Recently I purchased The Cecil B. DeMille Collection of DVDs. One of the films in this set is The Sign of the Cross. I had seen this film many years ago on TV and always wanted to have this in my collection. I would say it was the Quo Vadis? of the early 1930s. In fact, I found it a tad better than the technicolor spectacle of the early 1950s.
This film was made before the notorious Hollywood Production Code existed, therefore the scenes were very racy, to say the least, and provacative. Example: Claudette Colbert as the villainous empress Poppeaea is introduced bathing in the milk of donkeys. And in her bathing pool you could see her rather seductive curves being caressed by said milk. There is a scene later in the film depicting a Roman "orgy" that has subtle lesbian hints! Quite a risk taker that Mr. De Mille!!
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The plot of the film is Roman military officer, Marcus Superbus, meets young Christian woman, Mercia, and it's love at first sight.
Nero is portrayed by Charles Laughton. He seems bored with his job as emperor and would rather be delving into the arts. Perfect casting. I wish he had more scenes, but his portrayal of Nero is decadent, much like Peter Ustinov in later years. Claudette Colbert's Poppeaea is sensuous; her costumes are ever so Hollywood "Roman."
The scenes depicting the games, where gladiators and martyrs meet, are pretty racy for the time. Gladiator battles depicted are gory, by 1930s standards. The demise of women martyrs, scantily clad, leads me to believe the Romans loved to add sex to people about to die. Kind of scary since today we have crowds cheering at events where women, and even men, are in skin tight clothing and ready to do battle be it at wresting or some other athletic event. These arena scenes are probably the closest Roman recreation of the debauchery that was Rome.
Of course, the Christians sing hymns on their way to martyrdom. The closing scene is very reminiscent of 1953s The Robe. I did shed a tear or two.
Overall, an excellent retelling of ancient Rome. Watch it with an open mind and realize it is the product of an era where film making was still a novel art. Cecil B. De Mille was a pioneer at directing films with casts of thousands. It's easy to day, with technology and CGIs to recreate any epoch of history; but there is nothing like watching films where the only technology was the camera. Films of this type would be an expensive undertaking today!
