QUO VADIS (1951) ¢ ¢ ¢
D: Mervyn LeRoy
Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Peter Ustinov,
Leo Genn, Patricia Laffan, Finlay Currie
In the year 64, General Marcus Vicinius returns to a hero's welcome after the conquest of Britain, but finds that his adventures are just beginning when he falls head-over-heels for a devout Christian girl. Meanwhile, the cruel, petulant Emperor Nero is making his own plans to torch Rome and then rebuild it. So Rome burns. And there's a high-speed chariot race along the Appian Way, as Robert Taylor dashes back to the burning city to rescue Deborah Kerr. And a lot of sanitized carnage in the Colosseum, when the Christians are tossed to the lions. It's the old DeMille formula: a calculated measure of Sunday-school piety to counter (and justify) the violence, decadence, mammoth sets and proverbial cast of thousands. Peter Ustinov chews up the imperial palace as Nero, but it's Leo Genn as Petronius, Nero's cynical adviser and confidant, who gets most of the good lines.
