It was a clever and original mystery tale simply evoked by one sentence written by Greene: "I saw a man walking down the Strand, whose funeral I had only recently attended.Back at the hospital, the teens were totally anguished and despairing that their two beloved doctors had been fired.They trained him to kill for their pleasure...but they trained him a little too well...Human desires so strong they changed the course of History...of a Rebellion that shook a Civilization in a Pagan era, 71 B.C....the grandeur and might of Rome and the challenge of an immortal gladiator...of a love that changed the world.[Note: During production, due to the National Catholic Legion of Decency and the restrictive Hays Code, various segments were removed, including homosexual innuendo in the bathhouse scene and various depictions of gore during battle scenes (such as a severed limb).""What could melt that much ice?"Scotty asked Dr.Chapman: "Could an airplane melt hat much ice?" Chapman replied: "One of our own airplanes generates enough heat to warm a 50-story office building.