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Quo Vadis
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Quo Vadis (1951)

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User Rating: 7.1/10 (2,656 votes)
Photos (see all 13 | slideshow)

Overview

Director:
Mervyn LeRoy
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Writers:
S.N. Behrman (screenplay)
Sonya Levien (screenplay)
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Release Date:
8 November 1951 (USA) more
Genre:
Drama | History | Romance more
Tagline:
Three Years in the Making! Thousands in the Cast! Filmed in Rome! more
Plot:
Returning to Rome after 3 years in the field, General Marcus Vinicius meets Lygia and falls in love with her... more | add synopsis
Awards:
Nominated for 8 Oscars. Another 2 wins & 2 nominations more
NewsDesk:
(2 articles)
Actress Deborah Kerr Dies at 86 (From IMDb News. 18 October 2007)
Oscar Winner Peter Ustinov Dies at 82 (From WENN. 29 March 2004)
User Comments:
Whither Thou Goest more

Cast

 (Cast overview, first billed only)
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Additional Details

Also Known As:
Qvo Vadis (USA) (alternative spelling)
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Runtime:
171 min | UK:166 min
Country:
USA
Language:
English
Color:
Color (Technicolor)
Aspect Ratio:
1.37 : 1 more
Sound Mix:
Mono (Western Electric Sound System)
Certification:
UK:PG (tv rating) | USA:Approved (PCA #15165) | UK:PG (video rating) (1986) | West Germany:12 (f) | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Finland:K-12 | Sweden:15 | UK:A (original rating)
MOVIEmeter: ?
V 47% since last week why?

Fun Stuff

Trivia:
Robert Taylor's hairy chest had to be shaved for his part because the studio thought a man's hairy chest was too "sexy" for a biblical film. more
Goofs:
Anachronisms: Chess was unknown in Europe until at least the seventh century, yet we see soldiers playing. more
Quotes:
[Nero is exasperated with the mobs]
Emperor Nero: Do I live for the people or do the people live for me?
Petronius: You are the sun in their sky! Does the sun have privacy?
Emperor Nero: The sun has the night! These people expect me to shine both day and night!
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Movie Connections:
Referenced in Some of the Best (1949) more

FAQ

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.
13 out of 17 people found the following comment useful:-
Whither Thou Goest, 2 December 2005
8/10
Author: bkoganbing from Buffalo, New York

Quo Vadis, based on the late nineteenth century novel by Henryk Sienkiewicz, has been filmed many times in many lands for the cinema and for television. It was done as a Broadway play at the turn of the last century. But this is the version that most people remember and talk about.

It's also the first of the big budget sand and scandal epics that the movies made to try and compete with that little home entertainment machine that was popping up in more and more homes. MGM built the magnificent sets the film was done on and sent Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr and the whole cast over to Italy to shoot it. Those sets later popped up in Ben-Hur, The Fall of the Roman Empire and dozens of Italian gladiator films. Supposedly somewhere in the cast of thousands both Elizabeth Taylor and Sophia Loren appeared as extras. Spot them if you can.

Another extra was Lia DiLeo and gossip about her and Robert Taylor led to the break up of the Robert Taylor-Barbara Stanwyck marriage.

The story is about Robert Taylor as Marcus Vinicius, Roman soldier and his lust then love for Christian girl Lygia played by Deborah Kerr. Their story is set against the background of the early Christian church in Rome and the persecution of it by the Emperor Nero.

Taylor and Kerr are fine in the leads, but in this case the supporting cast really overshadowed the stars. Peter Ustinov as Nero and Leo Genn as Petronius were both nominated for Best Supporting Actor of 1951, but lost to Karl Malden in Streetcar Named Desire.

Peter Ustinov got a once in a lifetime part as Nero. It's the kind of role that one can overact outrageously and still convey all the sinister impulses that this villain possessed. Ustinov was compared with Charles Laughton as Nero in The Sign of the Cross and I wouldn't dare say who was better.

My favorite part in this film has always been Leo Genn as Gaius Petronius. He's the only actor in the film who's holding his own with Ustinov. He's a pretty smart guy this Petronius, keeping his place at the court by flattery and guile. It's a bitter pill for him to swallow when after Nero burns Rome, the Rome he loves and has dedicated his life to. He could have prevented it by taking a righteous stand against the tyrant. But instead he played the cynic once too often and decides what he deems to be the only course of action open to him.

Finlay Currie is a strong and hearty, but aged St. Peter. My conception of St. Peter has always been that of Finlay Currie and in his youth that of Howard Keel in The Big Fisherman. Peter's a hands on kind of pastor used to hard work. After all he was a fisherman in his younger days and that certainly is outdoor work.

Whether people are confirmed Christians or not will depend on how they take this film. We all can certainly admire the spectacle and the talent of the players. And nobody questions the atrocities committed by Emperor Nero against the early Christians.

But at one point after Taylor realizes his love for Kerr, he makes what I consider a quite reasonable offer to allow her to continue in her faith and he'll even put up whatever kind of chapel on the house grounds for that purpose. Not so says Kerr, it's going to be all or nothing. That all or nothing attitude today has got a few people upset with organized religion for various reasons. But that's in the distant future from the First Century AD.

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Discuss this title with other users on IMDb message board for Quo Vadis (1951)
Recent Posts (updated daily)User
Just saw this on the big screen ScarletPimpernel64
Leo Genn forgotten wildwoodmusic
8 Nods, none for Director luke_veinot
Which part does Elizabeth Taylor play? harrymos
Longer version? marcin_kukuczka
More on this movie qoppa01818
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