“Quo vadis? revolutionized all former notions of the scope and power of the motion picture”, declared George Kleine, the American distributor for Cines Films. Quo vadis? marked a radical turning point in the history of Italian and international cinema. The film by Guazzoni, paving the way for a season of historical-mythological “colossals”, affirmed Italy’s place in the international world of cinema. Besides reaching epic levels of commercial success, Quo vadis? immediately became the definitive model of the genre: lavish sets, thousands of extras, the management of vast locations, the spectacular nature of the action scenes all became trademarks for successive Italian productions of the “sword-and-sandal” genre, which would have reached its pinnacle the following year with Cabiria.

Giovanni Lasi