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DVD Review HTF DVD REVIEW: Quo Vadis (1 Viewer)

Joe Caps

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Yikes, - all of this talk about blank screen or not!!! We've waited years for this film to be on DVD - and it turns out to be another bacly colored transgfer from warners !!!!

I have the laser disc which has gorgeous color !!!

Can anyone do screen graps comparing the laser to the new dvd??
 

Joe Caps

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I saw a friends dvd last night. I brought my laserdisc with me. The laser looks like technicolor. The dvd looks like something awful.

The dvd does not look like
A a restoration of any kind
B. a competent transfer of any kind.

If warners took this long and gave us this awful Quo Vadis, I wonder what kind of junk will be served up when the long awaited Raintree County finally arrives.

Cees, no offense, but I hardly need the opion of Robert Harris to substitute for what I see on a screen for myself.
 

OliverK

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Can you please elaborate on this ?

And you cannot do caps from an LD like you can from a DVD, the player is such a big variable there that it would not be of much use.
 

Cees Alons

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No, of course not. And I assume Robert Harris, in turn, saw it on a screen for himself.

That's why I asked what it was you based your opinion on, because for us it's so damned difficult to choose who's judgement we will allow to influence us before we see it all on a screen for ourselves.


Cees
 

Jace_A

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I don't know about the DVD, but the German Blu-Ray looks pretty damn impressive to me. I have no idea why this hasn't been released in the US on BD, given that the disc is clearly meant for an English speaking market (it doesn't start with subs and the menu is in English).
 

AdrianTurner

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I saw this last night and have to agree with Robert Harris - it looked pretty spectacular to me, a wonderfully clear and sharp image with vibrant colors.

As usual, I thought the film was terrible - slow, turgid, pious in the extreme; Robert Taylor is a total stiff and Deborah Kerr makes Mary Poppins look like a strumpet. Only Ustinov and Genn breathe any life into their characters - well, they are characters rather than ciphers - and the whole thing just creaks in a way that Ben-Hur doesn't. Good to have it, though, and the accompanying documentary is pretty thorough if not in the top league.
 

Charles Ellis

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Lay off Deborah Kerr- she has fans here! Besides, how else was she to play a virtuous Christian virgin? From your review, you probably wanted Lana Turner as Lygia! Now, in that instance the character would resemble a strumpet. I do agree on the fine work of Ustinov and Genn- why Leo Genn didn't become a household name like Peter Ustinov is a mystery.

About the documentary that's in the DVD- does it mention the earlier aborted John Huston version of the film, and did they show the Elizabeth Taylor costume test shots?
 

Ken_McAlinden

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John Huston's involvement in the film is mentioned in the documentary and covered in much more detail in the commentary. Unless memory fails, the Liz Taylor costume test shots are not in the documentary, but between the documentary and the commentary, they do cover her initial casting as well as her participation as an extra.

[url=https://static.hometheaterforum.com/imgrepo/a/a9/htf_imgcache_36604.jpeg] [/url] [url=https://static.hometheaterforum.com/imgrepo/3/3f/htf_imgcache_36605.jpeg] [/url] [url=https://static.hometheaterforum.com/imgrepo/3/33/htf_imgcache_36606.jpeg] [/url]

Regards,
 

David_B_K

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I guess I like the film more than most here. I am not at all bothered by a movie being "pious in the extreme", particularly if it is about the history of the early Christian Church. I have always felt that Quo Vadis was the first biblical epic to have an intelligent and witty script. It is largely devoid of the "Moses, Moses, you stubborn, splendid, adorable fool" type of dialog, which permeated deMille's epics. When hokiness is combined with holiness, it makes the holiness fall flat. I do not feel this happens in Quo Vadis.

I am not normally a fan of Deborah Kerr. I always felt she was too prim and proper in most of her American films, and I hated the short curly hair they later forced her to wear. I loved her as Lygia. She did a marvelous job of conveying a demure Christian woman fighting against her passions. The famous shot of her as she turns toward the camera after Vinicius rides by in his triumph is electrifying.

