The movie presents Victor Mature as Demetrius, a Christian slave made to fight in the Roman arena as a gladiator, and Susan Hayward as Messalina.
Philip Dunne was the screenwriter on three previous 20th Century Fox epic films which star Jean Simmons, The Robe (1953), Demetrius and the Gladiators (1954) and The Egyptian (1954).
Demetrius | American Gladiators | Gladiators Roma | Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin | Demetrius of Anacopia | Demetrius I of Macedon | Demetrius II Nicator | Demetrius I of Bactria | Demetrius and the Gladiators | Demetrius III Eucaerus | Demetrius Hopkins | Demetrius Byrd | Rusudan, daughter of Demetrius I of Georgia | International Gladiators 2 | Gladiators 2000 | Demetrius, qualified as "ANIKETOS", i.e. "Invincible" (Pedigree coin minted by Agathocles of Bactria | Demetrius I Soter | Church of St Demetrius, Patalenitsa | Church of St Demetrius | American Gladiators (2008 TV series) | American Gladiators (1989 TV series) |
After his acting roles ended, Stader continued performing stunts into the 1980s, having worked on such other films as Repossessed, Demetrius and the Gladiators, Giant, Our Man Flint, Tobruk, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, Blazing Saddles, The Great Waldo Pepper, Beyond the Poseidon Adventure, and a 1985 television movie of Alice in Wonderland.
There was a sequel known as Demetrius and the Gladiators starring Victor Mature as the title character who fights in the Roman arena.