The 300 Spartans
                                 
Director: Rudolph Maté
Year: 1962
Rating: 6.0
This is the 1962 version. I have not seen the 2006 version titled simply 300. First, a bit of history as background. Hey, I was a history major and never got the chance to use it other than when watching Jeopardy. By 550 BC Persia had the greatest Empire to that point in history. It spread from present day Iran to the Indus Valley, Egypt, Turkey and the Balkans. Like all great empires, they wanted more. Greece. Greece at the time was of course broken down into city states that often fought and feuded with each other - with Athens and Sparta being the two strongest. Sparta with its militaristic society and Athens, the beginning of the concept of democracy. Generally, in films Sparta is portrayed as the bad guys, but this is a rare opportunity for them to be the heroes.



Greece and Persia had already been fighting in Asia Minor over cities that had large Greek populations. To put an end to this King Darius of Persia invaded Greece in 492 BC but was defeated at the famous battle of Marathon by Athenian troops. Sparta skipped that one saying they had a religious festival to attend to. Now ten years after Marathon, the Persians were back under the son of Darius, Xerxes. He had built one of the largest armies in history, now estimated to be over 100,000 men with hundreds of chariots. The Greeks sent 300 Spartans to stop them at the pass of Thermopylae. The Athenians had a strong navy and were sent to destroy the Persian fleet. The Spartans fought gallantly and held off the Persians for three days of intense fighting.



All were killed. Their Alamo. The Persians then continued on into Greece but were wiped out a year later at the battle of Plataea by a united Greek force. The Navy destroyed the Persian fleet. The Persian Empire would begin its slow but certain decline. The way of all empires. Alexander the Great was to return the favor some two hundred years later by conquering the Persian Empire. Historians mark the defeat of the Persians in the Greco-Persian Wars as an important point in history - if Persia had won and subjugated Greece, would democracy as an idea have vanished. Probably not.



This film for the most part sticks to the facts though it tries to make it more personal by introducing a pointless romance between a Spartan solider and a woman - really quite silly - and making King Leonidas of Sparta (Richard Egan) into a regular guy. Which he may have been. Themistocles of Athens (Ralph Richardson) - a true historical character - attempts to persuade Sparta to send troops - but they had two Kings and one resists as it not being in their interest. So, Leonidas brings only his bodyguards of three hundred and chose Thermopylae as the best strategic place to fight them. The Persian King (David Farrar) is often more interested in his female consort and is over confident,



The first hour of the film leading up to the battle is rather dull, but once the battle begins it is terrific. Sparta turns back attack after attack but a Greek traitor - again based on fact - leads the Spartans on a secret route that comes in back of the Spartans. They go down, refusing to surrender. Shot in Cinemascope and coming in at a bit less than 2 hours. I am not sure if this qualifies as an epic - certainly in terms of extras and costumes - the Persians look very cool in their black armor. At the beginning the Persian army of marching men stretches as far as the eye can see. But it skips on grandeur and spectacular structures and pageantry. The Persians had dancing girls, but that is about it. Directed by Rudolph Maté, another expatriate was best known as a cinematographer - The Passion of Joan of Arc, Foreign Correspondent, The Pride of the Yankees.