Factual error: In reality, Commodus did not die in the arena - he was strangled in his apartments in 192 A.D. by an athlete who was hired by a group of Senators conspiring against him.
The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964)
1 factual error - chronological order
Directed by: Anthony Mann
Starring: James Mason, Alec Guinness, Sophia Loren, Stephen Boyd
Factual error: In reality, Commodus did not die in the arena - he was strangled in his apartments in 192 A.D. by an athlete who was hired by a group of Senators conspiring against him.
Closing Narrator: This was the beginning of the fall of the Roman Empire. A great civilization is not conquered from without, until it has destroyed itself from within.
Trivia: While the "auction" to choose a new emperor actually did occur, it did not happen immediately after the death of Commodus, but after the death of Pertinax, Commodus' immediate successor.