One of the first of the cross and sandals epics of the fifties and sixties, this movie is a visual splendor. With some of Hollywood's finest character actors like Finlay Currie and Felix Aylmer, the sensitive roles performed by Deborah Kerr and Robert Taylor, and the very excellent decadence of Peter Ustinov's Nero. This film, which was the last great film under studio head Louis B. Mayer for MGM started a string of magnificent epics over the next fifteen years. The sound score of Miklos Rozsa was the first of many epic scores (to include "Ben Hur," "King of Kings" and El Cid" among others.) Mervyn Le Roy here proves why he became such a big name in MGM history with this lavish and satisfying vision of the early persecution of the Christains.
Although this title has been filmed many times since, this is and will probably always remain the definitive version and rightly so. I have seen it at least twenty times and each time it remains a fresh and riveting experience. If you have not already seen it, do so at once.
Although this title has been filmed many times since, this is and will probably always remain the definitive version and rightly so. I have seen it at least twenty times and each time it remains a fresh and riveting experience. If you have not already seen it, do so at once.