Classic films about the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire?

Interesting question. I've only heard of these:

Kampf um Rom (The Last Roman)

Fetih 1453 (More about the Turks conquest of Constantinople)

So you're over 100 years old, are you? The little grey cells are still working pretty well for a gentleman your age! 

Didn't Elia Kazan make a movie about your escape from Turkey?

Okay. I thought it was A Tree Grows in the Caucasus or East of Aegean.

aka Constantine and the Cross aka Costantino il grande 1961, is set at the start of the Byzantine era, if they cared I don't know, or just used it as an excuse for a spectacle.

1. Although by far the longest surviving empire (or regime of any kind) in the world (over 1000 years - a genuine Tausendjähriges Reich - the next guy to attempt it only made it to twelve years), it is not only overlooked in Hollywood but in the West generally. I think there will be more interest now because many of the hot issues in the Near and Middle East have their origins in that empire. I wonder if Greeks have made movies about it because it was essentially a Greek empire and their glorious heritage.

2. I have Agora (2009) dir: Alejandro Amenábar in my DVD collection. Though Spanish produced it is in English language throughout. It is beautifully made and acted by Rachel Weisz and Oscar Isaac (a new name for me at the time) and depicts, reasonably faithfully, events and culture of a vital period in World History, when much of the knowledge of Ancient Greece was preserved in Alexandria (later to be transmitted to Renaissance Europe via the great Moslem civilisations). The heroine Hypatia, was an actual historical figure and probably the first female martyr of science.

It would make a good educational film for schools (science, history, women's rights, comparative religion, geography), but could not be widely shown in the USA because of its depiction of Christians as genocidal and destructive thugs very similar to the Islamic State today. I don't know if the parallels were deliberately drawn, but I suspect they were. You can pick up a DVD for 2 or 3 dollars plus P&P. Well worth a look as a history lesson though not a truly great movie.

Belinda Lee went a long way in her career, genre-wise if not quality-wise. She could not really act but a pair of big tits can get you far in life (cf Dolly Parton and Jack Lemmon). Started out as a St Trinian's pupil and cockney scrubber, and made a long career in sword & sandal epics. Good for her!

I recently watched an English film which attempted to launch her as a leading actress: The Secret Place (1957) directed by Clive Donner. She is topped billed on the poster and in the titles, but actually plays only a subsidiary part in the story. It is a decent little noirish film but I reckon they gradually cut her role down as Donner realized she could not command the screen. You can catch it on YouTube.

Just throwing out two names here, that lived during the Byzantine era, Atila the Hun during the early parts, and Vlad Tepes/Vlad the Impaler during the later parts of that era, there might be movies about them, that might refer to the Byzantine era as just Romans (to make it simpler).