Quo Vadis (1951)

Buy This Item Quo Vadis (1951) by Warner Home Video  Available from Amazon  $14.98  on 9-22-2008     "Welcome to Nero's House of Women" greets a concubine to a slave girl, Lygia (Deborah Kerr). Later this self-same greeter reveals that she, too, like Lygia, is really a fellow Christian neophyte. And it's that mixture of tawdry Hollywood sex and a strong Christian message that makes this film an enjoyable "gentiles and gladiators" flick. Marcus Vinicius returns home after conquering the Britons to find that Rome is infected with a crazy new sect called Christians and that his beloved emperor Nero (Peter Ustinov, roly-poly and wicked) has become increasingly wacky. Marcus tries his centurion wiles on Lygia, and she's smitten, but she's also a Christian convert and begs Marcus not to force her to choose between him and her god. The Christians have a tough go of it, with martyrdom in the Coliseum as punishment for belonging to the new religion in town. Though three hours long, director Mervyn LeRoy's film always has something going on. It could help you enjoyably kill any rainy Sunday afternoon. <i>--Keith Simanton</i> Reader Reviews "Quo Vadis" is one of my favorite films. The whole picture has the feel of a Hollywood epic with thousands of extras and lots of spectacle. The scene where Romes burns and the victory parade of Roman legions were quite memoriable. Deborah Kerr, Finlay Curie (Peter), and Leo Genn give good acting performances. Peter Ustinov's performance as Nero is a little over the top, but is never the less entertaining and memorable. The picture is greatly enhanced in the fact it was filmed around Rome. The scenes of Christians being persecuted are significantly toned down from the book but are still powerful. Overall, while not quite as good as the book, the film is a very entertaining epic dealing with love, faith, persecution, and the madness of an emperor. I hope this film will be released on a high quality DVD soon. I don't usually like to comment on other reviewers' opinions, but in the name of honesty, one reviewer was very wrong in saying Paul was a gnostic. I'm not forsure exactly where he got his information but it must be from radical and not mainstream scholarship. Gnosticism didn't become a major faction (a heretical one) in Christianity until long after the crucifixtion.

Quo Vadis (1951) Available from Amazon Price: $14.98 Updated on 9-22-2008.

SPONSORED LINKS