• Rating:
• Genre: Epic
• Movie Type: Religious Epic
• Themes: Crowned Heads
• Director: Cecil B. DeMille
• Main Cast: Fredric March, Claudette Colbert, Elissa Landi, Charles Laughton, Ian Keith
• Release Year: 1932
• Country: US
• Run Time: 118 minutes

Plot

Director Cecil B. DeMille returned to Paramount Pictures for this typically epic production, which became his first box office hit after the close of the silent era. Fredric March stars as Roman Prefect Marcus Superbus, a noble military leader of the year 64 A.D. Emperor Nero (Charles Laughton) has just burned down the city and blamed the conflagration on Christians, which has exacerbated anti-Christian sentiment. Marcus encounters a beautiful young Christian woman, Mercia (Elissa Landi), pleading with soldiers over the arrest of her beloved stepfather Titus (Arthur Hohl). The Prefect intervenes on her behalf, hoping for romance. Mercia rebuffs him, however, so Marcus attempts to humiliate her by sentencing her to live with a lesbian (Joyzelle Joiner), who has even less luck seducing the chaste Mercia. The Empress Poppaea (Claudette Colbert) desires Marcus for her own bed and becomes jealous of Mercia. When Nero orders that Christians are to be fed to the lions in the arena, Poppaea seizes the opportunity to get rid of her romantic rival, though Marcus pleads in vain with Nero to spare her life. ~ Karl Williams, All Movie Guide

Cast

• Fredric March - Marcus Superbus
• Claudette Colbert - Empress Poppaea
• Elissa Landi - Mercia
• Charles Laughton - Nero
• Ian Keith - Tigellinus

Harry Beresford - Flavius; Arthur Hohl - Titus; Tommy Conlon - Stephanus; Vivian Tobin - Dacia; Ferdinand Gottschalk - Glabrio; Joyzelle Joyner - Ancaria; Richard Alexander - Viturius; Joel Allen - Bombadier (1944 prologue); Lionel Belmore - Bettor; Joe Bonomo - Mute Giant; Henry Brandon; Clarence Burton - Servillius; John Carradine - Leader of Gladiators/Christian Martyr/Crowd Voice; Lane Chandler - Christian in chains; William Forrest - Colonel Hugh Mason (1944 prologue); Dorothy Granger; Harold Healy - Tybul; Carol Holloway; John James - Lieutenant Herb Hanson (1944 prologue); Otto Lederer; Lillian Leighton; Wilfred Lucas; Aline MacMahon; Robert Manning - Philodemus; Charles B. Middleton - Tyros; James Millican - Capt. Kevin Driscoll (1944 prologue); William V. Mong - Licinius; Nat Pendleton - Strabo; Angelo Rossitto - Pygmy; Ynez Seabury; Arthur Shields - Chaplain Costello (1944 prologue); Kent Taylor - A lover; Tom Tully - Hoboken (1944 prologue); Florence Turner; Ethel Wales - Complaining wife; Horace B. Carpenter; Jerome Storm; Stanley Ridges - Chaplian Lloyd (1944 prologue); Gertrude Norman

Credit

Anne Bauchens - Editor; Sidney Buchman - Screenwriter; Cecil B. DeMille - Director; Cecil B. DeMille - Producer; Rudolph G. Kopp - Composer (Music Score); Mitchell Leisen - Costume Designer; Mitchell Leisen - First Assistant Director; Mitchell Leisen - Production Designer; Karl Struss - Cinematographer; Waldemar Young - Screenwriter; Harry Lindgren - Sound/Sound Designer; Wilson Barrett - Play Author

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