Review of Quo Vadis (1951) by Nik B — 28 Mar 2010

A top notch general in Rome's army comes home to a post-Christ turmoil. Vinicius is a Roman loyalist. But he falls in love with a Christian girl who rejects his advances, as he only sees women as property. To drive that point home further, he does some political maneuvering to get Lygia into his home as a slave. Christians help her escape and she admits her love of Vinicius, but he can't respect or try to understand this Jesus fellow she keeps going on about.

When playing these roles, Robert Taylor orates as if he's on a coliseum stage. He comes off really stiff, a step above Joe Friday or Gerard Butler. Deborah Kerr is beautiful, but her character doesn't have enough to do. She should have been written with a greater sense of independence or female equality.

But this relationship is only part of the story. The most interesting sub-plot of this epic comes while watching Peter Ustinov play Rome's last emperor. A bat-shit insane man-child. He fancies himself a god and the supreme artist. He is quite fantastic. I would actually prefer Peter had gotten the Oscar instead of Karl Malden.

As biblical epics go, this was really great. The technicolor direction, the burning of Rome, the feeding of the Christians to lions. It was all exciting enough to make you lose track of the 3 hours that you're spending. There are over 100 speaking roles, 100 lions and 30,000 extras. It was a great spectacle.