' and 1972's ''Antony and Cleopatra'' weren't successful despite packing star power, albeit the genre would survive on television with a few examples standing out such as ''Series/IClaudius'' and ''Series/{{Masada}}''. It wouldn't be until 2000 that the genre would be truly revived on the big screen, with ''Film/{{Gladiator}}''.

* GenreKiller: The film is one of the last, if not ''the'' last, of the {{Epic Movie}}s of the UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood, and its box office failure made it unsustainable for studios to pursue more costly SwordAndSandals projects. Further smaller scale attempts such as ''Film/{{Julius Caesar|1970}}'' and 1972's ''Antony and Cleopatra'' weren't successful despite packing star power, albeit the genre would survive on television with a few examples standing out such as ''Series/IClaudius'' and ''Series/{{Masada}}''. It wouldn't be until 2000 that the genre would be truly revived on the big screen, with ''Film/{{Gladiator}}''.

* GenreKiller: The film is one of the last, if not ''the'' last, of the {{Epic Movie}}s of the UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood, and its box office failure made it unsustainable for studios to pursue more costly SwordAndSandals projects. The genre would survive on television with a few examples standing out such as ''Series/IClaudius'' and ''Series/{{Masada}}'', until ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'' revived it on the big screen in 2000.

* GenreKiller: The film is one of the last, if not ''the'' last, of the {{Epic Movie}}s of the UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood, and its box office failure made it unsustainable for studios to pursue more costly SwordAndSandals projects. The genre would survive on television with a few examples standing ou such as ''Series/IClaudius'' and ''Series/{{Masada}}'', until ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'' revived it on the big screen in 2000.

* BoxOfficeBomb: Budget, $19 million. Box office, $4.75 million. Comparisons with contemporary Roman epic ''Film/{{Cleopatra}}'' are inevitable, although this one had a substantially less gruelling production and was much more well-received by critics (Creator/StephenBoyd actually left the role of Mark Antony in ''Cleopatra'' due to its extensive TroubledProduction). Audiences, however, had lost interest in sword and sandal epics following ''Cleopatra'' (and, unlike ''Cleopatra'', this film has largely faded into obscurity since its initial release in 1964).

* BoxOfficeBomb: Budget, $19 million. Box office, $4.75 million. Comparisons with contemporary Roman epic ''Film/{{Cleopatra}}'' are inevitable, although this had a substantially less gruelling production and was much more well-received by critics (Creator/StephenBoyd actually left the role of Mark Antony in ''Cleopatra'' due to its extensive TroubledProduction). Audiences, however, had lost interest in sword and sandal epics following ''Cleopatra'' (and, unlike ''Cleopatra'', this film has largely faded into obscurity since its initial release in 1964).

** This was intended to be the first of three films to be produced by Samuel Bronston and written by Philip Yordan. The following two would have been about the Boxer Rebellion and the French Revolution, respectively.

* StarMakingRole: ''Fall of the Roman Empire'' was Creator/ChristopherPlummer's feature film debut (he'd previously appeared in a short in 1958), he was previously a stage actor who sometimes appeared on TV. The film bombed, but Plummer gained enough attention and accolades to ensure his casting in ''Film/TheSoundOfMusic'' the following year, which launched him into stardom.

* DawsonCasting: Creator/ChristopherPlummer was 33 at the time of filming, although his character Commodus became Emperor at the age of 19. Commodus reigned for twelve years.

* BoxOfficeBomb: Budget, $19 million. Box office, $4.75 million. Comparisons with contemporary Roman epic ''Film/{{Cleopatra}}'' are inevitable, although this had a substantially less TroubledProduction and was much more well-received by critics. Audiences, however, had lost interest in sword and sandal epics following ''Cleopatra'' (and, unlike ''Cleopatra'', this film has largely faded into obscurity since its initial release in 1964).

* CreatorKiller: The film's massive box office failure effectively killed the career of Madrid-based Hollywood film producer Samuel Bronston, who could not match the success of his masterpiece, ''Film/ElCid''. He ultimately filed for bankruptcy and his lavish studio folded thereafter. It also might have cost a 28-year Paramount executive his job.

** Creator/CharltonHeston turned down the role of Livius, not wanting to work with Creator/SophiaLoren again after ''Film/ElCid''. Creator/KirkDouglas was also offered the role, but was unavailable.

** Creator/RichardHarris was originally cast as Commodus. He withdrew because of artistic differences with Creator/AnthonyMann. He was later cast as Commodus' father Marcus Aurelius in ''Film/{{Gladiator}}''.