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Bettmann/Corbis

Tony Curtis and Kirk Douglas grapple in a publicity photo for Stanley Kubrick’s Spartacus (1960), about the Thracian gladiator who led a slave revolt in 71 B.C. The photo vividly, and amusingly, illustrates the difficulties of shooting a movie that is set 2,000 years ago. In the background stands a clutch of Roman soldiers, clad in armor and bearing authentic-looking shields. Curtis and Douglas themselves are attired in belted tunics like those worn by Greeks and Romans (though shorter, here, presumably to show some leg), but Douglas, anachronistically, sports white socks and tennis shoes.