The Sign of the Cross (1932 film)

The Sign of the Cross

Theatrical release poster
Directed by Cecil B. DeMille
Produced by Cecil B. DeMille
Screenplay by
Based on The Sign of the Cross
by Wilson Barrett
Starring
Music by Rudolph G. Kopp
Cinematography Karl Struss
Edited by Anne Bauchens
Production
company
Distributed by Paramount Pictures
Release dates
  • November 30, 1932 (1932-11-30) (USA)
Running time
 125 minutes
Country United States
Language English
Budget $650,000

The Sign of the Cross is a 1932 Pre-Code Hollywood epic film released by Paramount Pictures, produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille from a screenplay by Waldemar Young and Sidney Buchman, and based on the original 1895 play by Wilson Barrett.[1]

Both play and film have a strong resemblance to the novel Quo Vadis, and like the novel, take place in ancient Rome during the reign of Nero. The art direction and costume design were by Mitchell Leisen who also acted as assistant director. Karl Struss was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography.[2] The film stars Fredric March, Elissa Landi, Claudette Colbert, and Charles Laughton, with Ian Keith and Arthur Hohl. The film is the third and last in DeMille's biblical trilogy with The Ten Commandments (1923) and The King of Kings (1927).

Cast

Production notes

         The Citizen, 31 January 1933.[3]

Reception

The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:

Editing for reissue after enforcement of the production code

As with many other pre-Code films that were reissued after the Motion Picture Production Code was strictly enforced in 1934, this film has a history of censorship. In the original version, Marcus Superbus (Fredric March) is unsuccessful in his desire to seduce Mercia (Elisa Landi), an innocent Christian girl. He then urges Ancaria (Joyzelle Joyner) to perform the erotic "Dance of the Naked Moon" that will "warm her into life".[9] This "lesbian dance" was cut from the negative for a 1938 reissue, but was restored by MCA/Universal for its 1993 video release.[10] Some gladiatorial combat footage was also cut for the 1938 reissue, as were arena sequences involving naked women being attacked by crocodiles and a gorilla. These were also restored in 1993.[11]

DeMille himself supervised a new version for its 1944 rerelease. New footage with a World War II setting, featuring actor Stanley Ridges (who did not originally appear in the film) was added to make the film more topical. In the new prologue, a group of planes is seen flying over what was ancient Rome. The conversation of the soldiers in one of the planes leads directly into the film's original opening scene. The last few seconds of the edited version of the film showed the planes flying off into the distance, rather than simply fading out on the original closing scene of the movie.

For many years, this edited version was the only one available. The version now shown on Turner Classic Movies has been restored to the original 125 minute length by the UCLA Film and Television Archive with the help of the DeMille estate and Universal Television, which now owns most pre-1950 Paramount sound features.

Catholic Legion of Decency

The reaction of the Catholic Church in the United States to the content in this film and in Ann Vickers helped lead to the 1934 formation of the Catholic Legion of Decency, an organization dedicated to identifying and combating objectionable content, from the point of view of the Church, in motion pictures.[12]

Home Video Release

This film, along with Four Frightened People, Cleopatra, The Crusades and Union Pacific, was released on DVD in 2006 by Universal Studios as part of The Cecil B. DeMille Collection.

See also

References

  1. ↑ See Barrett (1896).
  2. ↑ Awards for The Sign of the Cross, IMDB.com; accessed August 5, 2015.
  3. ↑ Protest Against a Talkie: "The Sign of the Cross", The Citizen, (Tuesday, 31 January 1933), p.8.
  4. ↑ Landazuri@Turner Classic Movies.
  5. ↑ Kinsey Institute, The Sign of the Cross.
  6. ↑ Vieira 1999, p. 106.
  7. 1 2 Birchard 2004, pp. 251–255.
  8. ↑ "AFI's 10 Top 10 Nominees" (PDF). Retrieved 2016-08-19.
  9. ↑ Vieira 1999, pp. 106–109.
  10. ↑ Vieira 1999, p. 109.
  11. ↑ Vieira 1999, p. 110.
  12. ↑ Black 1996, pp. 162–164.
Bibliography
Online sources
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