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associated with the Catholic Polish people fighting for freedom, while
imperial Rome assumes the modern aspect of autocratic Russia and Germany,
Poland’s foreign dominators (Wyke, 117–18). “These allegorical
strategies at work in the novel Quo Vadis? were then implemented more
forcefully in the cinematic reconstructions of Nero as a representation
of present as well as past histories of persecution and tyranny” (Wyke,
118).
Within the next few years, Sienkiewicz’s novel had a tremendous impact
on the brand-new business of making movies. Because the story’s
historical and romantic scope offered enormous potential for spectacular
visual (and later aural) effects, and its built-in popularity guaranteed large
numbers of spectators, directors eagerly took up the challenge of adapting
the novel for the big screen. The new medium of film also directly contributed
to the image of Nero and his Rome for twentieth-century audiences,
by creating a paradigm for the visual representation of locations
such as the Roman arena and the imperial palace, and scenes such as
chariot chases and gladiatorial combats. In 1912 Sienkiewicz sold the rights
to his novel to Enrico Guazzoni, the “Italian spectacle-king,” whose silent
version of Quo Vadis? (1913) achieved great international success, with its
unprecedented length (almost two hours), and the most lavish sets and
biggest cast of any film made up to that time (Elley, 124–5; Solomon,
2001a, 216–17). Critics generally regard Guazzoni’s film as an important
moment in the history of cinematic innovation for several reasons, in
particular its success in translating the complexity of the novel into the
structure of film (Wyke, 120–4). A remake of Quo Vadis? (1924) directed
by Gabriellino d’Annunzio and Georg Jacoby was less successful commercially
and creatively, though commentators note its expansion of dramatic
characterization and its use of the camera to focus on Nero’s perspective
(Elley, 125; Wyke, 129–30).
While the new technologies of film were busy creating an onscreen
representation of Nero and imperial Rome in the early days of movie
making, these cinematic images of Roman grandeur and excess also displayed
the prestige of the new industry and promoted the talents of its
artists. One of the pioneers of the American cinema was Mervyn LeRoy
(1900–87), who was the first (and so far only) Hollywood film director to
take on Sienkiewicz’s novel. LeRoy started his career directing light-hearted
films in the 1920s for Warner Bros., before tackling more serious themes
in the influential gangster thriller Little Caesar (1930). In the next decade,
LeRoy alternated between comic and dramatic genres in films that often
dealt with tough social issues, like the corruption of the legal system in
18 QUO VADIS (1951)