Leone’s successful early career as an assistant director within the Italian studio system on historical epics including Mervyn LeRoy’s Quo Vadis, Robert Aldrich’s Sodom and Gomorrah and Robert Wise’s Helen of Troy, lead directly to the rousing and lavishly crafted and budgeted “sword and sandals” epic that was his directorial debut. Using as a vivid backdrop the unveiling of the massive eponymous statue of Apollo that was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, The Colossus of Rhodes tells a tale of dark political intrigue and courage centered on a young Greek solider determined to topple the island’s despotic leader when the solider discovers a secret plan to conspire with the rival Phoenicians. Auspiciously, Leone’s first major star was an American actor best known for Western pictures and television programs: Rory Calhoun. The Colossus of Rhodes is noted, among other aspects, for the erotic undercurrent running beneath the many scenes of raw sadism, with extended sequences of bare-chested soldiers being tortured and abused. – HG