Linbeymusol Wonderful character development!

Invaderbank The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

Roy Hart If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

HotToastyRag If you've ever wondered why the old Hollywood Hays Code was ever put in place, The Sign of the Cross is a great example of the filth Will Hays tried to scourge the screen of. It's another large-scale Cecil B. DeMille epic, with huge production values and sets and costumes leftover from his silent version of Ben-Hur. A lot of work went into this movie, but it pushed every single boundary that was eventually reined in.Picking up a few decades after where Ben-Hur left off, The Sign of the Cross shows how Christians were persecuted by Romans and punished by the emperor and empress, played by Charles Laughton and Claudette Colbert. Fredric March, a loyal Roman tribune, falls in love with a poor Christian woman, Elissa Landi. Basically, try to imagine if Messala-not acted very well-fell in love with Esther-who miraculously looks like she popped out of the 1980s. Claudette, who has Freddie in her sights, is particularly interested in getting Elissa out of the way, so she doesn't help when asked for mercy.Speaking of Claudette, she plays a very different type of role in this film than she usually plays. Gone are the witty banter and conservative yet adorable clothing. Here, she's a conniving bad girl who's scantily clad in every scene. She really does look beautiful, though, and as there is a nude scene, nothing's left to the imagination of her lovely figure.I wouldn't recommend watching this movie unless you liked Gladiator. Believe it or not, this early talkie is extremely violent and upsetting. Charles, a very unlikable, flippant bad guy, presides over the typical gladiator games, and since there were no censors, DeMille was able to film any number of horrific punishments. Each condemned prisoner who enters the arena is greeted with certain death, either from forced fights between one another or a run-in with a wild animal. Lions are shown chewing on their victims, and one man in beheaded by a woman's sword. This is a very violent part of the movie, as is the torture scene of Elissa's kid brother, Tommy Conlon. It doesn't show what happens to him, but his screams are ear-splitting, and it's a very long scene.Kiddy Warning: Obviously, you have control over your own children. However, due to some sexual content and upsetting violence, I wouldn't let my kids watch it.

poetcomic1 A lot of silly tosh but Claudette Colbert as Poppaea is a gorgeous little thing with a sassy mouth on her and Charles Laughton is WAY over the top. Laughton's Nero set the gold standard for Nero for all time. The two of them are so BAD and WICKED you'll laugh out loud with delight. They were obviously having a lot of fun. The 'early Christians' and their 'camp meetings' are a dreary bore and as always in these - the role of the Apostles is as thankless as can be with big Santa beards and robes and a lot of 'solemnity' . The arena slaughter is justly famous and is well worth finding in the uncensored version with the sexual sadism clearly illustrated in the spectator's lustful faces.I have always had a soft spot for Ancaria 'the wickedest woman in Rome' who has her 'lesbian song and dance specialty act' interrupted by hymn singing martyrs on their way to the arena. If you've ever been up-staged you will sympathize.Frederic March vacillates between tolerably good acting and intolerable ham.De Mille is in his element in the arena and at the orgy. Most of the rest of story creaks along. I give this 7 stars and 8 if you fast forward.

ptb-8 Yikes! De Mille's erotic raunchy graphic and splendid SIGN OF THE CROSS made at Paramount in 1932, and his first talkie bible study is a movie you not forget. It is infamous and famous for many sights and other comments here will give you the reaction to the graphic cruelty of the truly shocking Arena/Gladiator scenes. The ridiculously entertaining asses milk bath with nipples ahoy and Claudette's milky breasts, the very funny dialog of daily life amid the splendor, the horror of the rape and torture of a teenage Christian boy, the eerie similarity to the 1932 German persecution of the European Jews, the depression era parable of the idle rich uncaring at the financial death of the 1930s masses, the dazzling costumes (no bras in Rome either), the claustrophobic street sets with rushing horses and fights in corners, all in all create an amazing action tableau like a pencil sketch bible book drawing brought to life. The film's art direction and set design and costumes are especially evocative of 'a silent epic with sound' and one easily can transfer the idea of seeing the 1925 BEN HUR with sound as SIGN OF THE CROSS favorably compares. The Arena montage scenes are really shocking. The Moon Dance is outrageous lesbian swankiness and gorgeous as all hell... well pagan hell as depicted by the morally austere Demille. Great moving wallpaper for your next party if played on a big TV and without sound with your CD collection going instead. If you agree that SIGN OF THE CROSS made in 1932 is really a 1920s silent film with dialog, have a look at FOLLOW THRU made two years earlier in 1929 and in color and as jazz modern today in it's creative style. CROSS plays like an ancient movie but FOLLOW THRU still plays new.

