 Terry Thomas raises his glass in a toast to America, in a satirical film on fads in the US. Terry Thomas, in the roll of a TV host on a late night show in the film 2,000 Years Later, which was just screened by Venice audiences a the Film Festival there, ties to convince his televiewers that they should return to Rome and Roman ways. U.S. road may lead direct to Rome. John Francis (Daily American) Venice. - Britain s leading historian, Arnold Toynbee wrote an article a few months back on which he made a pessimistic prophecy that America Civilization could follow in the footsteps of the Roman Empire and be heading for a fall. Toynbee didn t know it but in California for two years a 40-year-old American named Bert Tenzer has been dedicating himself to the making of a film which treats the same argument in satirical terms. The picture 2000 Years Later (i.e. today, two millenniums - more or less - after the fall of Rome), completed last month, was give a secret mid night screening on the Venice Lido this week prior to previews in leading European capitals. Denunciation Tenzer s film is an explosive discrimination of hypocrisy, distorted values and the insanity of our contemporary fetishes. Tenzer, who has written, produced and directed the movie, depicts in a semi-realistic manner what could happen if the latest America fad became Reditus Ad Roma, a Return to Rome. Launched as a gimmick by a late night TV show (called in the film The International Culture Hour and hosted by Terry Thomas and Edward Everett Horton) the fad catches on fast and soon everybody from the long-haired pop singers to senators, from motor cycle outlaws to the military chiefs of the Pentagon, are dressing up in togas and taking part in orgies organized at the fashionable discos and in private houses. The moral of the picture is provided by a mysterious figure from the Other World, a Roman general who survived the fall of Rome, who has been sent to Earth to convince our sin soaked masses not to let it happen again. But Gregarious the Ancient Roman, never manages to open his mouth on TV and ends by throwing himself into the familiar arms of a shapely maiden whose Reditus Ad Roma outfit has been designed by topless inventor Rudi Gernreigh (who incidentally, also makes a brief appearance in the film, playing himself). FAD CAVALCADE The film mixes fact with fiction in a dazzling, colorful and often hilarious cavalcade of topical American (and not only America!) fads and fancies. The highlights are a Love In sequence shot at ten different hippy gatherings and a Dolce Vita Style any day now; party in a Beverly Hills estate where real life society folk are shown doing what comes naturally to them. These scenes area all shot with candid camera technique by brilliant Italian cinematographer Mario De Leo who was imported to Hollywood for the job. But perhaps the most exciting moment in the film and certainly the most cinematically effective- was a dramatic ride-out in an abandoned western village between two motorcyclists who use poles as lances in the Ancient Roman manner. For the role of Tomorrow s Leader, a leather clad hippie idol, Tenzer chose Monti Rock III who appears regularly in real life in the same role on the Johnny Carson and Merv Griffith shows. Author Tenzer had avoided getting involved in the controversial aspects of the Great Society. He is concerned with private rather than public behavior. He is also interested in making an entertaining movie. This he has done, with something for every tasted. Who knows, it might even have the paradoxical effect of launching a genuine desire for a Return to Rome! Get your togas out, boys, Gregorius might turn up on the Via Veneto.