Quo Vadis

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Average Customer Rating:	4.5
Release Date:	2008-02-12
Publisher:	Castaway Pictures
Actors:	Felix Aylmer; Buddy Baer; Marina Berti; D.A. Clarke-Smith; Adrienne Corri
Aspect ratio:	1.33:1
Audience rating:	Unrated
Format:	Subtitled; Import; NTSC
Language:	Subtitled: Chinese; Subtitled: English; Original Language: English;

Product Categories

General; General; Religion; Christianity; Aylmer, Felix; Baer, Buddy; Corri, Adrienne; Crutchley, Rosalie; Currie, Finlay; Genn, Leo; Kerr, Deborah; Loren, Sophia; Pidgeon, Walter; Sofaer, Abraham; Taylor, Elizabeth; General; DVD; DVDs Playable in any Region; Decade (feature_three_browse-bin); English; Standard Edition; Grade Level (feature_five_browse-bin); Audio Type (feature_six_browse-bin); DVD

Product description

NTSC/Region 0. Starring, Mervyn LeRoy, Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, and Leo Genn. Castaways. 2007.

"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. --Keith Simanton

Customer reviews

« bluy ray is the best version yet but. »

The blu ray version is the best yet of this classic epic movie. A very large budget epic based on a novel. And it features the monstrous nero as played by peter ustinov as a true sociopathic madman. We do know that nero did indeed fiddle as rome burned but he in reality didn't start the fire. However he needed scapegoats and found them in the christians. The movie has him set the city alight but who cares it's still great entertainment! Robert taylor does a great job here as the roman commander and leo glenn as a cynical confidant of NERO is also brilliant. Deborah kerr who never had a bad performance in her life also shines as a roman slavegirl. But back to the print , the blu ray looks alot better than a standard print but they didn't remove artifacts in some scenes. These are rare , like a few lines in the print in a few scenes and several jumps do to loss of movie frames. This should have been fixed (studios need to grasp that fact!) but these instances are rare and mostly the flick just looks outstanding! This movie was a major hit and it still has a great story and great acting that makes it a great color movie to watch. In black and white spectacle and period shows unless they are film noir ,look flat and take away from the production. This is full color and it was never shot in widescreen so that's not a issue. It's at the ratio it was filmed here. And lastly why doesn't amazon.com seperate vhs, dvd, and especially blu ray reviews? this needs to be fixed. This movie is a great movie that is closer to the novel that true history and that's ok because in any version of reality NERO is the antichrist. His number is 666 after all!. So sit back and enjoy the spectacle of a expensive mgm masterpiece. With deluxe sets and top notch acting. And the best look yet on blu ray , even if there are a few flaws they are not around too much so grab this one instead of a standard dvd.

Rating: (5 out of 5) @ 2010-07-03

« Boring and terrible actors »

first of all the quality of the Blu-ray was HORRIBLE. The picture and sound were like watching it on regular tv, not even as good as a DVD. I just watched this instead of when I bought it otherwise I would return it. The story was boring, the acting was terrible especially by the main actor, he was terrible in this kind of film. I have always seen him in westerns where he fit in just right, but to me stands out like a sore thumb in this movie, he doesn't have the ump that is normally shown in these type of films. I am a very big fan of any roman picture, not this one though, its going from my collection.

Rating: (2 out of 5) @ 2010-06-04

« Terrific »

Acting was great. Visually spectactular. A story all should see to remind us how great we humans can be and also how depreved and evil some (especially rulers) can be.

Rating: (5 out of 5) @ 2010-05-24

« Quo Vadis Holds Up Well for Its Age; Great Restoration! »

In reading some of the other reviews posted, most of them seem divided into three camps: the religious, the contemporary politically-correct, and the technical. As far as the first two camps are concerned, I will say that any major movie company, regardless of who they are, would be stupid to invest large sums of money in producing a movie that would not reflect the prevailing attitudes of the movie-going public at the time of its production. In addition, a successful film script should be reflective of those prevailing attitudes. Whether or not the attitudes of that time hold up sixty years later is another issue. At the time of Quo Vadis' production, we need to remember that the American public was in a post-war, anti-Nazi, anti-dictatorial frame of mind. Anti-Soviet attitudes were growing by leaps and bounds, and families went regularly to church. Public attitudes change with time. In a mass-communication world where attitudes can change almost overnight, criticism of a product that reflects what the prevailing attitudes are with an earlier time must be tempered with the realization that was how people viewed their world and society at that time.

Quo Vadis reflects very well, the prevailing public attitudes of the time of its production. I have not read the novel and cannot tell whether or not the script conforms with the novel. But the length of the film probably could have been cut down to about two hours, though that probably would not be sufficient time to show Commander Marcus Vinicius' growing hate of Nero and increase of belief in the Christian faith. It is known that Robert Taylor was not the preferred actor for this role, nor was Deborah Kerr the preferred actress for the role of Lygia. What makes Quo Vadis interesting is the antagonist-protagonist, lesser-actor roles of Peter Ustinov as Nero and Finlay Curie as Peter. We probably could have done without the romance of Marcus Vinicius and Lygia in the film and brought the roles of Nero and Peter to the fore, but it's romances that sell gothic novels and movie tickets.

As far as the restoration of the film is concerned, this was an excellent candidate for transfer to blu-ray and the looks of the original Technicolor negative reflect that quality. I'm glad that the film restoration technicians decided to keep the original mono soundtrack vice trying to make a 5.1 surround-sound transfer, which simply didn't exist at the time of the film's production. All-in-all, a great issue of a document reflective of its age and times!Quo Vadis [Blu-ray]

Rating: (4 out of 5) @ 2010-04-29

« Masterpiece of Robe and Sandal genre »

Peter Ustinov is the ultimate Nero. His expressivity as an actor is extraordinary and his magnetic personality takes over the screen. I couldn't wait to see him again, even if his singing made me sick, when he was off and we side tracked to the romance which was always a bore because Deborah Kerr has the sex appeal of a side cabinet, although she is a good actress, I believe she must have been the most dressed, covered and modest woman in Rome at any period in the Empire, as a matter of fact she could have moved into a convent at the arrival of the Middle ages without batting an eyelid.

The best scenes in the movie are the huge public displays: The triumph for Marcus Vinicius (Robert Taylor) was stunning, even by today's standards and the view of Rome simply amazing and an extraordinary feat in a world without computers. The christians in the circus being thrown to the lions in the arena was equally compelling, it felt like being there, in a much more real way than the technical tricks of "Gladiator" for the circus scene, to give a more recent example. But nothing can match the famed fire of Rome. The streets burn form all sides engulfing a screeming, fleeing crowd in panic and it looks more like a documentary, particularly the scenes when the crowds escape through the sewers to the river.The role of Poppaea, Nero's cruel trophy wife was excellently done by Patricia Laffan whom we first see next to her pet cheetahs wearing an extraordinary hairdo and miles of fabric/trailing capes and remains throughout the movie an alter ego of Nero's perversity.She could have made a career playing corporate wives!

This is a moie you can own and enjoy watching over and over again so I suggest buying rather than renting

Rating: (5 out of 5) @ 2010-04-22

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