Open AccessQuo Vadis? by Enrico Guazzoni and Quo Vadis? by Gabriellino D’Annunzio: Production – Dramaturgy – Reception
Author(s) -
Anna Miller-Klejsa
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
panoptikum
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1730-7775
DOI - 10.26881/pan.2017.18.15
Subject(s) - status quo , movie theater , art , prism , politics , humanities , art history , political science , law , optics , physics
The paper concentrates on two feature films based upon Henryk Sienkiewicz’s novel about ancient Rome – Quo Vadis? (dir. Enrico Guazzoni [1913]) and Quo Vadis? (dir. Gabriellino D’Annunzio, Georg Jacoby [1925]). Both films belong to the peplum genre, popular during the era of silent cinema. The paper reconstructs production circumstances of both films as well as their historical reception. It is argued that both films can be seen through the prism of socio-political contexts, including the colonial ambitions of the Italian state.