Quo Vadis (Two-Disc Special Edition)
by Anthony Mann, Mervyn LeRoy
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Deborah Kerr, Leo Genn, Patricia Laffan, Peter Ustinov, Robert TaylorDirector: Anthony Mann, Mervyn LeRoy
Brand: Warner Brothers
Cinematographer: Robert Surtees
Producer: Sam Zimbalist
Writer: Henryk Sienkiewicz
Writer: John Lee Mahin
Writer: S.N. Behrman
Writer: Sonya Levien
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language)
Format: Color, Dolby, DVD-Video, NTSC, Original recording remastered, Special Edition
Picture Format: 1.33:1
Running Time: 171 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2008-11-11
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Warner Home Video
Movie Reviews of Quo Vadis (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Movie Review: "...Yes Divinity...It's A Work Of Singular Genius." "Are you sure Petronius...?"
Summary: 3 Stars
***THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE BLU RAY EDITION***
After 3 tortuous years in the making and adapted from Henryk Sienkiwicz's huge book, "Quo Vadis" was unleashed on the public in early 1952 - just in time for maximum exposure at the Oscars in March. Costing a staggering $7 million dollars (a figure that even now seems extravagant), the sandals and sand epic did huge box office business in a post-war world hungry for pure escapism - and even managed to garnish eight Oscar nominations along the way. Unfortunately - 57 years later - time has not been kind to this bloated beast of a thing.
But first to the picture quality - as the word "Overture" sits stubbornly on your screen for a few minutes, it's clear that major restoration work has been done here - and then when Robert Taylor (Marcus Vinicus) does turn up riding his chariot into the outskirts of Rome after two years of campaigns, the colour and clarity is BEAUTIFUL. It stays pretty much this way for the whole of the movie - and as you can imagine with this much money spent on it - the outdoor and indoor sets are sumptuous - the BLU RAY image revealing colour and detail everywhere you look.
The problem for me is that the film itself - no matter how good it may look now - is a crushing bore - and if it weren't for Peter Ustinov's fabulously over-the-top turn as the loony and crass Nero, "Quo Vadis" would be unbearable. The normally lovely Deborah Kerr looks suitably bathed in Christian light and full of love for humanity as you can imagine, but I find her po-faced performance as Lygia to be tedious and strangely dead - and again as a lead, she is acted off the set by a supporting actor - the Oscar nominated Leo Genn. British born Genn plays the artful Petronius - a courtier to the harp-playing, poetry composing, grape-eating Divinity. Petronius uses intelligence and cunning to effortlessly dance around Nero's increasingly ludicrous claims and word games. He - of all the cast - feels the most real - Taylor and Kerr seem to be merely doing their jobs. "Quo Vadis" is three hours long - and for me - I felt too many instances where I wanted to reach for the fast-forward button...Ustinov and Genn kept me from doing so.
However, for lovers of the film and period buffs, the Blu Ray purchase is a no-brainer. It looks great - and if you have a home cinema kit or better still a projector and large pull-down screen - then this will transport you back to the opulence of Fifties MGM overkill in a way that the DVD never could.
Great to look at then - but for me - not really a great movie...
Summary of Quo Vadis (Two-Disc Special Edition)
Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 11/11/2008"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
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