Quo Vadis (1951)

classic collection

Amazon has provided with many classics this is one of them.
Not as the best but still rates high December 28, 2008

The french version

Well I just received The french version of Quo Vadis.The Discs are the same as the American Version, but the two Folios of Glossy Pictures are Great. You get about 30 Pictures of Lobby pictures, Posters, behind the scenes, The Souvenier Program from the Road Show and the best is a cast posed picture on the Set. Why couldn't the American Version have done that. December 20, 2008

Quo Vadis

Excellant 1950's epic, loved the sets and actors were great. A classic worth collecting as computer generated movies today just don't match the REAL casts of hundreds in a scene and the lavish costumes and sets used in these grand displays portrayed. Love the movie and hope others will enjoy who have never seen it. December 14, 2008

Wonderful spectacle, but way too short for what the story tries to tell

A beautiful print of this good film. The film is not quite as good as the original book though. But decent, considering that Mervyn Leroy was behind the wheel of this super-production, so it could hardly fail. The best is the crisp and beautiful cinematography, the real sets, the colors, the whole spectacle of it. The weakest is the shortage of running time: the story has been shortened way to much from the original. There is no time for transitions, no character development. The heroine meets the hero and in no time he's become a Christian and they are married. It makes no sense. For the story to work properly it should have had, at least, one more hour only for character development; and then more for lots of facts that matter and are not even told in the film. For instance: the Greek character who is paid to go and pass as a Christians to later on betray them to the Romans. There's a lot of stuff that goes untold in the film. Therefore the film is just a great spectacle, but no more. Saved by the sheer audacity of a good director.

Oh, what it could have been with more time, and more money! December 4, 2008

Finally - An Official 2 Disc Release Of A Classic Epic -

"Nothing do I see that is not perfection".

At last one of the great classic Hollywood blockbuster epics of the early fifties has finally found its rightful DVD home with this exceptional release from Warner Home Video!

Produced by MGM in 1951 and expertly directed by Mervin LeRoy "Quo Vadis" was Hollywood's first wallop in the fight against the onslaught of television. Available at first and for many years only on VHS tape it then began to appear on a plethora of foreign DVDs but with varying quality - it must be said. One such unfortunate issue, which originated in Korea, was released without any opening credits whatsoever! I kid you not!

That said, we now, thankfully, have it in our possession and a superb and pristine double disc issue it is! With perfect colour resolution
Robert Surtees' brilliant Acadamy Award nominated cinematography comes across with well defined and plush imagery. With gorgeous colours for the
costumes worn by the various cast members particularly dazzling is the golden uniform worn by star Robert Taylor as he proudly bears himself aboard his chariot during his Triumphal March through Rome.
Also of note of course is Miklos Rozsa's Acadamy Award nominated score.
His main Roman motif, bold and strong, dominates the scenes in the Forum and in the arena. In gentler mode is his beautiful love theme for the scenes with the star struck lovers Marcus and Lygia. Then there's the frenetic bacchanal-like Hymn of the Vestal Virgins immediatly followed by the robust and heroic Triumphal March. Also heard on this issue, and for the first time since the original Roadshow release 56 years ago, is Rozsa's Overture and Exit Music. The great composer would barely eclipse the "Vadis" score eight years later with his Oscar winning music for "Ben Hur".

The assembled cast are uniformly excellent except perhaps the syrupy and simpering performance of Deborah Kerr as Lygia. But Robert Taylor is fine in what is probaly his best known role as the Legion commander Marcus Vinicius. Outstanding is British actor Leo Genn as Petronious - the sardonic and sarcastic confidante of the tyrannical Emperor Nero. And of course there is the great Peter Ustinov chewing up every bit of scenery there is as the totally crazed and looney Nero. Both Ustinov and Leo Genn were nominated for Acadamy Awards.
The picture is also buoyed by some elaborate and colourful set pieces - the vestal virgins singing and wildly dancing in homage to the goddess Vesta, the spectacular Triumphal March of the Roman legions taking the salute from Nero as it passes the great palace, the exciting Chariot Chase and the brilliantly staged burning of Rome. And not forgetting the harrowing arena scenes as the lions are released on the hymn-singing christians.
These scenes all come across extremely well on this excellent DVD which comes with a trailer, an excellent 45 minute featurette "Quo Vadis & the Genesis Of The Biblical Epic" and a commentary by one F.X.Feeney who neglects to tell us that the opening narration is by MGM favourite Walter Pidgeon (uncredited) and persists in calling the leading lady's character Liga instead of Lygia. But it's still a DVD that every devotee will have
to have in their collection!

Here's looking forward to the Blue Ray version promised for early 2009! November 24, 2008

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