Most reviews I've read of this film in recent years have tended to dismiss this epic - some writers complain that it was not as good as the original inception (from director John Huston who wanted to make a Nazi-Jew parallel between Rome and Christians), just another epic, not as good as Ben Hur or the silent original, with an inappropriate star. I found it terrific, a real top-quality spectacle, MGM showing they still had what it took.
The main strength is the story, which personalises a big issue (i.e. the early days of Christianity in Rome) and gives fleshed out characters: Robert Taylor as the returning nasty centurion whose pursuit of a Christian girl (Deborah Kerr) leads him to the Christian underground, Kerr as the beautiful girl who is attracted to Taylor but wants to hang on to her faith (its an early cinematic example of the "flirt to convert"), Leo Genn as the cynical Roman politician who acts as though he's seen it all but is eventually repelled by Nero into acts of humanity (or, rather, quitting humanity), the Roman aristocracy who have become Christians, the beautiful and cruel Poppea who wants to torment Taylor (what happened to Patricia Laffin, the actor who played her?), and most of all Nero (Peter Ustinov) - the aspiring artiste, who, as George MacDonald Fraser points out, searches for praise but secretly never believes it because he has a secret furtive intelligence that keeps sneaking through. It's a terrific role and Ustinov totally shines in every moment - and yes he sings while Rome burns (he plays the harp - fiddles hadn't been invented).
There are showy support roles, too: Kerr's devoted bodyguard, the slave who loves Genn (perhaps a bit of wish fulfillment here - a beautiful slave girl who thinks her owner is wonderful), Nero's former mistress who returns to haunt him. Historically the film is quite respectable - the female Roman aristocrat who dies was based on a real person, ditto the nasty head of the Pretorian Guard.
There are three show stopping spectacle sequences: Taylor's triumphant arrival in Rome (complete with wreath-bearer whispering "you are nothing" into his ear), the fire, and most of all the climactic scene of the Christians going into the arena. The latter is a brilliant sequence - incredibly moving and horrifying (not that the film rubs our faces in it - but the quick cuts of lions attacking people and screams are effective enough). Interestingly, the finale gives the big action to Kerr's minder, Buddy Baer, while Taylor looks on, helpless (it's a heart-rending sequence, how you hate the Romans for inflicting it - but our hero is passive - although he does jump free and into the arena at the end).
There are flaws - the rise against Nero at the end by the crowd isn't very convincing, nor is the length of Genn's speech after he's killed himself. But there are so many strengths; I was particularly impressed with the confidence in allowing two long monologues, one a sermon from St Peter (Finlay Currie), the other a speech from Nero (Ustinov) - both of which work very well, with good scripting and excellent actors showing that an epic can handle long speeches.
Kerr is pretty and believable in what is a not-as-thankless-as-it-might-appear role (she does try to lure Taylor into Christianity - sort of a godly femme fetale) (NB when she and Taylor get married in the dungeon before she goes out to face the lions - do they give them some privacy for a honeymoon?). Robert Taylor was a surprise - after watching him in Ivanhoe and Knights of the Round Table I was prepared for the worst, but he's very effective here.
I agree he's not as good as other candidates would have been (eg Gregory Peck, who was meant to star in the Huston version), but he's still good - he is very American but its not as jarring in an Ancient Rome story as it would have been in a medieval Britain story (even though it was historically earlier, there's something more contemporary-seeming about Ancient Rome); he looks the part in that armour and also he has a real character to play, whereas he didn't as Ivanhoe and Sir Lancelot. While Taylor owed his stardom to his looks rather than talent, he was never a "personality" in the way say Errol Flynn was - he couldn't play himself because he was so boring, he needed something to hang on to. In Ivanhoe and Knights he had to play himself but here he plays a character and the film and his presence are much the better for it.
G M Fraser thought the film would not work today because martyrdom no longer strikes a chord in the Western world; I wouldn't necessarily agree, because here the Christians don't go willingly - they are just persecuted for their faith, they are not given the chance to get out of it (i.e. it's not like the Inquisition, McCarthyism or suicide bombers - it's more like Jews in WW2, so I think a remake would work today).
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