Quo Vadis?

One of MGM's biggest hits of all time, this pre-wide-screen costume epic set the style and sensibility for the Technicolor biblical epics that followed: lavish, stolid, and full of pious Christian indignation at the corruption of the decadent Roman Empire. Robert Taylor stars as the arrogant Roman officer who falls for the beauty and faith of Christian hostage Deborah Kerr, but they're both upstaged by Peter Ustinov's utterly mad Nero, an infantile figure of sniveling self-absorption and decadent divinity, and by the stunning sweep of the canvas. The spectacle includes the burning of Rome and the sacrifice of the Christians to the lions in the Colosseum. The set spreads the film across two discs and features an excellent 44-minute documentary and commentary by critic F.X. Feeney.