Quo Vadis
Directed by Mervyn LeRoy
Written by John Lee Mahin, S.N. Behrman, and Sonya Levien from the novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz
1951/USA
Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
First viewing/Netflix rental
[box] Emperor Nero: [none of his closest men will die for him in light of the mob’s anger over Rome’s burning] I’m surrounded by eunuchs![/box]
Objectively, this is worth seeing for Ustinov’s performance, the spectacle, and the music. Subjectively, it is just the kind of bloated epic I can’t stand.
The setting is Rome during the reign of the emperor Nero (Ustinov). Marcus Vinicius (Robert Taylor) has returned to the city after emerging victorious over the Britons. Instead of being received immediately in triumph, he is asked to cool his heels at the home of retired general Plautius. He is immediately attracted to Lygia (Deborah Kerr), Plautius’s adopted daughter who was taken as a hostage from her father, the king of the Lygians. It soon becomes clear to the audience, if not to Vincinius, that the entire Plautius household is made up of Christians. Lygia is smitten with Vincinius but rejects his crude advances.
Soon enough, Vincinius is received in Rome in a triumphal procession. He has had Lygia summoned by the emperor. Nero is attracted to the comely lass but is persuaded by Petronius, Vincinius’s uncle and Nero’s right hand man, that the girl is not worthy of him. Vincinius claims her as his prize, angering Nero’s harlot wife Poppaea who has the hots for Vincinius herself. Lygia flees, When Vincinius finally catches up with her something makes him set her free.
Meanwhile, Nero’s artistic ambitions are getting out of control. Not content with composing bad poetry, the fey demigod decides to rebuild Rome. He will need to clear the area and decides the quickest way is to set the whole thing on fire. He is stunned when the masses do not appreciate the gesture. Poppaea, secretly striking back at Vincinius and Lygea, suggests the best way to deflect blame would be to blame the conflagration on the Christians. The move concludes with the Christians going smilingly to their fate in the Coliseum and Nero’s end. With Finlay Currie as Saint Peter.
Something about these things strikes me as so phony that I can’t stomach them. It is as if the filmmakers neither knew nor cared about history, Rome, or Christianity. It is 100% bombast and spectacle. That said, the Technicolor really worked its magic on the Blu-Ray DVD I watched. Taylor seemed a bit too old and stuffy for his role and this might be the worst performance I have ever seen from Kerr, which doesn’t mean it was actually bad. Ustinov veers between delicious camp and beastliness just as any Nero should and Genn is wry as his bored advisor.
Quo Vadis was nominated for Academy Awards in the following categories: Best Picture; Best Supporting Actor (Ustinov); Best Supporting Actor (Genn); Best Cinematography, Color; Best Art Direction-Set Decoration, Color; Best Costume Design, Color; Best Film Editing; and Best Music, Scoring of a Dramatic or Comedy Picture.
Trailer
