NOTES: A sequel to "The Robe", this movie was nowhere near as successful at the box-office with a domestic rentals gross of just over $4 million compared to the previous picture's $17½ million. In Australia, the movie came in 18th at the ticket-windows, which is probably its position in the U.K. and North America as well. Certainly it took good money, but considerably less than its predecessor.REVIEW: Competition is the key word here. The movie is competing with "The Robe". It fails of course. And the players are competing with each other as to who can give the most over-the-top performance. Robinson wins easily, though he has the advantage of all the best lines. Mature's hamminess in fact seems often embarrassing, but at least he's a trier. Michael Rennie is a dead loss. So is Barry Jones. And naturally, Richard Egan. I don't even remember Anne Bancroft. But good to see Ernest Borgnine in a villainous role.The budget is not as full-blown as "The Robe", though good use is made of standing sets. Daves' direction appears stolidly routine. And photographically the film shows up early CinemaScope's defects (fuzziness, distortion, blurring) even more than "The Robe" Obviously, less care was taken as the movie was hurried into release.

I love a good sword and sandal epic and this sequel to "The Robe" pretty much fits the bill. The hard-to-dislike Victor Mature this time steps up to the title part of the recent Christian convert Demetrius who for resisting the marauding Romans search for the holy relic in his care, finds himself dragooned into gladiator school only to later renounce his faith when his visiting young female admirer is apparently killed at the hands of some of his mob- handed fellow-fighters. Not to worry, chief disciple Peter seeks him out just in time and pricks his conscience enough to turn him back from a whole host of commandments he's recently broken, mostly at the urging of Messalina, the wanton wife of Emperor-in-waiting old, safe and sound Claudius.The sets, probably carried over from its predecessor, are grandiose indeed and the action sequences are fine for their time. I looked closely at the scene where Demetrius makes his name as a gladiator by killing three tigers in the arena and they looked real enough to me. The fight sequences are okay too. Of course films like this, with everyone pretty much wearing dresses, tend to see the actors either ham or camp it up and there's little doubt that Jay Campbell as the notoriously deranged Emperor Caligula is doing both while Mature however plays it pretty straight for the most part. Susan Hayward vamps it up as the loose Messalina while Michael Rennie is positively saintly as Peter.Some of the dialogue betrays its twentieth century origins such as when Demetrius warns that his old camp is likely to be "wiped out" by the Romans while Lucia's miraculous recovery takes some swallowing too. Nevertheless, this film which I always remembered fondly from my youth, managed to satisfactorily entertain me again and even if it's very much hanging onto the hem of its more illustrious predecessor, makes for a good enough entry in the list of watchable Hollywood epics in the 50's.

Demetrius and the Gladiators is a fictional 1954 a sequel to The Robe. and it was based on characters created by Lloyd C. Douglas's novel.It features Victor Mature as Demetrius, a Christian slave made to fight in the Roman arena as a gladiator, together with Susan Hayward,Ernest Borgnine, William Marshall, Michael Rennie, Jay Robinson, Debra Paget, and a young Anne Bancroft in one of her early roles during her film career.Thrown in jail for defending an elderly merchant from a sadistic Roman legionnaire, Demetrius is forced to attend gladiator school and fight in the arena for the amusement of the mad, debauched emperor Caligula.This allows Demetrius to attract the attention of Messalina, the nymphomaniac wife of the soon-to-be emperor Claudius. For a short while,Demetrius lost his faith in God but he was allowed to get re-acquainted with his Christian faith through the Apostle Peter.This happens to be more of a gladiator epic rather than a religious one like its predecessor film,The Robe.People would probably watch it more for the action scenes.Too bad that it won't allow viewers to have some serious thoughts about their religion particularly their relationship to both God and Jesus.Despite being advertised as The Robe's sequel,it is definitely a different film compared to it.

As a young boy going to the movies was entertaining and wondrous as I imagined how they could make men and animals so lifelike and real. When I first saw this movie " Demetrius and the Gladiators ", I was very impressed with the acting skills of both my favorite actors at the time. I loved the dynamic style of Victor Mature who plays Demetrius, and awed with his being able to fight a tiger to the death. I was further enthralled with my other favorite Richard Egan who played Dardanius. As a regular 'good guy' it was entertaining to see him play a heavy. Then again I felt that way about Ernest Borgnine who is Strabo and William Marshall as majestic 'Glycon, King of Swords'. The story is actually part two of the movie "The Robe" which I believed centered more on the Icon than on the slave character. There was something shortcoming about this sequel in that it concentrated on the search for the robe by the Mad Emperor Caligula, played to the hilt by superb actor Jay Robinson. With additional actors like Michael Rennie playing Peter the apostle and Barry Jones playing Claudius, the director tried to make this sequel as reverential as the first. But that was not what I sought when I first saw it. It was a great film for the arena action and that's what made it fun. I realize there are superior movies out there like 'Gladiator' by Ridley Scott, but I remember early films as a child and that's what made this one a Classic. ****