"Welcome to Nero's House of Women" greets a concubine to a slave girl; Lygia (Deborah Kerr). Later this self-same greeter reveals that she; too; like Lygia; is really a fellow Christian neophyte. And it's that mixture of tawdry Hollywood sex and a strong Christian message that makes this film an enjoyable "gentiles and gladiators" flick. Marcus Vinicius returns home after conquering the Britons to find that Rome is infected with a crazy new sect called Christians and that his beloved emperor Nero (Peter Ustinov; roly-poly and wicked) has become increasingly wacky. Marcus tries his centurion wiles on Lygia; and she's smitten; but she's also a Christian convert and begs Marcus not to force her to choose between him and her god. The Christians have a tough go of it; with martyrdom in the Coliseum as punishment for belonging to the new religion in town. Though three hours long; director Mervyn LeRoy's film always has something going on. It could help you enjoyably kill any rainy Sunday afternoon. --Keith Simanton