Quo vadis? (1924-1925)

The third film adaptation of Henryk Sienkiewicz's famous novel 'Quo Vadis?' was the spectacular German-Italian co-production Quo vadis? (Georg Jacoby, Gabriellino D'Annunzio, 1924-1925). Emil Jannings, the famous star of the German silent cinema, was cast as the evil emperor Nero. He leads an international star cast including Alphons Fryland, Elena Sangro, Elga Brink, Lilian Hall-Davis, Rina De Liguoro, André Habay and strongman Bruto Castellani.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 699/1, 1919-1924. Photo: Filmhaus Bruckmann. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Georg Jacoby, Gabriellino D'Annunzio, 1924-1925). Here we see Nero (Emil Jannings) going out of his mind when his little son dies.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 699/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Filmhaus Bruckmann. Emil Jannings as Nero and Lilian Hall-Davis as Lygia in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924). Here we see Nero grabbing Licia, after pretending to save her from the clutches of Vinicius.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 699/3, 1919-1924. Photo: Filmhaus Bruckmann. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Georg Jacoby, Gabriellino D'Annunzio, 1924-1925). Here, Marcus Vinicius (Alphons Fryland) tries to seduce the chaste Lygia (Lilian Hall-Davis) during an orgy at Nero's palace.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 699/4, 1919-1924. Photo: Filmhaus Bruckmann. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1925). Marcus Vinicius (Alphons Fryland) leads the populace against Nero.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 699/5, 1919-1924. Photo: Filmhaus Bruckmann. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Georg Jacoby, Gabriellino D'Annunzio, 1924-1925). Here we see Ursus (Bruto Castellani) liberating Lygia (Lilian Hall-Davis) after he has conquered the raging bull. Castellani's face and hair are clearly drawn afterwards. In the film, the nudity is only visible for a fraction of a second.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 699/6, 1919-1924. Photo: Filmhaus Brückmann. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924) with Rina De Liguoro as Eunice, secretly in love with her master Petronius (André Habay).

A huge spectacle

Ten years after the smashing success of director Enrico Guazzoni's colossal epic Quo vadis? (1913), the Unione Cinematografica Italiana (U.C.I.) decided to make a new silent film version.

The Unione Cinematografica Italiana was a Ufa-like or Universal-like merger of many Italian pre-war film companies. Grand old man Arturo Ambrosio was the producer of the third film version, Quo vadis? (1924-1925).

Directors were the German Georg Jacoby and the Italian Gabriellino D' Annunzio, son of Gabriele D'Annunzio, the famous Italian writer and adventurer.

They turned Sienkiewicz's story of Emperor Nero's politically motivated persecution of the early Christians to hush up his own burning of Rome, and of the 'conversion' of an agnostic Roman warrior via the love of a virtuous Christian girl, into a huge spectacle.

Highlights are the 'burning of Rome' scenes and the climactic fights and carnage in the gladiatorial arena. Cinematography was by Giovanni Vitrotti, Alfredo Donelli, and Curt Courant.


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 633. Photo: Pinto, Roma. Rina de Liguoro as Eunica in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924).


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 651. Photo: Lilian Hall-Davis as Licia/Lygia in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 662. Photo: Elga Brink as Domitilla in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 663. Photo: Elena Sangro as the Empress Poppaea in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).


Italian postcard by Ed. G.B. Falci, Milano. Photo: Rina De Liguoro as Eunice in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).

A stellar cast

The historical epic was shot in Rome with a stellar cast of international silent stars. One of the brightest stars of the British silent cinema, Lilian Hall-Davis, and Austrian actor Alphons Fryland played the two young lovers Lygia (Licia in Italian) and Marcus Vinicius.

The German actress Elga Brink appeared as Domitilla. She has a spectacular scene, when, as a Christian martyr, she is first dragged by a chariot through the circus but then manages to climb up the chariot, take the reins and finish the race, to the great joy of the audience. Italian actor André Habay portrayed Marcus' uncle Petronius, Nero's 'arbiter elegantiae', who uses his wit to flatter and mock him at the same time. Italian diva Rina De Liguoro played Petronius' slave Eunice, who later on becomes his mistress and dies with him.

