August Scherl Berlin. A beautiful banner for a gruesome sequence: the persecution of Christians in Rome. In the upper right background, Nero, portrayed in the film by Charles Laughton, can be seen with the lyre which he plays at the beginning of the film as Rome burns. The couple in the foreground resembles Marcus Superbus (Frederic March) and Mercia (Elissa Landi) who are eventually martyred in the Colosseum.