The Sign of the Cross (1932)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Cecil B. DeMille

Writers:

Wilson Barrett (play)
Waldemar Young (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

10 February 1933 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History

Tagline:

A picture which will proudly lead all the entertainments the world has ever seen

Plot:

After burning Rome, Emperor Nero decides to blame the Christians, and issues the edict that they are all to be caught and sent to the arena...

Plot Keywords:

Rome | Empress | Nero | Arena | Wager

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Cast

Fredric March	...	Marcus Superbus
Elissa Landi	...	Mercia
Claudette Colbert	...	Empress Poppaea
Charles Laughton	...	Emperor Nero
Ian Keith	...	Tigellinus
Arthur Hohl	...	Titus
Harry Beresford	...	Favius
Tommy Conlon	...	Stephan
Ferdinand Gottschalk	...	Glabrio
Vivian Tobin	...	Dacia
William V. Mong	...	Licinius
Joyzelle Joyner	...	Ancaria (as Joyzelle)
Richard Alexander	...	Viturius
Nat Pendleton	...	Strabo
Clarence Burton	...	Servillius

Runtime:

122 min (without intermission)

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

West Germany:16 (f) | Norway:16 (1947) | USA:Approved (PCA #1581-R, 23 September 1935 for re-release) | USA:Passed (National Board of Review)

Filming Locations:

Fresno, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

The milk bath scene took a whole week to film. Every time Claudette Colbert got out of the pool, Cecil B. DeMille tried to catch a glimpse of her in the nude. A crew member always threw a towel over her beforehand, so DeMille never was able to get a good look.

Goofs:

Continuity: When the boxers are fighting with the spiked gloves, the loser gets punched in the face. He is shown with scars on his face and spits blood onto his chest. In the next shot (from a slightly different angle) the scars are there but the blood on his chest is gone.

Quotes:

Emperor Nero: My head is splitting... the wine last night, the music... it was a delicious debauchery!

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Passion: Films, Faith & Fury (2006) (TV)

Soundtrack:

Ancaria's Song and Dance (The Naked Moon)

The Wages of Sin are Quite Entertaining

Cecil B. DeMille was famous for the excesses he depicted on screen, and "The Sign of the Cross" has enough excess for a dozen movies by any other director. Fortunately, DeMille loved to detail the debauchery that warranted divine punishment, because he was more adept and entertaining when portraying orgies than he was when depicting piety. Perhaps sin is intrinsically more interesting than virtue. Certainly the sinful characters, especially Charles Laughton as Nero and Claudette Colbert as Poppaea, are riveting and colorfully conceived. Laughton lolls around on his divans, while alluring slave boys attend to his whims. Colbert lures and tempts lovers when not catering to her bare flesh in a milk bath. Bloody gladiatorial games and the obligatory feeding Christians to the wild beasts keep the proceedings on track, and an erotic Lesbian dance enlivens an otherwise dragging orgiastic gathering. Orgies can be difficult to film because the delights are far more evident to participants than they are to viewers. Perhaps every orgy needs a Lesbian dance.

Unfortunately, DeMille felt compelled to throw away screen time on a group of early Christians, whose idea of a good time was to sit on rocks, sing tuneless songs, and listen to a motivational speaker. Naturally, the improbably named Marcus Superbus, played by Frederic March in a fetching mini-skirt and tight curls, falls in love with Mercia, a bland, but virginal, Elissa Landi, and he rejects the advances of the milky, silky Claudette Colbert, who had been around the Colosseum a few times. Of course, March not only rejects Colbert, but risks losing the endless parties and his own rising career for the touch of Landi's soft hand. "The Sign of the Cross" is hardly convincing drama despite the lure of Romans sinning every way, everywhere, and with everybody.

If the corny dialog and stilted scenes of pious proceedings had been severely cut and Laughton's and Colbert's roles had been brought to center focus, the film would have been a delicious camp spectacle. However, as the film now plays, viewers must patiently wait out the dull-as-drying-paint scenes with Landi and company to savor the sinful delights of Nero and Poppaea, which make "The Sign of the Cross" worth a look and a hoot or two.