Quo Vadis?

(Note: This review refers to the Blu-ray version of the DVD.)

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 film has been newly restored and remastered, with the original roadshow overture and exit music returned to the presentation, and features the excellent 44-minute documentary "In the Beginning: Quo Vadis and the Genesis of the Biblical Epic" and commentary by critic F.X. Feeney.