The Sign of the Cross *** (1932, Fredric March, Claudette Colbert, Elissa Landi, Charles Laughton) – Classic Movie Review 10,237

Producer-director Cecil B DeMille returned to the Paramount Pictures studio to make the salacious, eye-popping 1932 black and white historical epic The Sign of the Cross, which he turned into a box-office smash, after shooting under budget and in eight weeks.

The young Charles Laughton is well cast as the insane Emperor Nero, and he and sexy wife the Empress Poppaea (Claudette Colbert) both seem to be lusting after centurion Marcus Superbus, Prefect of Rome (Fredric March), but Christian maiden Mercia (Elissa Landi) is in love with him and the feeling is mutual.

Sex, religion, dwarves and violence, always a heady mixture, proved to be just what the public wanted, although The Sign of the Cross is probably best known for the scene with Colbert bathing in asses’ milk, which was saucy stuff for its time.

Also in the cast are Ian Keith, Harry Beresford, Vivian Tobin, Nat Pendleton, Arthur Hohl, Ferdinand Gottschalk, Joyzelle Joyner, Tommy Conlon, Clarence Burton, William V Mong, Harold Healy, Richard Alexander, Robert Manning, Charles Middleton, Kent Taylor, John Carradine, Lane Chandler and Lionel Belmore.

The Sign of the Cross is directed by Cecil B DeMille, runs 122 minutes, is made and released by Paramount Pictures, is written by Waldemar Young and Sidney Buchman, based on the play by Wilson Barrett, is shot in black and white by Karl Struss, is produced by Cecil B DeMille and is scored by Rudolph Kopp.

With the original intermission, it runs 125 minutes.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,237

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