And then there was the famous star of the German silent cinema, Emil Jannings, who was cast as the emperor Nero. Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "Jannings tackles the role of Nero with lusty abandon, making this already larger-than-life historical personality even more so." While in the 1913 version Carlo Cattaneo gave a more naive version of Nero, more the victim of his surroundings, Jannings' Nero is clearly a perverse and sadistic man, who enjoys other people's misery, frightens and plays with his courtiers, and hypocritically offers Licia's his help after Vinicius has been too rough to her, only to reveal later on his own real, lustful intentions. It is also clear that the filmmakers gave Jannings a much bigger part in the film than his predecessor or than in the novel. The publicity highlighted his presence as the star of the film, too.


Italian Postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 665. Photo: Bruto Castellani as Ursus in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).


Italian postcard by Ed. Romeo Biagi, Bologna, no. 666. Photo: Unione Cinematografica Italiana. Alphons Fryland as Vinicius in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 667. Photo: André Habay as Petronius in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 668. Photo: Unione Cinematografica Italiano. Publicity still of Emil Jannings as Nero in Quo vadis? (Georg Jacoby, Gabriellino D'Annunzio, 1924-1925).


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 669. Photo: Gino Viotti as the lecherous and treacherous Greek Chilo Chilonides in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 670. Photo: Raimondo Van Riel as Nero's evil general Tigellinus in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).

Streaks of sadism and nudity

Quo vadis? had its Roman premiere on 16 March 1925. The producer had tried to equal the earlier version of 1913, adding enormous sets, designed by sculptor and architect Armando Brasini, and streaks of sadism & nudity, some already present in the novel, such as the human torches, others added to attract audiences, e.g. a female fed to Nero's lampreys.

The 1925 version didn't have the worldwide success of Enrico Guazzoni's earlier film. For various reasons, people were a bit bored with epic films and the censor had ordered cuts, such as the too-explicit scenes of orgy, violence and blood gulping. The producer almost went bankrupt over the copyright claims he had to pay.

It didn't help that the lion tamer Alfred Schneider was convicted because one of his circus lions had bitten and killed an extra.

Still a fascinating film, especially for the performances of Emil Jannings as the evil emperor Nero, Elena Sangro as the empress Poppaea and Bruto Castellani as the strong man Ursus. Castellani had performed the role before in the 1913 version of Quo vadis?

Hal Erickson at AllMovie: "Although not as much of a cinematic landmark as the 1913 version of Quo Vadis?, this 1924 Italian adaptation of the Henryk Sienkiewicz best-seller was a splendidly lavish production, not to mention a worldwide box-office success."


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 698/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Filmhaus Bruckmann. Emil Jannings as Nero in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 698/3, 1927-1928. Photo: Filmhaus Bruckman. Lillian Hall-Davis as Lygia in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 698/4, 1927-1928. Photo: Filmhaus Bruckmann. Alphons Fryland as Vinicius in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 698/5, 1927-1928. Photo: Filmhaus Bruckmann. Elga Brink as Domitilla in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 698/7, 1927-1928. Photo: Filmhaus Bruckman. Raimondo van Riel as Tigellinus in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 698/8, 1927-1928. Photo: Filmhaus Bruckman. Rina De Liguoro as Eunice in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924).

Magnificently restored

Hal Erickson mentions at AllMovie that the subsequent Hollywood popularity of Emil Jannings prompted a reissue of Quo vadis? in 1929. Reportedly, a newly recorded musical score was added.

In 1951, Hollywood made a new version with sound and colour, Quo Vadis (Mervyn LeRoy, 1951). The film starred Robert Taylor, Deborah Kerr, Leo Genn, and Peter Ustinov. It was nominated for eight Academy Awards.

Fifty years later, a Polish adaptation by Jerzy Kawalerowicz, Quo Vadis (2001), followed. There was also a 1985 mini-series starring Klaus Maria Brandauer as Nero.

Also in 2001, the Dutch Filmmuseum (now Eye Filmmuseum) in Amsterdam restored the silent 1924 version of Quo vadis?, based on various existing copies. This magnificently restored version had its 're-premiere' at the Bologna film festival Cinema Ritrovato in 2002.



Italian postcard. Photo: UCI (Unione Cinematografica Italiana). Publicity still of the scene of the kidnapping of Lygia in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924-1925).


