In this 1954 film, Attila was played by Jack Palance but at the same time a French Italian version ‘Attila the Hun’ had been made with Anthony Quinn in the title role – these were released more or less together although the Anthony Quinn version came in November 1954 and Sign of the Pagan on 11 February 1955

Sign of the Pagan was made in Hollywood

Jeff Chandler was probably at his most popular in 1954

1954 Universal International film titled Sign of the Pagan. It is an epic adventure tale set in the 15th-Century about the chieftain Attila the Hun who was a leader of the Hunnic Empire in central Europe .

Jess Chandler plays a Roman centurion called Marcian – the real Emperor

There takes place a battle of wits and wills between Attila/Jack Palance and Marcian/Jeff Chandler . Jack Palance dominates in this historical adventure with acting in the ‘over the top’ variety – very effective – much as he did a decade later in Barabbas – one of my favourite epic films

Marcian gains the favour of Pulcheria (Ludmilla Tchérina ) , lovely sister of Theodosius , who wants a united Empire and is plotting against Attila .

As Attila marches across Empire to Rome, things look bleak for the weakened imperial forces .

This spectacular film contains plenty of action , battles , thrills , romance , historical events – even if they are more fiction than fact, and large impressive crowd scenes that fill the giant Cinemascope screen

The film has big production values , lavishly produced , brilliant photography and rousing soundtrack – all from Universal International at the time .

The film was directed by Douglas Sirk who did a very good job

Attila the Hun 1954

After starring in La Strada Anthony Quinn went on to do two more films while in Italy, Ulysses where he supported Kirk Douglas and Attila where he starred as the bloodthirsty Hun chief who nearly conquered Rome.

This clip / trailer above does not make the film look particularly good and there is one brief shot where a rear projection scene is amateurish. I think that this was made very much on the cheap.

I hope that David Raynor a regular contributor, knows more about these two ‘epics’ – I hope so and hope that he comments and adds a bit more