The Centurion (Il conquistatore di Corinto)

The Centurion, known in Italian as Il conquistatore di Corinto, is a 1961 historical drama made as a French-Italian co-production. Mario Costa directed it from a screenplay by Nino Stresa. Running about 77 minutes, it counts as a peplum, the genre of Italian-French films set in the ancient world, and was released in France as La Bataille de Corinthe.

The story is set in Greece in 146 BC, with the Roman capture of Corinth as its backdrop. At its centre is the love between Caius Vinicius, a Roman centurion, and Hebe, the daughter of a local governor with anti-Roman sympathies. The couple are pulled between loyalty to the empire and the cause of resistance, and the two stand on opposite sides of a violent turning point in history.

The cast includes Gordon Mitchell, Milena Vukotic, Jacques Sernas, John Drew Barrymore, Geneviève Grad, Gianna Maria Canale, Ivano Staccioli and Luciano Pigozzi.