Quo Vadis on DVD
Where is a distribution of this movie on DVD? Famous classic forgot by the MGM...
shareWhere is a distribution of this movie on DVD? Famous classic forgot by the MGM...
shareI'm also surprised this one hasn't been given the DVD treatment, especially since it might be possible to lure Sir Peter Ustinov into a few reminiscences about his role as Nero and the probably lengthy shoot in Rome. For instance, how many Technicolor cameras were used at Cinecitta, when, at the time, the only one outside of Hollywood, was bolted to a London soundstage? Did he have what appears to be great difficulty in dragging those extremely elaborate costumes around on what were probably stifling, non-air conditioned soundstages under the hot three-strip Technicolor lighting and for the exteriors in the warm Italian sun? And so forth. My two-tape VHS copy is quite satisfactory, but MGM is noted for being pretty good about preserving the negatives of its bigger successes (and this was, in its day) and a DVD version might be an improvement. We can only hope.
shareI'm surprised by the sheer lack of DVD titles. Many were available on Laser Disc, but never seem to make it to DVD. Possibly the studios think either there is a only limited market for the classics, or if they were available, people wouldn't buy their latest "Masterpiece". More likely it's a combination of the two.
shareUnfortunately Sir Peter Ustinov passed away since your posting and is no longer available for what would be an incredible addition to a QV release. I've been bugging MGM forever to release Quo Vadis. They just won't commit. I've also been trying to get Fox to release The Egyptian, which has Sir Peter in another supporting tour-de-force as the slave Caphtah. Highly recommend it if you've not yet seen it. It is available on VHS and Laserdisc (as is Quo Vadis). Keep ending e-mails to MGM and who knows? Good Luck, Bob H.
shareThe only DVD that I know of is an Asian version (China/Hong Kong)... I bought a copy off eBay a few weeks ago. No extras, and the film is over two sides, but it plays okay. Very cheap too.
Bought 120 classic movies (YES! 120!) in Malaysia recently all for $300 or so. Clearly NOT pirated copies: license seal on each box containing 10 DVDs also sold by a legit shopping mall retailer. From GWTW to Love is a Many splendored
Thing, in short all the good stuff dating from the 40s to early 70s. Some turkeys too, though, like Lollobrigida's Bathsheba...eeewww.
Noticed some flaws in transfer to DVD done in Hong Kong. But they play OK, as stated by Pamfino.
That sounds like a great deal you got yourself there, todemar! These Asian releases are very good - and they're so cheap that even if the odd one is a dud, it doesn't do any appreciable damage to the finances! Also, there are so many titles, like 'Quo Vadis', that are not currently available on DVD anywhere else.
I saved myself a serious amount of money a few months ago when I bought the 11 DVD box set, 'The Art of Buster Keaton'. I'd seen it for sale in several places for anything between £60 and £90 (er... I think that's about $105 to $155), and I got it from an eBay seller in China for just over £20, including shipping costs!
However, I would love a collector's edition of 'Quo Vadis' to be released, preferably with lots of extras about the cast and the making of the film. As mentioned in one of the above posts, it's a shame that such a release didn't happen while the great Sir Peter Ustinov was still with us.
Pam
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"I am not young enough to know everything." : Oscar Wilde
There's a Japanese version as well, on one side of a DVD, but it's got no extras-- not even a chapter-selection menu or voice/subtitle menu.
I'd recommend Kirk Douglas' Spartacus instead-- it's got Peter Ustinov in an award-winning supporting role, it's set in the same time period as Quo Vadis, and is not nearly as drenched in 1950s Hollywood's historically inaccurate Christian hypocritical propoganda. Some releases of Spartacus also have absolutely wonderful DVD commentaries by Ustinov, Kirk Douglas, Trumbo (the McCarthy-era blacklisted hollywood writer), and so on-- that commentary actually makes the history of the MAKING of Spartacus slightly more interesting than the film itself.
