Quo Vadis?

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Quo Vadis?

1951

2h 51m

History

Drama

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Popcornmeter

83%

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63 Reviews

73%

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2,500+ Ratings

Returning from a military campaign abroad, General Marcus Vinicius (Robert Taylor) discovers that a new religion has taken hold in Rome: Christianity. When Vinicius encounters Lygia (Deborah Kerr), a follower of the strange religion, he quickly becomes smitten and tries to win her affections. Lygia is reluctant due to their differing beliefs. Complicating matters is the crazed Emperor Nero (Peter Ustinov), who blames the Christians for his own burning of Rome, beginning a wave of persecution.

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Critics Consensus

Summoning all the pageantry and scale Hollywood can muster before letting a corker of a performance by Peter Ustinov run roughshod over it, Quo Vadis? realizes Rome on the big screen in all its gaudy and spectacular glory.

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Kate Cameron

New York Daily News

Jun 30

3/4

A little restraint on the part of director LeRoy might have made this moving and inspiring story of faith into an exciting and impressive film.

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Edwin Schallert

Los Angeles Times

Jun 30

Its pictorial lavishness has never been equaled in any other production. One gets the feeling that he is seeing far greater crowds, vaster settings than have ever previously been visible.

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Mae Tinée

Chicago Tribune

Jun 30

Peter Ustinov can take the lion's share of credit for giving the film a droll twist with his performance as the petulant, plump peacock who simpered and sulked on his throne in imperial Rome until his delusions led him to destroy the city.

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Howard McClay

Illustrated Daily News (Los Angeles)

Jun 30

Ustinov dominates much of Quo Vadis, but no other actor could have done it so thoroughly and decisively.

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C.A. Lejeune

Observer (UK)

Jun 30

Good it is not, but colossal it undoubtedly is: colossally showy, colossally well-meaning, colossally crowded, conceived in what be described as colossally poor taste.

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Leaburn O

@RT35452347 21h

Peter Ustinov steals the whole movie with a brilliantly unhinged performance as Nero. Much of the rest of the picture is grander in scale than it is in quality. A classic religious Roman epic which should be seen at least once but maybe not worth a repeat viewing. Watched on DVD.

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Jonathan I

@Isajo Jan 3

Masterful performance from Ustinov as Nero! Like alot of epic movies from this era this movie had scale, beautiful colours and the amount of work that had to be made for this is insane.

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acsdoug D

@acsdoug Dec 23

The negative reviewers are right about one thing: the dialogue is too verbose and weighs the movie down. However, the story is good, some of the scenes are truly spectacular, and Peter Ustinov is terrific. I just wish they would have chosen a better lead actor than Robert Taylor.

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Patricia W

@RT52876138 04/20/2025

Awesome on every level.

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Anthony J

@jenkinsdraws 02/22/2024

Dated cornball stuff with some hoards-of-extras spectacle thrown in. Robert Taylor plays a Roman general like a wooden American. A long-winded waste of time. except for Ustinov's Nero, who is perfectly played just short for funny.

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Alec B

@Alec97 01/10/2024

Peter Ustinov is a great Nero, but like a lot of these epics it is mostly dull and overly melodramatic.

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Mervyn LeRoy

Director

Robert Taylor

Marcus Vinicius

Deborah Kerr

Lygia

Peter Ustinov

Nero

Leo Genn

Petronius

Patricia Laffan

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Synopsis

Returning from a military campaign abroad, General Marcus Vinicius (Robert Taylor) discovers that a new religion has taken hold in Rome: Christianity. When Vinicius encounters Lygia (Deborah Kerr), a follower of the strange religion, he quickly becomes smitten and tries to win her affections. Lygia is reluctant due to their differing beliefs. Complicating matters is the crazed Emperor Nero (Peter Ustinov), who blames the Christians for his own burning of Rome, beginning a wave of persecution.

Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Producer: Sam Zimbalist
Screenwriter: S.N. Behrman, Sonya Levien, John Lee Mahin, Henryk Sienkiewicz
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Production Co: Metro Goldwyn Mayer
Genre: History, Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Feb 23, 1951, Original
Release Date (Streaming): Sep 11, 2015
Runtime: 2h 51m
Sound Mix: Mono
Aspect Ratio: Academy (1.33:1)

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