Quo Vadis

Descriptions for MP 062 - MP 064. In 1951, MGM released the first sound Quo Vadis, directed by Mervyn LeRoy. Along with DeMille’s Samson and Delilah (1949), it was one of the films that started the postwar boom in studio-produced Biblical epics. It was filmed at Cinecittà studios in Rome.
Robert Taylor plays Marcus Vinicius, the Roman soldier who falls in love with the Christian, Lygia, played by Deborah Kerr. Leo Genn plays Petronius, Vinicius’ uncle and long-suffering advisor to Nero. Peter Ustinov steals the picture with his flamboyant portrayal of Nero, for which he received his first Academy Award nomination.
Two of the posters (MP 062 and MP 063) focus on the drama of the Coliseum, as Christian martyrs are led to their deaths. In the background, flames recall Nero’s dramatic burning of Rome. These Coliseum posters also portray Ursus, the bodyguard of Lygia, wrestling a bull in the midst of the Coliseum as she is tied to a post, the climactic moment of the film. Ursus was played by the 6’7” former heavyweight boxer, Buddy Baer. The third poster (MP 064) features Robert Taylor as he rides in triumph into Rome after victories in the far-flung reaches of the Roman empire.