I LIKE WHAT YOU SAY ABOUT THE EGYPTIAN IN YOUR COMMENTS ON QUO VADIS. BOTH ARE SORELY MISSED. ALSO LAND OF THE PHAROAHS WOULD BE WELCOME, AS WOULD KISMET,1955, PORGY AND BESS,1959, FATE IS THE HUNTER,1964. AND IF ITS TUESDAY,THIS MUST BE BELGIUM. AND PARRISH. OH I COULD GO ON A LOT. ALLAN
shareAmazon.com offers a Korean(!)-made DVD of Quo Vadis in full format (maybe correct format for this film?). No information about the sound. Does anybody know the quality of this copy?
shareBy full format do you think QV was filemd in Cinemascope ?. If so, desist.
I saw it when it was first released -as a six-year-old- no such thing.
Format is the same as GWTW.
QV was NOT filmed in Cinemascope or any other widescreen format, as Cinemascope did not yet exist in 1951. "The Robe" (1953) was the first widescreen feature (available on an excellent DVD from Fox).
shareThank you b-1070. That was what I meant, but you said it better.
Speaking of which, in the months prior to Cinemascope's first release, Italian theater owners were grumbling and whining about the "outrageous outlays" involved in fitting new reflective 2.35/1 screens in the same space where they'd been doing business for over three decades, plus the costly "lateral speakers" for mag 4-track sound. They lobbied the "garment" hard and got to raise admissions by 20%, but this blew a hole in general attendance. Eventually a recovery in revenue came, which lasted a few more years, though TV by then had finished the damage. Things would never be the same again.
Wow, someone's bitter.
I do think that generally Christians may be mocked a bit more than other faiths in movies today, but let's not make overarching generalizations.
The film's spiritual message may be one of the reasons the producers doubt it would find its audience, but in these post-Passion Hollywood days, anythings possible.
Personally, I think this movie deserves a full DVD treatment, if not for its merits as a motion picture, then for its place in both in history of both spirituality in film and sword and sandal epics.
I heartily agree that this wonderful movie needs to be given the DVD treatment by MGM. I am fortunate to a copy of the Korean DVD that is available on amazon.com which I purchased whilst I was in Korea last summer; it has Korean subtitles but no extra features except the origional trailer and scene selection; however, the quality is superb, better than the LD version I grew up watching.
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You don't Leave a Empire It gets taken From You.
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I do believe that the rights to this movie are owned by Warner Bros, so we should pester them
All MGM films made before...some time in the 70's or 80's were bought by Warner.
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This is the story of a man who could not...make up...his mind.
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10-4 on that one, Jared. I've seen it way too many times for it to be just artistic license.
No wonder some folks hated Gibson's Passion so much!
Actually, the film is extremely one-sided, propogandistic, and historically inaccurate about the Christianity of that era.
It fails to mention that the Christians of that time, and until quite recently, wer4e NOT anti-slavery, and that the Christian theology that eventually gained the support of the Roman emperors was altered quite a bit from its original form, in order to tailor to the needs and wishes of the Roman empire's administration.
"Father, Son, and Holy Ghost", for example, was originally "father, son and mother", while Holy Virgin Mary worship was cut back severely. The idea was that polytheism or-- as in the early church, near-polytheism-- caused rifts in the society, and the Roman Empire wanted to have a religion that would require submissiveness to a single, straight line of authority from the lowest slave on up through the Emperor to God.
The film's theology is made from 2D cardboard props and wishful thinking.
Further, the love story at the center of the film is entirely unbelievable, particularly because of the religious & philosophical differences between the star-crossed lovers. Their interaction contains no real foundation for romance. Worse, the male lead's persistence in violence, insulting rude behavior, and failure to convert to the female lead's religion seriously undermines any foundation they might have for being attracted to one another in any sense but lust based on physical attraction. By the end of the film I as hoping the male lead (Robert Taylor) would be lion-food because he really had no redeeming qualities and no dramatic change of heart.
The portrayal of the early christian rabbis Peter and Paul purely panders to Christian thinking in the 1950s-- "We're right, we're perfect, only we have the true religion, and we've got a monopoly on kindness and miracles". Frankly, it's a bit revolting in the context of an otherwise magic-free storyline. it's a bit stupid, too, since ****SPOILER ALERT**** "god" directs Peter to go back to Rome and be martyred, but the result is that he dies, Rome's christians die anyway, and Emperor Nero dies but is replaced by a Roman polytheist general-- hardly much of an improvement.
