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Paramount Pictures
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A picture which will proudly lead all the entertainments the world has ever seen
A Roman soldier becomes torn between his love for a Christian woman and his loyalty to Emperor Nero.
CinemaSerf
Sep 6, 2026 · via TMDB
With Nero (Charles Laughton) on the throne of Rome and his scheming Empress Poppaea (Claudette Colbert) almost as maniacal as he, we enter a city on day three of the great conflagration. The emperor is more concerned by a broken string on his lyre as Tigellinus (Ian Keith) brings him disastrous news. The fires are starting to go out and what's more the citizens are beginning to wonder if he is the incendiary. A scapegoat must be found, and it just happens that a pesky sect called Christians could do that job nicely. The Prefect - "Marcus" (Frederic March) is summoned and ordered to wreak havoc on them all, save for a few who are to be saved for the arena. He's willing enough to carry out his task until he espies "Mercia" (Elissa Landi) whom he decides to protect from the edict. Needless to say, this doesn't go down so well with the jealous empress who has her eyes on him as a sort of reverse concubine, and therefore Nero's very perilous displeasure beckons. What future might they have? What future might any of them have? It's a straight take on the "Quo Vadis" story that oozes excess, violence and religiosity right from the start. The astonishingly (for the times) effite Laughton isn't on screen quite enough to really convey just how debauched he and his government were but his scenes are still impactful and Colbert augments those with a deliciously malevolent performance in a role that could have been written for her. March is proficient here throughout and Landi crafts a butter-wouldn't-melt "Mercia" in a fashion that convinces us that whatever happens, no lion is ever going to feast on her pallid flesh. The visuals are great: the structures of Roman grandeur; the costumes and the scenes in the Coliseum are all really quite impressively photographed and though the editing is a bit brutal at times, this is Cecil B. DeMille striving for his 1930s Christian-faith merit badge whilst indulging in just about everything decadent, sexually fluid and fetishist that the real Neroic court might have dreamt up for our awe and sinful entertainment two thousand years earlier.
User reviews courtesy of TMDB.
Fredric March
Marcus Superbus - Prefect of Rome
Elissa Landi
Mercia
Claudette Colbert
Empress Poppaea
Charles Laughton
Emperor Nero Claudius Caesar
Ian Keith
Tigellinus
Arthur Hohl
Titus
Harry Beresford
Favius Fontelas
Tommy Conlon
Stephan
Ferdinand Gottschalk
Glabrio
Vivian Tobin
Dacia
William V. Mong
Licinius
Joyzelle Joyner
Ancaria
Richard Alexander
Viturius
Nat Pendleton
Strabo
Clarence Burton
Servillius
Robert Seiter
Philodemus
Charles Middleton
Tyros
Henry Brandon
Colosseum Spectator (uncredited)
John Carradine
Christian Martyr / Gladiator Leader / Voice in Coliseum Mob (uncredited)
Dave O'Brien
Christian on Stairway (uncredited)
Sally Rand
Crocodiles' Victim (uncredited)
Arthur Shields
Chaplain Costello (1944 Re-Release Prologue) (uncredited)
Tom Tully
Hoboken (1944 Re-Release Prologue) (uncredited)
Lionel Belmore
Bettor of 300 Silver
Ynez Seabury
Little Girl
Mitchell Leisen
Art Direction
Karl Struss
Director of Photography
Mitchell Leisen
Costume Design
Mitchell Leisen
Assistant Director
Cecil B. DeMille
Director
Anne Bauchens
Editor
Cecil B. DeMille
Producer
Waldemar Young
Screenplay
A War Diary
Arnljot
Femme Fatale, Jang Hee Bin
Snowflowers: Seeds of Hope
John Hus
The Final Say
Schindler's List
It's a Wonderful Life
Gladiator
Atatürk II 1881 – 1919
M
Ran
Queen Dowager Inmok
The Diary of King Yonsan
Sri Krishnadevaraya
The Fate of Two Queens
Mirror
Ben-Hur
Mulholland Drive
A Season of Giants
Imagine Me & You
Facing the Giants
The Last Rodeo
Spartacus
The Wiser Sex
Johnny Shiloh
1944: Should We Bomb Auschwitz?
Live and Become
Scarface
One Way Passage
Someone Like You
Two Alone
Lady Jang
Sissi
The Public Enemy
Escape from Sobibor
The Last Supper
Out of Africa
Sissi: The Young Empress
Sissi: The Fateful Years of an Empress
Tabu: A Story of the South Seas
Quo Vadis
Flywheel
Show Me Love
Julius Caesar
Kaathal - The Core
Shanghai Express
Joan the Maid I: The Battles
Joan the Maid II: The Prisons
Tess of the Storm Country
The Last Empress
Heavenly Creatures
American Madness
Photosensitive
Smart Money
Fire
Exodus
Love Finds A Home
The Prodigal Planet
Moscow, Belgium
Wuthering Heights
Junebug
The Fall of the Roman Empire
Butterfly
Un año y un día
Jacob: The Man Who Fought with God
The Measure of a Man
Mary Magdalene
Boléro
Ever
Parole Girl
The Runaway Bride
Notre-Dame: Our Lady of Paris
Girl's Blood
Better Than Chocolate
Foxfire
Mila
Love Lessons
Caligula
Alexander
The Birth of a Nation
Devil's Bride
The Last Days of Pompeii
Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her
British Agent
Ben-Hur
P
Dancers in the Dark
Antarctica
Inside the Lines
The Birth of Jesus
The Devil Is Driving
The Most Fun I've Ever Had with My Pants On
Zero Hour
Soongava: Dance of the Orchids
The Female Response
Nest of Vipers
101 Flight
Everybody's Got Somebody... Not Me
Perverted Adolescence
Embrace of the Vampire
Scarlet Diva
Different Strokes
The Ring Thing
Sensation Hunters
Beside Her
Schoolgirl Hitchhikers
Revive Us
Everything Relative
Shepherd
Ablaze
Billion Dollar Spy
Santiago Apostol
Ray of Hope
The Bracket Theory
Forty-Seven Days with Jesus
No, Not Really
Augustus: The First Emperor
Hind Di Chadar-guru Ladho Re
Rudransh
In Our Own Sweet Way
Ben-Hur
Zulu
The Guns of Navarone
Sergeant York
The Duellists
Intolerance: Love's Struggle Throughout the Ages
Breaker Morant
Julius Caesar
Gettysburg
The Book of Daniel
Oranges and Sunshine
We Are Marshall
Attack
The Robe
The Court-Martial of Billy Mitchell
Outlaws - For Greater Glory
Radium Girls
The Last Rifleman
One Night with the King
Demetrius and the Gladiators
Operation Mincemeat
Julia
The Way Ahead
Andersonville
The Fall of the Roman Empire
Story of G.I. Joe
Cast a Giant Shadow
The Devil's Brigade
The Wings of Eagles
Taking Sides
Waiting for Anya
Emperor
Julius Caesar
Wake of the Red Witch
Nov 30, 1932
New York international premiere
Dec 25, 1932
Los Angeles premiere
Feb 10, 1933
National release
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Panorama of the Moving Boardwalk
1900
Pink Floyd: The Division Bell (20th Anniversary Box Set)
2014
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Battle your watched movies head-to-head
Community Top Movies
Evil Dead II
1987 · 14 wins
The Dark Knight
2008 · 14 wins
Halloween
1978 · 13 wins
Final Destination
2000 · 12 wins
Halloween II
1981 · 11 wins
Trivia
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