Subject: Ancient Warfare
These wars may be half or more legend, from the days of sticks and stones up through the Bronze and Iron Ages, until about the 3rd century CE.
300
- Director: Zack Snyder
- Release Date: 2006
- Production Country: United States
King Leonidas and his 300 Spartan warriors sacrifice themselves in battle against thousands of Persians at Thermopylae in 480 BCE; however, their efforts prove worthwhile, ensuring the escape of the majority of the Greek army and Greece's eventual success against the Persian Invasion.
Annibale (Hannibal)
- Director: Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, Edgar G. Ulmer
- Release Date: 1959
- Production Country: Italy
Despite his military prowess, Hannibal, acclaimed as one of the greatest military geniuses in history, could not save his home city of Carthage from the Roman Empire.
Attila, il flagello di Dio (Attila)
- Director: Pietro Francisci
- Release Date: 1954
- Production Country: Italy, France
Fearing an invasion by Attila and his Huns, Emperor Valentinian sends his best general to negotiate a peaceful settlement. But his efforts are undermined by the Emperor's sister, Honoria, who thinks sharing a throne with the fierce and ruthless Attila would be far more interesting than living in the weak, civilized empire that Rome has become.
Boudica (Warrior Queen)
- Director: Bill Anderson
- Release Date: 2003
- Production Country: United Kingdom, Romania
After her husband, the king, dies, Queen Boudica of the matrilineal Iceni refuses to hand her kingdom over to the Romans who are insisting that, since she has no sons, there are no heirs to the throne—and they're calling in all their loans. Horse-whipped for her insolence and her daughters raped, Queen Boudica embarks upon a bloodthirsty rampage of revenge that almost-but-not-quite changes the face of human history.
Brenno il nemico di Roma (Brennus, Enemy of Rome)
- Director: Giacomo Gentilomo
- Release Date: 1963
- Production Country: Italy
Thanks to the treachery of a Roman citizen, Brennus the Barbarian and his Gauls are victorious in battle against the Romans, sacking and despoiling the famous city; but Rome has one weapon yet in its arsenal: the courageous young Quintus Fabius.
Cabiria
- Director: Giovanni Pastrone
- Release Date: 1914
- Production Country: Italy
A Sicilian princess is enslaved in Carthage; ten years later, she is rescued during the Second Punic War.
Centurion
- Director: Neil Marshall
- Release Date: 2010
- Production Country: United Kingdom, France
After the Ninth Legion is annihilated by Picts in Caledonia, seven survivors flee south, but the troops have withdrawn from the Antonine wall south, forcing Dias and his remaining men to undertake a hazardous journey to what they hope will be safety, all the while pursued by an Etaine, a young Pictish woman whose family was killed by Romans and who can think of nothing but vengeance.
Chi bi (Red Cliff)
- Director: John Woo
- Release Date: 2008
- Production Country: China
Two Chinese warlords attempt to defend their territory from an invading army and set in motion the downfall of the Han empire.
Columna (The Column)
- Director: Mircea Dragan
- Release Date: 1968
- Production Country: Romania, West Germany
No one enjoys being conquered... and the Dacians are no exception. But when their Roman Centurion governor helps them to repel invading Sarmatian tribes, the Dacians decide that there are benefits to being under the protection of the greatest military power in the area.
Coriolano: eroe senza patria (Coriolanus: Hero without a Country)
- Director: Giorgio Ferroni
- Release Date: 1964
- Production Country: Italy, France
After saving Rome from the depredations of the Volsci, General Coriolanus returns home to agitate for the political freedom of the common people, enraging his fellow patricians and resulting in his unjust banishment from the very city he just saved.
Diao Chan (Sable Cicada)
- Director: Wancang Bu
- Release Date: 1938
- Production Country: China
A young woman is recruited in a plot to assassinate a warlord during the 2nd century CE.
Il colosso di Roma (Hero of Rome)
- Director: Giorgio Ferroni
- Release Date: 1964
- Production Country: Italy, France
Dethroned for his sins, the former king of Rome, Tarquinius, returns with allies and an army to retake his city, but he forgot about the bravery of one Roman, Gaius Mucius Scaevola, who is determined to see the people's new Republic of Rome prosper.
Kampf um Rom I (The Last Roman or Fight for Rome)
- Director: Robert Siodmak
- Release Date: 1968
- Production Country: West Germany, Italy, Romania
A Roman noble, Cethegus, tries to start a war, setting the Ostrogoths and their Queen, Amalasuntha, against the Byzantine Emperor Justinian; Cethegus wants to swoop in after they have destroyed each other and create a new Roman Empire from their combined kingdoms; however, he does not factor into his plans the vagaries of love and the personal integrity of the people in both kingdoms.
Kampf um Rom II - Der Verrat (The Last Roman Part II or Fight for Rome II)
- Director: Robert Siodmak
- Release Date: 1969
- Production Country: West Germany, Italy, Romania
Cethegus succeeds in starting a war between the Ostrogoths and their Queen, Amalasuntha, and the Byzantine Empire, but as the Byzantine army invades Italy to retake Rome from the Goths, romance takes center stage and threatens to derail Cethegus' carefully-laid plans.
L'assedio di Siracusa (The Siege of Syracuse)
- Director: Pietro Francisci
- Release Date: 1960
- Production Country: Italy, France
Romans lay siege to the city of Syracuse, but no matter how ingenious their weapons technology may be, the great mathematician Archimedes seems to be able to come up with a better weapon to counter it. However, not even the greatest intellect can counter the stupidity of people who insist on having drunken festivals in the midst of a war.
Masada
- Director: Boris Sagal
- Release Date: 1981
- Production Country: United States
Determined not to let their families be taken by the Romans, a Jewish community takes refuge in the ancient fortress of Masada, but even faith and righteousness can only hold out for so long against the military might and technology of the Romans... and the fate of their families rests on the decisions they will ultimately make.
Mo gong (Muk gong or Battle of the Warriors or A Battle of Wits)
- Director: Chi Leung (Jacob) Cheung
- Release Date: 2006
- Production Country: China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong
A Mohist monk helps a city defend itself against an invading army during a period of civil wars.
Qin Yong (A Terra-Cotta Warrior or Fight and Love with a Terracotta Warrior)
- Director: Siu-Tung Ching
- Release Date: 1990
- Production Country: Hong Kong
An immortal imperial guard is punished by being made into one of the terracotta warriors who guard the Qin Emperor's tomb for eternity.
The 300 Spartans
- Director: Rudolph Maté
- Release Date: 1962
- Production Country: United States
Leonidas and his 300 Spartans lead a small Greek army to hold the pass at Thermopylae against 250,000 Persians in a desperate but doomed attempt to give the rest of Greece time to stop squabbling and organize a greater army that actually has a chance of defending their homes.
The Eagle
- Director: Kevin Macdonald
- Release Date: 2011
- Production Country: United Kingdom, United States
In the second century CE, a crippled Roman centurion and his British slave seek a Roman Legion's lost Eagle in the wilds of northern Britain.