If you enjoy this film it should only be for the performances and scripting alotted to Nero and Petronius, the only convincing(and decidedly non-christian) characters.
You make some interesting points, but your history and dramatic sense are, I think, flawed:
I don't think the film is "one-sided and propagandistic". Rather, it has a "point of view". All good drama has a "point of view". Shakespeare's "Richard III" is, decidedly, anti-Richard.
We know very little about the "Christianity" of Nero's time. Your assertion that early Christianity was not anti-slavery is specious for this reason. We just don't know. We do know that early Christianity took a great many of its converts from the ranks of slaves and criminals (free thinkers). Attitudes are formed in all kinds of groups, in part, by the sentiments of their memberships. As to "freedom", the early Christians were so dedicated to it that the creation of "bishops" and "presbyters" was delayed for years, though they recognized that the rules of organization required some form of hierarchy.
You're correct in saying that "polytheism caused rifts in the (Roman?) society". The concept of immortality lay at the root of this tension. However, Gibbon explains that the Roman Empire as a ruling entity cared little about religious hegemony except as it defined the Roman character (superior) and "its right to rule" the more effeminate, animal-worshiping peoples of the East. (A big part of Octavius' propaganda campaign against Cleopatra and her besotted lover, Antony, was based on the Roman people's identification with Hellenistic - masculine - behavioral precepts.) Roman administrations in Italy, and the more far-flung provinces, were welcoming to Eastern beliefs (however reluctantly) as political panacea. The problem, for the Romans, with Christianity and Judaism was that they, as you and the film point out, rejected Rome's offer of a public status equal to the pagan pantheons displayed throughout their capitol. The Christians sought to keep themselves from the temptations of the secular pleasures Roman society offered (the events of the arena) its population. Compounding the problem was the insistence on the part of some of the Emperors that they, too, while still living, were gods themselves. Neither the Christians nor the Jews could "sign that".
BTW, early Christians did believe they had a "monopoly on kindness and miracles". A bothersome trait for the Romans. In this sense, the film had it right. I have trouble with your connected assertion, as well -- we're Christians so "we're right, we're perfect . . ." Of course they thought they were right. That's the basis for martyrdom, isn't it? To die for what one believes is right. The "perfect" part, not so -- saw no indication of that in the film. And, certainly, when it comes to Christian orthodoxy, such a pretense couldn't be tolerated. A fundamental tenet of Christianity, as I'm sure you know, is that we are all sinners and in need of forgiveness. Pretty much rules out a personal sense of "perfection", doesn't it?
As to the love affair between Marcus and Lygia, well . . . My wife and I have differing religious and philosophical beliefs -- always have. We're very much in love, however. So much, at least for me, for the "unbelievability" of the lead's attraction in "Quo Vadis?" I submit, too, that Marcus does change. I mean, he tries to save the Christians (Lygia principally) at great risk to himself, and moves, gradually, from despising the Christian character to admiring it. Given the film's "point of view", I'd call those "redeeming qualities", wouldn't you?
Actually, post-Nero, the Christian community lead a generally calm and prosperous existence within the empire until Decius.
Sethness... Cvente2 gave you an excellent reply, but I want to add some points of my own too.
I think you should see this movie as a portrait of 1rst century Rome, not as some propaganda for Christianity. Of course, in this movie, Christians are the heros, while the Pagans are the villains. And we meet the apostles Peter and Paul. But over all, it's more a story about 1rst century Rome than a propaganda for a certain religion. And as a matter of fact, I actually consider the Christians as the "the good people" in the Roman empire. Even though they never officially wanted to abolish the slavery, they treated slaves with great respect, as if they had the same worth as free people. This was of course otherwise unheard in this time. They also fought against the custom of taking new-born babies away from their mothers and kill them. The ordinary pagan slave owner at this time would thus most likely been able to rape one of his slaves, have another slave flogged and kill a slave baby all in a day's work. However, a Christian slave owner would probably never act that way.
