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who goes there, and there and *there*?
Jun. 8th, 2012 06:54 amIt’s interesting to watch a movie and to notice that some of the actors are in a different movie from the rest of the cast.
A couple of weeks ago, I popped in our DVD of 1951’s “Quo Vadis”, which is something of a guilty pleasure. It’s about a Roman general, played by Robert Taylor, who comes back from yet another bout of conquering for the Emperor, and finds himself becoming quite smitten with a old friend’s beautiful slave, played by Deborah Kerr. (Hey, it *is* Deborah Kerr, who wouldn't react that way?) The problem is that she is a Christian and he’s not. You can guess how that’s going to turn out and yes they do wind up in the arena with lions, because the lions were in the contract. That’s the main plot, where everybody acts as if they were in a play, stiff and proper and *acting*. Contrast them with Peter Ustinov who, as Nero, hams it up as he merrily chews on the scenery as if he were in his own movie. And what of Leo Genn, who is also in another movie, smiling as he plays Petronius, an arbiter of Good Taste and observer of human folly. Frankly, where love stories are concerned, I by far prefer the subplot involving Petronius’s more real behavior as he finds himself responding to the love of one of his slaves. And to the end, he smiles, as his deathbed letter to Nero shows:
A couple of weeks ago, I popped in our DVD of 1951’s “Quo Vadis”, which is something of a guilty pleasure. It’s about a Roman general, played by Robert Taylor, who comes back from yet another bout of conquering for the Emperor, and finds himself becoming quite smitten with a old friend’s beautiful slave, played by Deborah Kerr. (Hey, it *is* Deborah Kerr, who wouldn't react that way?) The problem is that she is a Christian and he’s not. You can guess how that’s going to turn out and yes they do wind up in the arena with lions, because the lions were in the contract. That’s the main plot, where everybody acts as if they were in a play, stiff and proper and *acting*. Contrast them with Peter Ustinov who, as Nero, hams it up as he merrily chews on the scenery as if he were in his own movie. And what of Leo Genn, who is also in another movie, smiling as he plays Petronius, an arbiter of Good Taste and observer of human folly. Frankly, where love stories are concerned, I by far prefer the subplot involving Petronius’s more real behavior as he finds himself responding to the love of one of his slaves. And to the end, he smiles, as his deathbed letter to Nero shows:
”To Nero, Emperor of Rome, Master of the World, Divine Pontiff. I know that my death will be a disappointment to you, since you wished to render me this service yourself. To be born in your reign is a miscalculation; but to die in it is a joy. I can forgive you for murdering your wife and your mother, for burning our beloved Rome, for befouling our fair country with the stench of your crimes. But one thing I cannot forgive - the boredom of having to listen to your verses, your second-rate songs, your mediocre performances. Adhere to your special gifts, Nero - murder and arson, betrayal and terror. Mutilate your subjects if you must; but with my last breath I beg you - do not mutilate the arts. Fare well, but compose no more music. Brutalize the people, but do not bore them, as you have bored to death your friend, the late Gaius Petronius.”
