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IMDbPro

The Sign of the Cross

  • 19321932
  • Not RatedNot Rated
  • 2h 5m
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
2.5K
YOUR RATING
Fredric March in The Sign of the Cross (1932)
DramaHistory
A Roman soldier becomes torn between his love for a Christian woman and his loyalty to Emperor Nero.A Roman soldier becomes torn between his love for a Christian woman and his loyalty to Emperor Nero.A Roman soldier becomes torn between his love for a Christian woman and his loyalty to Emperor Nero.
IMDb RATING
6.8/10
2.5K
YOUR RATING
    • Cecil B. DeMille
  • Writers
    • Waldemar Young(screen play)
    • Sidney Buchman(screen play)
    • Wilson Barrett(from the play by)
  • Stars
    • Fredric March
    • Claudette Colbert
    • Elissa Landi
    • Cecil B. DeMille
  • Writers
    • Waldemar Young(screen play)
    • Sidney Buchman(screen play)
    • Wilson Barrett(from the play by)
  • Stars
    • Fredric March
    • Claudette Colbert
    • Elissa Landi
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 66User reviews
    • 37Critic reviews
  • See production, box office & company info
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 Oscar

    Photos81

    Elissa Landi and Fredric March in The Sign of the Cross (1932)
    Claudette Colbert in The Sign of the Cross (1932)
    Elissa Landi and Fredric March in The Sign of the Cross (1932)
    Claudette Colbert, Charles Laughton, Elissa Landi, and Fredric March in The Sign of the Cross (1932)
    Claudette Colbert, Elissa Landi, and Fredric March in The Sign of the Cross (1932)
    Fredric March in The Sign of the Cross (1932)
    Elissa Landi and Fredric March in The Sign of the Cross (1932)
    Elissa Landi and Fredric March in The Sign of the Cross (1932)
    Elissa Landi in The Sign of the Cross (1932)
    Elissa Landi and Fredric March in The Sign of the Cross (1932)
    Elissa Landi and Fredric March in The Sign of the Cross (1932)
    Claudette Colbert, Charles Laughton, Elissa Landi, and Fredric March in The Sign of the Cross (1932)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Fredric March
    Fredric March
    • Marcus Superbus - Prefect of Rome
    Claudette Colbert
    Claudette Colbert
    • Empress Poppaea
    Elissa Landi
    Elissa Landi
    • Mercia
    Charles Laughton
    Charles Laughton
    • Emperor Nero Claudius Caesar
    Ian Keith
    Ian Keith
    • Tigellinus
    Arthur Hohl
    Arthur Hohl
    • Titus
    Harry Beresford
    Harry Beresford
    • Favius Fontelas
    Tommy Conlon
    Tommy Conlon
    • Stephan
    Ferdinand Gottschalk
    Ferdinand Gottschalk
    • Glabrio
    Vivian Tobin
    Vivian Tobin
    • Dacia
    William V. Mong
    William V. Mong
    • Licinius…
    Joyzelle Joyner
    Joyzelle Joyner
    • Ancaria
    • (as Joyzelle)
    Richard Alexander
    Richard Alexander
    • Viturius
    Nat Pendleton
    Nat Pendleton
    • Strabo
    Clarence Burton
    Clarence Burton
    • Servillius
    Harold Healy
    • Tybul
    Robert Seiter
    Robert Seiter
    • Philodemus
    • (as Robert Manning)
    Charles Middleton
    Charles Middleton
    • Tyros
      • Cecil B. DeMille
    • Writers
      • Waldemar Young(screen play)
      • Sidney Buchman(screen play)
      • Wilson Barrett(from the play by)
    • All cast & crew
    • Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      Cecil B. DeMille was pressured to drop Ancaria's seductive dance in the orgy scene by Will H. Hays of the Hays Office, but DeMille adamantly refused. Still, censors often cut out gruesome parts of the film, particularly, the cart carrying dead bodies out of the arena, a gorilla dancing around a semi-nude girl, elephants stomping Christians and picking them up with their tusks, crocodiles about to eat a bound girl, etc. These scenes are all in the restored version.
    • Goofs
      In the Coliseum, we see a woman tied up and is at the mercy of a gorilla. Europeans had no knowledge of gorillas' existence until more than 15 centuries later.
    • Quotes

      [the Empress, soaking naked in a tub of ass's milk and calling to a friend]

      Poppaea: Dacia, you're a butterfly with the sting of a wasp. Take off your clothes. Get in here and tell me all about it.

    • Alternate versions
      Re-released in 1944, with some cuts (sex and sadism scenes) and preceded by a nine minute prologue, set in present time with a WWII theme. This re-release version runs 118 minutes.
    • Connections
      Edited into Through the Centuries (1933)
    • Soundtracks
      Christian Hymn No.1
      (1932) (uncredited)

      Music and Lyrics by Rudolph G. Kopp

      Sung a cappella by Christians at the meeting

      Reprised by them after their capture and at the arena

      Sung a cappella by Elissa Landi and Tommy Conlon

      Played and sung offscreen at the end

    User reviews66

    Review
    Review
    Featured review
    8/10
    The Sign Of The Cross (1932) ***1/2
    After having missed out on it twice on Italian TV as a kid, I finally managed to watch Cecil B. De Mille's THE SIGN OF THE CROSS. The plot line is very similar to that of "Quo Vadis?", a novel filmed numerous times along the years - as well as the later Italian spectacular FABIOLA (1948), by far the best of the innumerable 'peplums' which were made in its wake, and arguably better than most of Hollywood's own product.

    As is to be expected, the director spices the inherent sermonizing with his trademark opulent vulgarity but the whole remains an impressive - and strangely compelling - piece of work, though the sluggish pacing may be trying on a modern audience. Despite its lack of subtlety (the Christians are portrayed as one ragged and immensely boring bunch, while the Romans are interested only in mayhem and debauchery), virtually a given of any De Mille film, the strong performances of the the three leads more than redress the balance: Fredric March and Charles Laughton are simply two of the finest actors to ever grace the screen with their incomparable talent, and Claudette Colbert matches them in the role which made her a star.

    The film's much touted sadistic and erotic scenes, however, are not really all that explicit: the lesbian dance routine, for instance, is fairly hilarious and, apart from one grisly decapitation and the sight of a pygmy stuck on a sword, De Mille is content to present suggestive situations (like the famous shot of a naked girl menaced by a gorilla, or having crocodiles and lions lining up for the kill) and then let the audience imagine the rest. Let's not forget - this being a Pre-Code film - that Hollywood could get away with a great deal at this point in time, but this one certainly wasn't as bloodthirsty as I had been led to believe!

    Another interesting point - and one which, as far as I can remember, differs from "Quo Vadis" (I haven't watched the spectacular 1951 MGM version, a childhood favorite of mine, for quite some time now!) - is that the Fredric March character doesn't sacrifice himself in the arena because he has finally embraced Christianity but merely because he desperately loves Elissa Landi and hopes to be re-united with her in the hereafter, as her religion maintains!
    helpful•8
    5
    • Bunuel1976
    • Jul 9, 2005

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • February 10, 1933 (United States)
      • United States
      • English
    • Also known as
    • Filming locations
      • Fresno, California, USA
    • Production company
      • Paramount Pictures
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

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    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

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    • 2 hours 5 minutes
      • Black and White

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