One of the earliest epics Hollywood would produce, when Quo Vadis was released in November of 1951, it set in motion a wave of dramatic epics that would continue throughout the decade. The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), Ben Hur (1959), The Ten Commandments (1956) and El Cid (1961), were likely inspired at least in part, by the success of Quo Vadis. Given the films opulent sets and costumes, bigger than life stars, vast amounts of people in certain shots and its historical undertaking, it’s no wonder Quo Vadis made such an impression on 1951 moviegoers and helped to shape how movies were produced well into the future.
Mervyn LeRoy (Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo, Mister Roberts, Gypsy) directed Quo Vadis, with uncredited help from Anthony Mann (Cimarron, El Cid), the filmmakers basing their story on the best-selling novel by Nobel-prize winner Henryk Sienkiewicz, which had been made into a film three times before (1902, 1912, and 1925). The tale gets its name from the Latin term meaning “Where are you going?” taken from the passage in John 13:36 where Peter says to Jesus, “Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.” Thus, the story’s title sets the tone and premise of what will follow.
Quo Vadis tells the story of legion commander Marcus Vinicius (Robert Taylor) who falls in love with the Christian girl Lygia (Deborah Kerr). Under the reign of the insane emperor Nero (Peter Ustinov) Rome is facing its biggest challenge ever. While Nero is burning down the city in order to make room for his dreams, he is placing the blame for the fire squarely on the Christians, a relatively young religious sect with ideologies that contradict Roman edict. The Roman population is suddenly fiercely and violently divided. Nero is unmoved; to make an example of the Christian subversives, he has all Christians rounded up and the throws them before the lions in the Circus Maximus. But for Vinicius, who he considers a traitor and his love Lygia, the emperor has special plans.
Nothing about Quo Vadis is small; the bigger, the better. Starting with a three-minute overture from composer Miklos Rozsa and ending with exit music newly rejoined to the picture. The narrator is an uncredited Walter Pidgeon. Shot on location in Rome and in the Cinecittà Studios in Technicolor, the film is laden with production values. With some 30,000 extras, Quo Vadis holds the record for most costumes used in one movie at 32,000. Today filmmakers would use CGI to create a coliseum full of Romans, in 1951; it took a lot of time and patience.
The static direction of Mervyn LeRoy adds very little, leaving the good actors to carry it all. While Kerr and Taylor do the best they can with what are very stiff characters, its Peter Ustinov as Nero, who brings some real life to Quo Vadis. Pompous, vain, petulant, murderous (he orders the executions of his own mother and his wife, to say nothing of throwing thousands of Christians to the lions), at the drop of a hat. Anytime Ustinov is on the screen, the film picks up steam.
The other standout is Leo Genn as Gaius Petronius, Nero’s wise, counselor (and Vinicius’s uncle). Since Nero has already had his mother and wife killed, Petronius must walk a verbal tightrope, treading a diplomatic path around Nero’s quixotic whims by inventing new forms of adulation.
Even though Quo Vadis is clearly over the top at times, as a fan of epic films, I couldn’t help but love it. The spectacle of Rome burning, Christians facing hungry lions, and former heavyweight prizefighter Buddy Baer wrestling a bull; Quo Vadis is everything a proper epic should be.
The movie’s original 1.37:1 aspect ratio shows up well in 1.33:1 high-definition Blu-ray, the newly restored picture elements looking quite good and the Technicolor looking glorious. Delineation and detailing in this VC-1, BD50 affair are a little soft for high definition, and one notices occasional age flecks but they are minor.
The Dolby Digital 1.0 monaural is a bit coarse at times, with a touch of background noise. Dialogue comes through fine, but Miklos Rozsa’s musical score appears a bit thin and lean.
There aren’t too many bonus features included with this disc. The main things are an audio commentary by film historian and critic F.X. Feeney that is quite informative and a 2008 documentary. In the Beginning: Quo Vadis and the Genesis of the Biblical Epic, forty-four minutes, recounts the filming of Quo Vadis and the history of Biblical movies from silent days to the present, with comments from authors, historians, critics, and filmmakers.
In addition, the disc contains forty-five scene selections; the movie’s original roadshow overture and exit music reinstated for the first time in fifty-six years; a theatrical and teaser trailer; English, French, Spanish, and Italian spoken languages; French, Spanish, Chinese, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, German, Italian, Korean, Norwegian, Portuguese; and Swedish subtitles; and English captions for the hearing impaired.
