It stars Fredric March, Elissa Landi, Claudette Colbert, and Charles Laughton, with Ian Keith and Arthur Hohl. Both play and film have a strong resemblance to the 1895–96 novel Quo Vadis and, like the novel, take place in ancient Rome during the reign of Nero .

Although responsible for starting the fire, Nero places the blame on the Christians, arranging for his guards to have them placed under arrest. His wife, Poppara (Claudette Colbert), is an adulteress whose only desire is the manly Marcus Superbus (Fredric March), a prefect of Rome, but cannot put her hold on him after learning from Dacia ...

2021年3月19日 · It was offered last night at the Rialto before a brilliant audience, which revealed no little interest in its variety of handsome scenes, its battling gladiators, its orgies in Nero’s court, its chanting Christians, its music and its screams.

While on the Paramount lot, DeMille noticed a young contract actress, Claudette Colbert, whose films he called "fluffy, lightheaded stuff." The director approached her and asked, "how would you like to play the wickedest woman in the world?" "I'd love it!" Colbert replied, and she played the empress, wonderfully. But it wasn't always easy.

2017年11月4日 · Sure, in terms of Production Code close calls, Popea (Claudette Colbert)’s milk bath and Ancaria (Joyzelle Joyner)’s “Dance of the Naked Moon” prompted me to raise my eyebrows a few times during my first viewing.

2022年8月27日 · A Roman soldier becomes torn between his love for a Christian woman and his loyalty to Emperor Nero. Skip to main content Ask the publishers to restore access to 500,000+ books.

2020年8月31日 · Meanwhile, Empress Poppaea (Claudette Colbert) has her own designs on Marcus. The film follows Marcus’ courting of Mercia during the planning of a secret meeting by the Christians. Wary of Marcus’ motivations and jealous of his standing with Emperor Nero, Tigellinus (superbly played by Ian Keith) intercedes and has the Christians massacred ...

Émilie Chauchoin [1] (French: [emili ʃoʃwɛ̃]; September 13, 1903 – July 30, 1996), professionally known as Claudette Colbert (/ k oʊ l ˈ b ɛər / kohl-BAIR, [2] French: [klodɛt kɔlbɛʁ]), was an American actress.Colbert began her career in Broadway productions during the late 1920s and progressed to films with the advent of talking pictures.Initially contracted to Paramount ...

Certainly the sinful characters, especially Charles Laughton as Nero and Claudette Colbert as Poppaea, are riveting and colorfully conceived. Laughton lolls around on his divans, while alluring slave boys attend to his whims. Colbert lures and tempts lovers when not catering to her bare flesh in a milk bath.

2011年5月10日 · When the seductive and wicked Empress Poppaea (Claudette Colbert) learns that she has a romantic rival for Marcus’s attentions, she conspires with Nero to send all Christians to a chilling death. Filled with some of the most outrageous and breathtaking scenes ever filmed, including the infamous “milk bath”, this pre-code classic is a ...