I became aware of this movie after seeing the Zach Snyder directed film "300" but it's taken a long while to get around to seeing it. You might consider this the 'realistic' portrayal of the siege at Thermopylae as opposed to the highly stylized treatment of the later movie, which itself was based on the graphic novel work of Frank Miller. Miller saw "The 300 Spartans" when he was a mere five years old, and the impression it made remained firmly etched in his mind. It gave Miller the luxury of years of research into the customs, traditions, training, weaponry and military strategy of the ancient Greeks, which he adapted into his award winning writing.
The thing that always impresses me with these older films is the elaborate and ostentatious presentation of the ancient armies and their colorful military gear. Those bright red war cloaks and fancy tunics of the Spartans makes me wonder if that's how fashionably attired a Greek army might have been back in 480 B.C. It doesn't seem quite possible to me, but who's to say. As the story progresses, a degree of emphasis is placed on the idea of the Greek city-states coming together to face the threat presented by King Xerxes (David Farrar) and the Persian army, even if Leonidas (Richard Egan) was less than successful in establishing that union.
As for the battle action, I thought it was just a bit too organized in the sense of the military on both sides marching in lockstep to face each other for each individual skirmish. Everything occurs right out there in the open with the sheer numbers of the winning side dictating victory. Though in this case, the Spartan defeat won some time for the Greeks to stave off the Persian threat at Salamis and Plataea, thus successfully ending the Persian invasion.
The thing that always impresses me with these older films is the elaborate and ostentatious presentation of the ancient armies and their colorful military gear. Those bright red war cloaks and fancy tunics of the Spartans makes me wonder if that's how fashionably attired a Greek army might have been back in 480 B.C. It doesn't seem quite possible to me, but who's to say. As the story progresses, a degree of emphasis is placed on the idea of the Greek city-states coming together to face the threat presented by King Xerxes (David Farrar) and the Persian army, even if Leonidas (Richard Egan) was less than successful in establishing that union.
As for the battle action, I thought it was just a bit too organized in the sense of the military on both sides marching in lockstep to face each other for each individual skirmish. Everything occurs right out there in the open with the sheer numbers of the winning side dictating victory. Though in this case, the Spartan defeat won some time for the Greeks to stave off the Persian threat at Salamis and Plataea, thus successfully ending the Persian invasion.