IMDb RATING
6.8/10
2.5K
YOUR RATING
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
- Writers
- Waldemar Young(screen play)
- Sidney Buchman(screen play)
- Wilson Barrett(from the play by)
- Stars
- Writers
- Waldemar Young(screen play)
- Sidney Buchman(screen play)
- Wilson Barrett(from the play by)
- Stars
Joyzelle Joyner
- Ancaria
- (as Joyzelle)
Robert Seiter
- Philodemus
- (as Robert Manning)
- Writers
- Waldemar Young(screen play)
- Sidney Buchman(screen play)
- Wilson Barrett(from the play by)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaCecil 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.
- GoofsIn 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.
- Alternate versionsRe-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.
- ConnectionsEdited into Through the Centuries (1933)
- SoundtracksChristian 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
Review
Featured review
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!
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•85
- Bunuel1976
- Jul 9, 2005
Details
Box office
- 2 hours 5 minutes
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content

Top Gap
By what name was The Sign of the Cross (1932) officially released in Canada in English?
Answer