Released - November, 1951 

Directed By - Mervyn LeRoy

Starring – Robert Taylor (Marcus Vinicius), Deborah Kerr (Lygia), Leo Genn (Petronius), Peter Ustinov (Nero), Finlay Currie (Peter), Abraham Sofaer (Paul).

Description – The story takes place in ancient Rome during the reign of Emperor Nero and regards the conflict between Christianity and the corrupt Roman Empire.

This conflict is the backdrop to Roman Commander Marcus Vinicius and his love for Lygia a Christian with no interest in a warrior. The adopted daughter of a retired Roman General, Lygia is virtually a captive of Rome.

Wishing to be able to get Lygia to love him, Marcus uses his military success as a means to have Nero give the girl to him for his faithful duty. Although resentful of being a gift, Lygia realizes that Marcus does indeed love her and she him.

Emperor Nero’s acts of insanity continue to grow and culminate with his burning of Rome, an act he promptly blames on the Christians. Nero orders the Roman army to capture and bring to him all the Christians, including Lygia, her family and Marcus.

Their fate…death in the arena.

NOTABLE: This motion picture was nominated for 8 Academy Awards, but went without a win. The nominations included Best Picture, two nominations for Best Actor in a Supporting Role, Best Art Direction-Set Decoration Color, Best Cinematography Color, Best Costume Design Color, Best Film Editing, and Best Music.

The film was originally cast in 1949 with Elizabeth Taylor and Gregory Peck in the lead roles. When the production changed hands the roles were recast.

This film was MGM’s highest grossing movie since Gone With the Wind.

An amazing 30,000 extras appear in the movie along with the use of over 32,000 costumes.

During filming, Director Mervyn LeRoy had a ‘lion’ of a problem. When released from their cages to enter the arena, the lions found the weather so hot they immediately retreated right back to the cages. To solve this problem several of the costumes used in the arena were filled with meat to attract the lions.

Personal Comment: If you are a fan of the biblical epics made during the 1950′s and haven’t seen this lavish production be sure to add it to your list.

Quo Vadis (Two-Disc Special Edition)

Quo Vadis [Blu-ray]

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Released – November, 1950 

Directed By - Compton Bennett, Andrew Marton

Starring – Deborah Kerr (Elizabeth Curtis), Stewart Granger (Allan Quatermain), Richard Carlson (John Goode), Hugo Haas (Van Brun).

Description – A classic adventure film about the ‘great white hunter’ Allan Quatermain guiding Elizabeth Curtis through the African jungle in search of her lost husband.  Elizabeth’s husband Henry had been searching for the legendary treasure of King Solomon.

A spectacular series of adventures occur that involve wild animals, dangerous tribesmen, and a booby-trapped cave.  Will the husband be found; will the treasure be found, and will Allan and Elizabeth fall in love?

NOTABLE: This motion picture won two Oscar’s; Best Cinematography, Color, and Best Film Editing.  The film was also nominated for Best Picture.

The location footage in this film, and many of the animal scenes were re-used dozens of times during the 1950′s.

Other than the beat of Africal drums, there is no musical score for this film.

Originally suggested for the role of Allan Quatermain, Errol Flynn turned down the role not wanting to spend location filming in a tent.

Personal Comment:  Growing up, I always had a love of Saturday Matinee jungle movies; this is a very good one.

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