Edmund Purdom and Liana Orfei in NEFERTITI - QUEEN OF THE NILE
The relationship between Purdom and Orfei is much better than the one between Purdom and Jeanne Crain (Nefertiti). I hate it when this happens in movies : the secondary love affair is more interesting than the main one. QUO VADIS suffers from the same fate : the relationship between Deborah Kerr and Robert Taylor pales in comparison to the one between Marina Berti and Leo Genn. Good film though.
In Quo Vadis Marina Berti comes across as a lot more sexy and lively than does Deborah Kerr. Admittedly Deborah was playing a goody-goody upper class Christian, but she sometimes seems very stiff and prissy.
ReplyDeleteToo bad Marina's character ended up committing suicide along with Leo Genn. Genn should have arranged for her to flee Rome successfully. It has been said that Americans like tragedies with happy endings.
The scene near the beginning of QV where Marina Berti kisses the bust of Leo Genn as Petronius is intensely erotic and a stroke of genius. I wonder if it was her idea to do it!
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