They are lots of wonderful stories – many of them conflicting – about how star Kirk Douglas persuaded Stanley Kubrick to take over the direction of this 1960 gladiator epic. What’s inarguable, though, is the sheer scope of this thing, populated with thousands of extras in an era long before CGI. Lots more extras than in the photo at left, I should stress. Laurence Olivier, Charles Laughton and Jean Simmons co-star. I am Spartacus! (Well, not really, but I’m quoting accurately.)