Quo Vadis

Pros: Did Nero really fiddle while Rome burned? See for yourself - watch Quo Vadis!
Cons: I'm shocked that this is the first review of this great Technicolor epic!

Adapted from the novel by Polish author Henryk Sienkiewicz, Quo Vadis is the story of the head-on collision between pagan Rome and the newly emerging Christian faith in the first century A.D.

The narration starts out In the 10th...

Pros: Lavish, colorful and occasionally exciting.
Cons: Loooonnnngggg;  over-acting on the part of Ustinov;  Taylor horribly miscast.

I probably saw Quo Vadis upon its initial release, but I would have been only 6 or 7 years old at the time, and most likely would have fallen asleep throughout most of the first half of the film.  I'd like to say that I was ...

Pros: Peter Ustinov and other talented actors. Music by Rósza.
Cons: Slightly faded. Robert Taylor. Heavy propaganda emphasis.

It should be observed initially that nearly every actor who appeared in this film is now deceased. In the 1950s and 1960s Hollywood was inundated with a rash of lushly produced Bible epics. “Quo Vadis” was pretty much the first of them, just ...

Pros: Lavish production, some memorable scenes, splendid acting by Ustinov and Genn
Cons: Principal actors flat, preachy script drags in places; hasn't aged all that well

When you think of Hollywood epics of the 50's and 60's, films such as *Ben-Hur*, *Spartacus*, *Cleopatra* spring to mind. Largely forgotten is *Quo Vadis*, the 1951 film which blazed the trail for later big-budget recreations of the Roman Empire, usually...