The Colossus of Rhodes

Sergio Leone's official directorial debut, three years before A Fistful of Dollars, and a big, handsome peplum built around the giant statue of the title. A visitor to Rhodes is drawn into a rebellion against a tyrant, and Leone stages the spectacle, especially the colossus itself and its destruction, with real scale.

It is conventional in its storytelling, but you can spot flashes of the visual ambition Leone would later refine, and the set pieces are impressive for their era. It is the missing prologue to a legendary career.

Of real interest as the starting point for one of cinema's great directors.