Set in the time of Nero’s Rome, this years-in-the-making spiritual epic tells the story of an honored Legion commander (Robert Taylor) who falls in love with a Christian “hostage” (Deborah Kerr).

Taylor’s loyalties change after madman Nero (Peter Ustinov) burns the city.  He turns against the emperor and soon finds himself, along with Kerr, imprisoned with Rome’s Christians, who are about to be fed to the lions.

CRITIQUE

Quo Vadis (1951) is a magnificent spectacle, made in the days when a “cast of thousands” was, indeed, a cast of thousands and not just the result of cgi trickery. 

True, matte´ work was utilized for some of the larger scenes, but the movie, which was shot in post-war Rome, did employ 30,000 extras, a number that would be unheard of in today’s filmmaking economy.

Quo Vadis earned eight Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture.

The pictorial grandeur of the film, as well as several of its major sequences (e.g. the burning of Rome, the slaughter of the Christians in the Coliseum) are as impressive today as they were when the movie was first released.  [I know.  I saw it back then.]

Unfortunately, from a dramatic standpoint, the film as a whole has not fared as well.  Watching it now, I found it to be rather ponderous, if not dull.

The picture was made at a time when Biblical movies in Hollywood were handled with such reverence that, today, the dialogue seems stilted and the performances, good as the actors may be, come off as cardboard. 

The two-dimensional character that the writers have given him to play hampers even Ustinov, who virtually steals the movie with his bravura performance as Emperor Nero.

The surprising thing is that the writers (John Lee Mahin, S.N. Berhman, Sonya Levin) were three of the most respected screenwriters of their day, and director Mervyn LeRoy had many hit films to his credit (e.g. Little Caesar, Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo).

It would be another two or three decades before Hollywood, afraid of offending various faiths, would dare to insert more “conflicted” characters into their religious films.

Historically significant because, along with Cecil B. DeMille’s Samson and Delilah (1949), it started the trend of Hollywood religious epics that were popular well into the 1960s, Quo Vadis may still be a feast for the eyes, but dramatically it is little more than a curio.

THE VIDEO

The digital transfer of the restored Technicolor image is fine.  Any softness in the image can, probably, be attributed to the original cinematography.

THE AUDIO

The Mono Sound is clear and sharp.  No problems.

THE EXTRAS

Audio Commentary by film critic and historian F.X. Feeney is interesting and informative.

In the Beginning is a lengthy featurette that relates the history of Quo Vadis, from the original novel through the release of the 1951 production.  Of particular interest are clips from two silent versions, one starring Academy Award-winner Emil Jannings as Nero.

Also featured is the Original Roadshow Overture and Exit Music.

Rounding out the extra material are Theatrical Trailers.

FINAL THOUGHT

It’s an interesting curio that is worth watching...once.