Robert Taylor managed to do some of Vinicus well. I liked the hard-bitten soldier aspect of his character, which showed how he did not fit in with the foppery of Nero's court. I guess where he falls down is in playing more noble or admirable aspects of the character. Lygia apparently is attracted to Taylor's Vinicius simply for his good looks, because there is little that is winsome about his character. I suppose one is to think that his sheer manliness attracted her. A little more work night have made his character more dimensional than it is.

As for the piousness, I must confess that as a Christian, I find it rather thrilling, when Peter, robed in white, nobly played by Finlay Currie, appears in the Circus Maximus to inspire the martyrs. The singing of the martyrs during the crucifixions and torture is also moving to me. I am always a little bothered when Christian movies fail to actually say what the gospel really is ("while we were yet sinners, Christ saved us"), and Quo Vadis is equally deficient in that regard. Also, I was annoyed when Peter, in his earlier sermon, describes James and John as his brothers. James and John were brothers, but Peter's brother was Andrew. One would expect better attention to detail than that. However, I found it to be an over-all success. Like any epic, there is always a trade-off of subtlety for spectacle, but I believe Quo Vadis manages to be more of a complete package than many epics.
 

AdrianTurner

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There are two shots of Elizabeth Taylor - the first is a b&w still, which may or may not be from QV tests. The second is in color, on film, and looks like a QV costume test but could have been from anything. There's also a shot of Gregory Peck in costume as Marcus.
 

Colin Jacobson

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My problem with the film was that the first half was so damned talky. It saves all the action for the second half, but by the time we got there, I didn't care anymore.

I agree that Ustinov and Genn were the best parts of the film, but I also thought Kerr was lifeless. Don't expect her to be a wild woman, but she looked bored in the part - and I can't blame her, as the movie gives her little to do.

The less said about the stiff, bland Taylor, the better. Never did I think I'd miss Charlton Heston, but I did!
 

Charles Ellis

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Thanks, Ken, and you did a lot of film buffs a big favor by showing those photos. Just imagine how different the film would've been with Gregory Peck as Marcus and Taylor as Lygia. Oh, well......
 

Ken_McAlinden

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FYI - Larger versions of those photos are available at the IMDB. Just look up "Quo Vadis" and they are in the media/photos section. That is where I lifted them.

Regards,
 

Charles Ellis

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First Deborah Kerr, now Dame Elizabeth (who is a personal favorite). And what's wrong with Chuck Heston in any Biblical epic? His acting style fits such productions, and besides, he did get an Oscar for Ben-Hur. That film and The Ten Commandments, along with Quo Vadis still hold up as entertainment. When Gladiator hit it big, it looked like the Greco-Roman epic was back, but the somewhat lackluster response to Alexander and Troy ended that. On the other hand, I am forever grateful to Peter Jackson and his Lord of the Rings trilogy. At least there is a director who can do epics in the DeMille/Lean tradition for today's audiences.
 

Colin Jacobson

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Oh, I didn't mean to slam Heston. I'm not a fan, but you're right that he fits those movies well. That's why I made my comment: although I'm not wild about Chuck, he worked in those films, and he would've been much better in QV than Taylor. I felt the same way about Stephen Boyd's bad performance in Fall of the Roman Empire. I liked Boyd in Ben-Hur, but he was unable to carry Fall and someone like Heston would've been much better.

Heston was a limited actor, but he did what he did well...
 

Ken_McAlinden

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He was talking about Robert Taylor. Clue: Charlton Heston would rarely be considered for the same type of roles as Dame Elizabeth, although he would have made an interesting Cleopatra.
htf_images_smilies_smile.gif


Regards,
 

Charles Ellis

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Mea culpa, mea culpa. On the other hand, Robert Taylor was good as Ivanhoe, but imagine Errol Flynn being torn between Elizabeth Taylor and Joan Fontaine while fighting off George Sanders! A missed opportunity.
 

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