Full of references to contemporary political foibles, this comic send-up of the Roman Empire stars real-life brothers Marcello and Ruggero Mastroianni (a well known film editor) as respectively the brothers Scipio the African and Scipio the Asian. When his arch-enemy Cato the Censor (Vittorio Gassman) accuses him of corruption, the upright African sets out to prove his innocence, with unforeseen results. This being a Marcello film, the comedy inevitably spills into the bedroom, where the hero faces problems with his wife (Silvana Mangano).-UCLA Film and Television Archive