[The impact of "Spartacus"] is diffused and scattered, and it is to be doubted that readers will carry away a coherent memory of the sequence of events that led to Spartacus and the slaves becoming masters for a time of all southern Italy. What they will remember with some vividness is Mr. Fast's description of crucified slaves along the Roman highways, of gladiatorial combat, of pitched battles against the Roman legions.

Mr. Fast's conception of history is not really much different from that of Cecil B. DeMille. His technicolor characters are determinedly banal, stubbornly refusing to speak in any other accents than those we have come to expect from the heroes and heroines of the movie epics.

Harvey Swados, "Epic in Technicolor," in The Nation (copyright 1952 The Nation magazine, The Nation Associates, Inc.), Vol. 174, No. 14, April 5, 1952, p. 331.