The Sign of the Cross (film)

Infobox Film
name = The Sign of the Cross


caption =
director = Cecil B. DeMille
producer = Cecil B. DeMille
writer = Sidney Buchman
Waldemar Young
Wilson Barrett (play)
starring =Fredric March
Elissa Landi
Claudette Colbert
Charles Laughton
music = Rudolph G. Kopp
Jay Chernis
Paul Marquardt
Milan Roder
cinematography = Karl Struss
editing = Anne Bauchens
distributor = Paramount Pictures
released = 30 November 1932
runtime = 125 min
country = USA
awards =
language = English
budget =
preceded_by =
followed_by =
amg_id = 1:128980
imdb_id = 0023470

"The Sign of the Cross" is a 1932 epic film made by Paramount Pictures. It was produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille from a screenplay by Waldemar Young and Sidney Buchman, based on the 1896 play by Wilson Barrett. 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.

The film stars Fredric March, Elissa Landi, Claudette Colbert, and Charles Laughton with Ian Keith.

The film is the third and last in DeMille's biblical trilogy with "The Ten Commandments" (1923) and "The King of Kings" (1927).

It was filmed on location in Fresno, California, USA. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Karl Struss).

The film was cut by DeMille for its 1944 rerelease, so it would conform to the Production Code. New footage with a World War II setting, featuring actor Stanley Ridges (who did not appear in the film originally) 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 Pictures, which now owns all pre-1948 Paramount releases.

Cast

*Fredric March as Marcus Superbus
*Elissa Landi as Mercia
*Claudette Colbert as Empress Poppaea
*Charles Laughton as Emperor Nero
*Ian Keith as Tigellinus
*Arthur Hohl as Titus
*Harry Beresford as Favius
*Tommy Conlon as Stephan
*Ferdinand Gottschalk as Glabrio
*Vivian Tobin as Dacia
*William V. Mong as Licinius
*Joyzelle Joyner as Ancaria
*Richard Alexander as Viturius
*Nat Pendleton as Strabo
*Clarence Burton as Servillius
*Harold Healy as Tybul
*Robert Seiter as Philodemus (as Robert Manning)
*Charles Middleton as Tyros

External links

*imdb title|id=0023470|title=The Sign of the Cross
*tcmdb title|id=90102|title=The Sign of the Cross
*rotten-tomatoes|id=sign_of_the_cross|title=The Sign of the Cross