The producers of AD certainly found the right format for their product, a mini-series. This was definitely too large a subject to be confined to one film either on the big or small screen.
Try mixing the events of I Claudius, Peter And Paul, and then Quo Vadis at the end you have the 6 hour AD. It's certainly a daunting project to tackle.
British players Dennis Quilley and Philip Sayer play the two main protagonists of the story Peter and Paul. Around them primarily the early Christian Church was established. As the action takes place over a 30 year period, both men due to some good makeup work age gracefully over the series. Both also give good performances though I would rate what Anthony Hopkins and Robert Foxworth did in Peter And Paul better.
In fact as good as AD is all of the people portrayed here were done better elsewhere. Go down the list of the cast and you'll see all the familiar Roman names from that soap opera on the Tiber and as a for instance James Mason as Tiberius, Ian McShane as Sejanus, and Richard Kiley as Claudius pale in comparison to George Baker, Patrick Stewart, and Derek Jacobi in those same roles. In fairness the players on the screen here didn't have sufficient screen time to develop their characters.
What is shown here that is true is the rather downbeat ending that actual history gives us as the reign of Nero is in full flower. One would not have given the month's rent money on a bet that the Christian Church would have survived. You see it going underground, basically hunkering down for its very existence. Not exactly a Quo Vadis ending.
AD is still a nice piece of film making despite my criticisms of it. If it doesn't say it's message as well as could be expected, it's certainly well enough to earn plaudits.
Try mixing the events of I Claudius, Peter And Paul, and then Quo Vadis at the end you have the 6 hour AD. It's certainly a daunting project to tackle.
British players Dennis Quilley and Philip Sayer play the two main protagonists of the story Peter and Paul. Around them primarily the early Christian Church was established. As the action takes place over a 30 year period, both men due to some good makeup work age gracefully over the series. Both also give good performances though I would rate what Anthony Hopkins and Robert Foxworth did in Peter And Paul better.
In fact as good as AD is all of the people portrayed here were done better elsewhere. Go down the list of the cast and you'll see all the familiar Roman names from that soap opera on the Tiber and as a for instance James Mason as Tiberius, Ian McShane as Sejanus, and Richard Kiley as Claudius pale in comparison to George Baker, Patrick Stewart, and Derek Jacobi in those same roles. In fairness the players on the screen here didn't have sufficient screen time to develop their characters.
What is shown here that is true is the rather downbeat ending that actual history gives us as the reign of Nero is in full flower. One would not have given the month's rent money on a bet that the Christian Church would have survived. You see it going underground, basically hunkering down for its very existence. Not exactly a Quo Vadis ending.
AD is still a nice piece of film making despite my criticisms of it. If it doesn't say it's message as well as could be expected, it's certainly well enough to earn plaudits.