Italian postcard by G.G. Falci, Milano / La Fotominio. Photo: UCI (Unione Cinematografica Italiana). Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924). Caption: The Christians awaited their martyrdom in ecstasy.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 38. Lilian Hall-Davis as Lygia and Emil Jannings as Nero in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924).


Italian postcard by G.G. Falci, Milano / La Fotominio, no. 156. Photo: UCI (Unione Cinematografica Italiana). Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924). Caption: Nero offered the spectacle of the human torches.


Italian postcard by G.G. Falci, Milano / La Fotominio, no. 159. Photo: UCI (Unione Cinematografica Italiana). Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924). Caption: They heard the menacing shouts of the revolting mob. Shown are Emil Jannings as Nero and Raimondo Van Riel as Tigellinus. Actually, the scene refers to Nero's nightmare.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano in the Fotominio series, no. 159. Gildo Bocci as Vitellius at Nero's orgy in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924).


Italian postcard by G.G. Falci, Milano / La Fotominio, no. 163. Photo: UCI (Unione Cinematografica Italiana). Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924). Caption: While the Christians were awaiting their turn. In the foreground, Ursus (Bruto Castellani) is guarding Licia (Lilian Hall-Davis). In the background, the light falls on the family of Plautus, Domitilla (Elga Brink) and their son (Marcella Sabatini).


Italian postcard by G.G. Falci, Milano / La Fotominio, no. 165. Photo: UCI (Unione Cinematografica Italiana). Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924). Caption: Acte and Licia meet again in the catacombs. (But actually, the caption is wrong. Here, Lygia (Lilian Hall-Davis) meets Domitilla (Elga Brink), her husband Plautus (name unknown) and their son. On the right, Ursus (Bruto Castellani).


Italian postcard by G.G. Falci, Milano / La Fotominio, no. 168. Photo: UCI (Unione Cinematografica Italiana). Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924). Caption: The Christians gathered in the catacombs.

Sources: Vittorio Martinelli, Il cinema muto italiano. I film degli anni venti, 1923-1931, Hal Erickson (AllMovie), Marcin Kukuczka (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

This post at EFSP on Quo vadis? (1924) contains a postcard series published by the Turinese Ed. L'Argentografica.

Lilian Hall-Davis

Lilian Hall-Davis (1897-1933) was one of the brightest stars of the British silent cinema. For a while, she was Hitchcock's Favourite Actress. In Italy, she starred in the Italo-German super-production Quo vadis? (1924-1925). Failing to make the transition to the talkies, she committed suicide.

German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 689/3, 1927-1928. Photo: Filmhaus Bruckman. Lilian Hall-Davis as Licia/Lygia in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924).


British postcard by Rotary Postcards E.C.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 30/6. Photo: Ufa. Lilian Hall-Davis in the German comedy Blitzzug der Liebe/Love Express (Johannes Guter, 1925).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 36/3. Photo: May-Film / Ufa. Willy Fritsch and Lilian Hall-Davis in Der Farmer aus Texas/The Farmer from Texas (Joe May, 1925).


Austrian postcard by Iris Verlag no. 5448. Photo: Lux Film Verleih.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 1370/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Atelier Balázs, Berlin.

Hitchcock favourite actress

Lilian (sometimes written as Lillian) Hall-Davis was born in London, England, in 1897. She was the daughter of an East End taxi driver. For publicity purposes, she reported her birthplace as the more fashionable Hampstead, London.

She started to work in film in 1917, first in the French film La p'tite du sixième (René Hervil, Louis Mercanton, 1917), opposite Charles Vanel whom she would meet more often on film sets. Soon films followed like the comedy The Admirable Crichton (G.B. Samuelson, 1918), based on J.M. Barrie, and the war comedy The Better 'Ole (George Pearson, 1919).

Hall-Davis became one of the leading actresses of the British silent cinema in the 1920s, playing in one film after another. She featured in Maisie's Marriage/Married Love (Alexander Butler, 1923), a controversial adaptation of Marie Stopes' sexual health manual 'Married Love'. It was a key title in the establishment of British censorship.

