Quo Vadis (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Delivery Time: 7 to 15 Working Days Format: DVD

Ancient Rome is the setting for this dramatic epic of faith, love, and courage. Revered Imperial soldier Marcus Vinicius (Robert Taylor) returns from years of battle and falls in love with a beautiful Christian woman (Deborah Kerr). But as Nero (Peter Ustinov) becomes obsessed with destroying the fledgling Christian Church, Vinicius must protect his beloved from the emperor's wrath. Look quickly for uncredited appearances by Elizabeth Taylor, Sophia Loren, and Bud Spencer. 174 min. Standard; Soundtracks: English Dolby Digital mono, French Dolby Digital mono; Subtitles: English (SDH), Spanish, Japanese, French; featurette; audio commentary; original roadshow overture and exit music; theatrical trailers. Two-disc set.
"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