Sheba and the Gladiator

{{Infobox film

| name = Sheba and the Gladiator

| image = Nel Segno di Roma.jpg

| alt =

| caption = French film poster

| native_name =

| director = {{plainlist|*Guido Brignone

Michelangelo Antonioni}}

| producer = Enzo Merolle{{sfn|Curti|2017|p=296}}

| writer =

| screenplay = {{plainlist|* Francesco De Feo

Sergio Leone
Giuseppe Mangione
Guido Brignone{{sfn|Curti|2017|p=296}}}}

| story = {{plainlist|* Francesco De Feo

Sergio Leone
Giuseppe Mangione
Guido Brignone{{sfn|Curti|2017|p=296}}}}

| based_on =

| starring = {{plainlist|* Anita Ekberg

| music = Angelo Francesco Lavagnino{{sfn|Curti|2017|p=296}}

| cinematography = {{plainlist|* Luciano Trasatti

Mario Bava{{sfn|Curti|2017|p=296}}}}

| editing = Nino Baragli{{sfn|Curti|2017|p=296}}

| production_companies = {{plainlist|* Giomer Film

Lux Film
Societe Cinematographicque Lyre
Tele Film GmbH
Dubrava Film
Filmiski Studio{{sfn|Curti|2017|p=296}}}}

| distributor =

| released = {{Film date|df=yes|1959|3|5|Italy|1959|10|2|West Germany}}

| runtime = 98 minutes{{sfn|Curti|2017|p=296}}

| country = {{plainlist|* Italy

France
West Germany
Yugoslavia{{sfn|Curti|2017|p=296}}}}

| language =

| budget =

| gross =

}}

Sheba and the Gladiator or Sign of the Gladiator ({{langx|it|Nel Segno di Roma}}) is a 1959 historical drama film loosely pertaining to the Palmyrene Empire and its re-annexation back into the Roman Empire.

Cast

Anita Ekberg as Zenobia
Georges Marchal as Consul Marcus Valerius
Folco Lulli as Zemanzius
Chelo Alonso as Erica
Gino Cervi as Aurelian
Jacques Sernas as Julianus
Lorella De Luca as Batsheba
Alberto Farnese as Marcello
Mimmo Palmara as Lator

Production

Sheba the Gladiator was shot in 1958.{{sfn|Curti|2017|p=169}} Director Guido Brignone fell ill during the production on the film leading to two other directors to enter the production to help complete it: Michelangelo Antonioni and Riccardo Freda.{{sfn|Curti|2017|p=168}} For Antonioni, he visited Brignone in the hospital and reported on what he filmed and received instructions for the next day.{{sfn|Curti|2017|p=168}} Freda was in charge shooting the battle scenes which he did with cinematographer Mario Bava and Antonioni working with cinematographer Luciano Trasatti shooting the indoor scenes.{{sfn|Curti|2017|p=168}} Other people credited to the film included Sergio Leone as a screenwriter.{{sfn|Curti|2017|p=168}}

Mimmo Palmara commented that Antonioni "couldn't care less" about the film and "didn't direct the actors."{{sfn|Curti|2017|p=169}} Freda had an argument with Palmara and unsuccessfully tried to court Chelo Alonso on set.{{sfn|Curti|2017|p=169}}

Release

Sheba and the Gladiator was distributed in Italy on March 5, 1959.{{sfn|Curti|2017|p=296}}{{sfn|Curti|2017|p=169}} It was released in West Germany as Im Zeichen Roms on 2 October 1959.{{cite web|url=https://www.filmportal.de/film/im-zeichen-roms_1d929eaa23394c558dc19db54dc1981e|publisher=Filmportal.de|title=Im Zeichen Roms|access-date=January 30, 2019|language=German}}

American International Pictures acquired the American rights to the film and re-titled it Sign of the Gladiator (Sign of Rome "was a pretty dismal title" according to Samuel Z. Arkoff) and cut 18 minutes from the original running time.{{cite book|first=Mark|last=McGee|title=Faster and Furiouser: The Revised and Fattened Fable of American International Pictures|publisher=McFarland|year=1996|page=154}} There was no gladiator in the film so they redubbed it to change the general played by Jacques Sernas into a gladiator.{{cite book|page=264|title=Kings of the Bs : working within the Hollywood system : an anthology of film history and criticism|editor-first1=Todd|editor-first2=Charles|editor-last1=McCarthy|editor-last2=Flynn|year=1975 |publisher=E. P. Dutton |chapter=Samuel Z. Arkoff|first=Linda May|last=Strawn}}

It was released in September 1959 in the United States.{{sfn|Curti|2017|p=169}} American International Pictures added an end title song called "Xenobia" sung by Bill Lee which was released on AIP Records.{{cite book|first=Gary A.|last=Smith|title=American International Pictures: The Golden Era|publisher=Bear Manor Media|page=117}} The film grossed a total of $1.25 million in rentals."Rental Potentials of 1960", Variety, 4 January 1961 p 47. Please note figures are rentals as opposed to total gross. "We did quite well with the picture" said Samuel Z Arkoff.

Kine Weekly called it a "money maker" at the British box office in 1960.{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/sim_kine-weekly_1960-12-15_523_2776/page/n7/mode/1up|last=Billings|first=Josh|magazine=Kine Weekly|date=15 December 1960|page=9|title=It's Britain 1, 2, 3 again in the 1960 box office stakes}}