Tandra Page 1096, June 13, 2010

Created on 06/13/2010

by Hanther

Before “Gladiator”, there was “The Fall Of The Roman Empire”; same historical time frame, same characters, same story more or less. I saw “The Fall Of The Roman Empire” in theatres in 1964 and I liked it quite a lot. Apparently I was of the minority opinion. The thing bombed and cost producer Samuel Bronston his movie empire. There are several differences between “Gladiator” and “The Fall Of The Roman Empire”. While not portraying historical events with faithful accuracy (what Hollywood movie does?) “The Fall Of The Roman Empire” stays closer to what we know of Rome than the later “Gladiator” with its Pollyanna ending of restoring the empire to ideals of truth and justice. After all, we can look to historical records and see the path Rome factually took. “The Fall Of The Roman Empire”, while no historical documentary experience, finishes off with various Roman Senators bidding up the price offered to be made emperor. Sounds quite a lot like Washington today, as it did back in 1964.

“The Fall Of The Roman Empire” is currently available on DVD and I recently purchased a copy to see how it holds up almost half a century later. The movie is a bit clunky and slow moving for today’s taste and Stephen Boyd is certainly no Russell Crowe, but it’s with the part of Commodus, portrayed by Christopher Plummer, that “The Fall Of The Roman Empire” really shines forth!

In Plummer’s hands, Commodus is not evil. He is rather immature and irrational with mercurial changes in temperament. As absolute ruler of the Roman Empire, this flawed personality makes him all the more dangerous. One can predict and deal with consistent evil. The irrational is a different matter whereas the emperor who loved you as a brother in the morning can turn before noon and decide you are involved in a plot to assassinate him and consequently order your immediate execution. The emperor may, by evening time, decide he judged you harshly and repent of his order for your execution, but repentance will not reanimate your cold corpse.

Watching Plummer, I was impressed by his ability to breathe life into a demanding role. It was only later I learned the historical Commodus came to the throne as a teenager. With this information, Plummer’s interpretation of the role gains new dimension. Obviously Plummer, near the age of forty or so at the time, would not portray Commodus as a child, but he rather gave us an adult Commodus with a child’s mind.

The final panel of this week’s Tandra Page is lifted directly from a printed frame from “The Fall Of The Roman Empire” showing Christopher Plummer as Commodus sitting upon the high seat of Rome. The god king on Tandra Page 1096 looks nothing like Christopher Plummer for the simple reason the actor’s physical features are far too noble in appearance for what I plan to do with the Tandra god king in this story. A fool’s face serves my purpose better than Plummer’s regal bearing. To construct the god king’s face I was inspired by the Alfred E. Neuman icon that was long ago the mascot for Mad Magazine, a humour mag that was published in my youth. I then adapted some of the features of Cheeta, a monkey that was a featured player in the old Tarzan movies and the result is the god king of Tandra Page 1094.

As of this writing, the god king has not yet acquired a proper name. I have not decided for certain, but I may leave him nameless. We shall see.

Now you understand how a character is created.

May the sun always shine on your parade!

Next Week; “All Praise Most High!”

Tandra...more than escapist fantasy, it’s a revolution!

Hanther

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