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The Sign of the Cross

 
Movies:

The Sign of the Cross

 
  • Director: Cecil B. DeMille
  • AMG Rating: starstarstar
  • Genre: Epic
  • Movie Type: Religious Epic
  • Themes: Crowned Heads
  • 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

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

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

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Quo Vadis?
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Wikipedia: The Sign of the Cross (film)
Top
The Sign of the Cross
Directed by Cecil B. DeMille
Produced by Cecil B. DeMille
Written by Sidney Buchman
Waldemar Young
Wilson Barrett (play)
Starring Fredric March
Elissa Landi
Claudette Colbert
Charles Laughton
Music by Rudolph G. Kopp
Jay Chernis
Paul Marquardt
Milan Roder
Cinematography Karl Struss
Editing by Anne Bauchens
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release date(s) 30 November 1932
Running time 125 min
Country  United States
Language English
Budget $650,000

The Sign of the Cross is a 1932 epic film made by Paramount Pictures. It was produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille from a screenplay by Waldemar Young and Sidney Buchman, based on the 1896 play by Wilson Barrett. Both play and film have a strong resemblance to the novel Quo Vadis, and like the novel, take place in ancient Rome during the reign of Nero. The art direction and costume design were by Mitchell Leisen who also acted as assistant director. Karl Struss was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography.[1]

The film stars Fredric March, Elissa Landi, Claudette Colbert, and Charles Laughton, with Ian Keith and Arthur Hohl.

The film is the third and last in DeMille's biblical trilogy with The Ten Commandments (1923) and The King of Kings (1927).

It was filmed on location in Fresno, California, USA. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Karl Struss).

The film was cut by DeMille for its 1944 rerelease, so it would conform to the Production Code. New footage with a World War II setting, featuring actor Stanley Ridges (who did not appear in the film originally) was added to make the film more topical. In the new prologue, a group of planes is seen flying over what was ancient Rome. The conversation of the soldiers in one of the planes leads directly into the film's original opening scene. The last few seconds of the edited version of the film showed the planes flying off into the distance, rather than simply fading out on the original closing scene of the movie.

For many years, this edited version was the only one available. The version now shown on Turner Classic Movies has been restored to the original 125 minute length by the UCLA Film and Television Archive with the help of the DeMille estate and Universal Pictures, which now owns all pre-1948 Paramount releases.

Contents

Cast

Notes

The famous scene in which Poppaea (Claudette Colbert) bathes in asses' milk took several days to shoot. DeMille, of course, announced to the press that real asses' milk was being used, though it was probably powdered cow's milk. The milk was left standing in the tub overnight, and by the second day, it had turned to cheese under the hot lights. The stench was overwhelming. Colbert nearly fainted from the odor.[2] [3]

References

External links


 
 

 

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