lugonian THE SIGN OF THE CROSS (Paramount, 1932), directed by Cecil B. DeMille, returns its director to the genre to what he's best known, the religious spectacle, his first since THE KING OF KINGS (Pathe, 1927) starring H.B. Warner as Jesus the Christ. While this title certainly indicates another retelling into the life of Christ, the script, taken from an old play by Wilson Barrett, focuses more on Christians following in the teachings of Jesus years after His crucifixion, only to face suffering and prosecution for their faith.The setting is 64 A.D. where the Emperor Nero (Charles Laughton) is introduced playing his lyre while watching in laughter the flames raging through the city of Rome. Although responsible for starting the fire, Nero places the blame on the Christians, arranging for his guards to have them placed under arrest. His wife, Poppara (Claudette Colbert), is an adulteress whose only desire is the manly Marcus Superbus (Fredric March), a prefect of Rome, but cannot put her hold on him after learning from Dacia (Vivian Tobin) of his love for Mercia (Elissa Landi), a Christian girl. As much as Marcus believes "Christianity is stupid," he tries his best to persuade Mercia to renounce her faith and marry him. Tigellinus (Ian Keith), Marcus' rival, sees an opportunity in making trouble for them both.With crime dramas, drawing room comedies and/or social related issues as common theme during the Depression era, THE SIGN OF THE CROSS was something out of the ordinary. In true DeMille fashion, THE SIGN OF THE CROSS is not only a 128 minute spectacle with a three minute intermission in the midway point, but a large-scale production with lavish sets and cast of thousands accurately costumed according to its time structure. Of the performers in this Biblical story, Elissa Landi, the central character, seems out of place with her 1932 head-dress while Claudette Colbert, in her first "bad girl" role, quite evident with her lipstick and pencil drawn eyelashes, has her cherished moment bathing in a pool of milk gulped along side by two kittens at a distance. Fredric March as the Roman soldier who rules with the cracking of his whip, physically makes a convincing Marcus, though some of his badly scripted dialog, along with others in the cast, may provoke laughter for any contemporary viewer. Charles Laughton's Nero is exceptional, right down to his curly hair with added putty in the middle of his nose adding sharpness to his cruel facial expression. Although his scenes are regrettably limited, Laughton simply stands out, especially as he watches in sleepy-eyed boredom the slaughter of victims at the arena as he sits back eating large portions of food. Other members in the large cast include Tommy Conlan as Stephanus, the teenage Christian boy; Nat Pendleton, Arthur Hohl, Charles Middleton; lions, tigers, crocodiles and elephants as uncredited extras.As much as the plot was reworked into the MGM spectacle of QUO VADIS (1951) starring Robert Taylor as Marcus; with Deborah Kerr and Peter Ustinov giving a tour-da-force performance as Nero, nothing can compare with the intense arena sequence found in THE SIGN OF THE CROSS. Graphic, then and now, this sequence, along with "The Naked Moon" dance performed by the wicked Ancaria (Joyzelle Joyner), was all that was missing when THE SIGN OF THE CROSS was not only reissued to theaters in 1944, but when sold to commercial television around the 1960s. In its place was a ten minute prologue written by Dudley Nichols, set during World War II with the cast featuring Stanley Ridges (Chaplain Thomas Lloyd); Arthur Shields (Captain James Costello); James Millican (Captain Kevin Driscoll); William Forrest (Colonel Hugh Mason); Tom Tully (Hoboken); Oliver Thorndyke (Lieutenant Roger Hammond); and Joel Allen. The new opening revolves around bombardiers being assigned on a dangerous mission and heading out to their destination. As the airplane flies over the Colosseum, a discussion about to the prosecution of Christians under Nero's regime leads to a flashback and events that takes place. It wasn't until March 14, 1993, when American Movie Classics cable channel presented the original uncut 1932 theatrical release of THE SIGN OF THE CROSS that was obtained from the DeMille estate, and played it as part of AMC's initial Film Preservation Society festival. Without these missing scenes, THE SIGN OF THE CROSS would have been hopelessly dull and talkie, such as the case with the 1944 reissue that had circulated for nearly half a century. In 1995, Universal Home Video distributed the now uncensored 1932 version to home video and then to DVD in 2006. After AMC ceased airing THE SIGN OF THE CROSS in 1999, Turner Classic Movies picked up its option by airing this DeMille epic where it played from occasionally from 2004 to 2007. Regardless of its flaws, THE SIGN OF THE CROSS is prime DeMille, best suited for viewing during the season of Lent or Good Friday. Hail Caesar!! (***1/2)