Lilian Hall-Davis also played in a part-colour version of I Pagliacci (G.B. Samuelson, S.W. Smith, 1923) opposite Adelqui Migliar, Blighty (Adrian Brunel 1927) about the impact of the First World War on a rich family, Roses of Picardy (Maurice Elvey, 1927) with John Stuart, and Tommy Atkins (Norman Walker, 1928) about a love triangle, partly set in Egypt.

In the late 1920s, she was Alfred Hitchcock's favourite actress for a while. In The Ring (1927) she gave a fine performance as a simple fairground girl corrupted by a taste of the high life when her boyfriend (Carl Brisson) has success in the boxing ring. In The Farmer's Wife (1928) she is convincing as the housekeeper quietly waiting for her widowed master (Jameson Thomas) whom she has set her eyes on.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 699/3. Photo: Filmhaus Bruckmann. Alphons Fryland and Lilian Hall-Davis in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924).


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 699/5. Photo: Filmhaus Bruckmann. Postcard for the Italo-German epic Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924). Here we see Ursus (Bruto Castellani) liberating Licia (Lilian Hall-Davis?) after he has conquered the raging bull. Castellani's face and hair are clearly drawn afterwards. In the restored version of the film, the nudity is not visible.


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano, no. 651. Lilian Hall-Davis as Licia/Lygia in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924), a production of UCI (Unione Cinematografica Italiana).


Italian postcard by Ed. A. Traldi, Milano. Photo: Cines / U.C.I. Lilian Hall-Davis as Licia/Lygia and Alphons Fryland as Vinicius in Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924). Caption: Lygia and Vinicius at Nero's banquet.


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 38. Lillian Hall-Davis as Lygia and Emil Jannings as Nero in Quo Vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924).


Italian postcard by G.B. Falci, Milano, no. 165. Photo: La Fotominio. Publicity still for Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924). Caption: Acte and Licia meet again in the catacombs. Actually, this caption is wrong. Licia /Lygia (Lillian Hall-Davis) meets Domitilla (Elga Brink), her husband Plautus (name unknown) and their son again. On the right is Ursus (Bruto Castellani).

Depressions and nervous breakdowns

Lilian Hall-Davis' warmth and natural presence were also felt in her roles in foreign films. In Italy, she played in the Italo-German super-production Quo vadis? (Gabriellino D'Annunzio, Georg Jacoby, 1924) as the virtuous Lygia opposite the perverse Nero (Emil Jannings).

In Germany, she starred in the comedies Liebe macht blind/Love Makes Blind (Lothar Mendes, 1925) with Lil Dagover, Der Farmer aus Texas/The Texas Farmer (Joe May, 1925) with Mady Christians, and Blitzzug der Liebe/Love Express (Johannes Guter, 1925) with Ossi Oswalda and Willi Fritsch, but she appeared also in such dramas as Die drei Kuckucksuhren/Adventure Mad (Lothar Mendes, 1926) with Nils Asther, and Wolga Wolga/Volga Volga (Viktor Tourjansky, 1928).

In France, Hall-Davis played in Nitchevo (Jacques de Baroncelli, 1925) and La proie du vent/The Prey of the Wind (René Clair, 1925), both with Charles Vanel.

In 1927 Lilian Hall-Davis played in a sound experiment, the short comedy As We Lie, shot by Miles Mander in the DeForest Phonofilm system. Hall-Davis, however, failed to make it into the talkies. Her last role was a minor part in the sound film Her Reputation (Sidney Morgan, 1931). By 1933 her career was over. She suffered from depression and nervous breakdowns.

She killed herself in her home in Golders Green by turning on the gas and cutting her throat. Her 14-year-old son Grosvenor found her suicide note and summoned for help, but it was too late. Lilian Hall-Davis died at the age of 34. She was married to the British stage actor Walter Pemberton and according to IMDb, she played in a total of 44 films.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1056/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Atelier Schneider, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1120/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1120/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Ufa.


British hand-coloured postcard, no. 1120/2. Photo: Ufa.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1370/1, 1927-1928. Photo: Atelier Balàsz, Berlin.


German postcard by Ross Verlag, Berlin, no. 1479/2, 1927-1928. Photo: Ufa.

Sources: Simon McCallum (BFI Screen Online), The Times, Silents Fan (IMDb), Wikipedia and IMDb.

This post was last updated on 30 July 2024.