And about the love story between Marcus and Lygia, blame the stupid screen writers of this movie! It was so much different in the novel! In the novel, Marcus was of course the typical Roman aristocrat ("patrician"). Those weren't excactly quick to convert to Christianity in the 1rst century, and he didn't know the first thing about this new religion. So poor Marcus didn't understand, that Lygia didn't like parties, and that the emperor and his palace frightened her. And on top of it all, Marcus managed to get drunk at this party, and then he started to frighten her too. Lygia went to Acte and talked to her. In the novel, Acte was a Christian too, or at least she had some great sympthaties for Lygia's religion, even though he couldn't understand why Lygia wouldn't give the young handsome Marcus Vinicius another chance. But she helped Lygia escape from Marcus, and he started searching for her through the entire city of Rome. Finally, he managed to get to Peter's secret sermon, and he actually listened to what he said. He did follow Lygia, but his arm was broken by Ursus, when he tried to abduct her. But the Christians cared for him, even though he had tried to abduct one of them, and he started thinking about all this and what Peter had said in his sermon. So he actually became a Christian pretty soon, and he never ever insulted their faith or broke a symbol of their holy cross. This was all some stupid MGM screen writer's idea. So if you only watched this movie, you sure wouldn't understand why Lygia ever wanted to be with Marcus. But if you read the novel, the love story is much more understandable.
Yes, it's true! IMDB has reached Sweden!
Latest news!
"Quo Vadis (1951) is being considered for future DVD release, but the Technicolor classic is going to require Ultra-Resolution restoration. Given the film's length, that's going to take significant time and be VERY expensive."
Courtesy of 'Cameron'
http://forum.dvdtalk.com/showthread.php?t=450154
I have written to him to see if there's any update since 7th Feb 06.
Regards,
Andrew
A couple of month ago there were reports of a Quo Vadis DVD release in Germany, however weeks before the reported release date the DVD vanished from all catalogues without a trace. Amazon had it listed already, and yet without any further comment it was gone.
I guess it wouldn't have been much of a DVD anyway, with Ivanhoe, Knights of the Round Table (Robert Taylor) and The Three Musketeers (the Geny Kelly/Lana Turner version) coming from the same publisher with no special features at all. Knights didn't even feature the english sound track, and the picture quality was that of a bad video tape.
Still, it may serve to show that Quo Vadis is a coming attraction, though God only knows when it's coming.
The first releases were deficient in quality, the picture quality was not good, it was at times like watching a worn-out VHS-tape. I bought "Knights of the Round Table" and "Ivanhoe" nonetheless. Quo Vadis was scheduled for 5/2006, but the release schedule is no longer valid. Which is a disgrace, because they had some really interesting classics coming (Quo Vadis, Wolfen, Body Snatchers ..).
shareThis film is the only video I have left. It's my favourite film of all time. Wish they'd bring it out on DVD!
shareDVD PLEASE
sharedon't worry, WB has it in production. it will be well worth the wait since it will be done in ultra rez which is very expensive. this along with raintree county and the ultra res version of an american in paris will be great on hdtv.
"I thought you were aware by now, that I'm not someone to called for like a kitchen maid."
Warners is working on it,but it has apparently become the restoration job from hell,with almost none of the original source prints in good shape. Look for it in 2008 at the earliest.
shareits well worth the wait since it'll be in ultra rez.
"I thought you were aware by now, that I'm not someone to called for like a kitchen maid."
This from http://www.moviesunlimited.com/musite/cornstor_06_040107.asp (You'll need to Scroll down, it's about halfway down the page)
"Question: Please, can you tell me if MGM will be releasing Quo Vadis? on DVD?"
-- (via email)
"Answer: Reliable sources tell us it won’t be until next Easter (2008). There’s lots of work to be done, but it will quite a package when it does come out."
"I'm Spartacus"
"I'm Spartacus"
"I'm Spartacus!"
"I'm Spartacus!"
"I'M SPARTACUS! You're just 'Quo Vadis' "
"Oh look - a lovely spider! And it's eating a butterfly!"
'' ,,
Should have been out a years ago its been on the tv enough basicaly get the print that they show on the tv bung in a few extras and bobs your uncle should have come out in like 2002 easter 2008 wow taken 11 years for this dvd to come out on dvd madness but then thye put rubbish like star trek on dvd
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