Quo Vadis (1951)

Editorial Reviews - "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 [refers to the VHS edition] ++++ This officially licensed release from South Korea is in ENGLISH with optional (removable) English and Korean subtitles. Product Description

Magnificence

This film is a statemen of magnificence, the pomp, the casting, the marvelous acting, and the gracefully written script, all bear witness to the creativity of mid 20th century Hollywood. This movie is simply delightful, the viewer should be prepeared for depth of dialogue, spectacle, lengthiness, and creative character interaction. This film is highly thought provoking, and therefore not light fair. August 7, 2008

THE J. LUNDBERG REVIEW IS BULL!

J.LUNBERG IS FULL OF SH*&^(#@*! HIS REVIEW IS BULL! THIS IS A VERY GOOD AND TOUCHING MOVIE. April 3, 2008

Restored DVD On The Way

I too have been waiting a long time for a restored DVD of this classic and inspiring film. The wait is finally over and expect a fully restored Ultra-Resolution DVD set 4th Qtr 2008. The reason for the delay has been the poor quality of the source film that has required extensive work.

March 11, 2008

Outstanding Film, Poor DVD Quality

Quo Vadis is one of the best films of the 1950s and arguably among the greatest released to date. The verbal sparring among Petronius (Leo Glenn), Nero (Peter Ustinov) and Tigellinus (Ralph Truman) would by itself be the backbone of a great movie. Unfortunately, the world currently lacks a quality copy of the film available to the general public. The Korean copy has several problems with loosing audio sync.

If you would like to see this film on DVD, go to TCM and vote for it here:

http://www.tcmdb.com/search.jsp?methodName=allSearch&keyword=quo+vadis December 19, 2007

A so-so copy of an ageless classic

If you're a sword-and-sandals movie fan, you don't need me to tell you about the movie's content. But the Korean pressing is, in quality, only so-so (I got better results, including better sound and deeper color, by DVD-recording off of Turner Classic Movies), but it does carry English subtitles, though laughingly attenuated. If this is your only access to Peter Ustinov as a bearded Nero and sylphid Deborah Kerr as the willowy damsel Lygia under chase by the black bull, then you can't do much worse than buy this copy. The original movie was pre-Cinema Scope so the ratio is 1:1.33 and you're not missing anything, widescreen-wise. Call it the poor man's tour of ancient Rome: fire, circuses, crucifixions, and all -- the stuff that makes your TV screen pant and sweat and earn its wattage. December 12, 2007

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