The Sign of the Cross (1932)
Average Rating: 5.5/10
Reviews Counted: 6
Fresh: 2 | Rotten: 4
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: N/A
Critic Reviews: 2
Fresh: 0 | Rotten: 2
liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 327
Movie Info
Director Cecil B. DeMille returned to Paramount Pictures for this typically epic production, which became his first box office hit after the close of the silent era. Fredric March stars as Roman Prefect Marcus Superbus, a noble military leader of the year 64 A.D. Emperor Nero (Charles Laughton) has just burned down the city and blamed the conflagration on Christians, which has exacerbated anti-Christian sentiment. Marcus encounters a beautiful young Christian woman, Mercia (Elissa Landi),
Jan 1, 1932 Wide
May 10, 2011
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Cast
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Fredric March
Marcus Superbus -
Claudette Colbert
Empress Poppaea -
Elissa Landi
Mercia -
Charles Laughton
Nero -
Ian Keith
Tigellinus -
Harry Beresford
Flavius -
Arthur Hohl
Titus -
Tommy Conlon
Stephanus -
Vivian Tobin
Dacia -
Ferdinand Gottschalk
Glabrio -
Joyzelle Joyner
Ancaria -
Joe Bonomo
Mute Giant -
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Nat Pendleton
Strabo -
William V. Mong
Licinius -
Clarence Burton
Servillius -
Harold Healy
Tybul -
Robert Manning
Philodemus -
Charles B. Middleton
Tyros -
Joel Allen
Bombadier (1944 prol... -
Lionel Belmore
Bettor -
John Carradine
Leader of Gladiators... -
Lane Chandler
Christian in chains -
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John James
Lieutenant Herb Hans... -
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James Millican
Capt. Kevin Driscoll... -
Stanley Ridges
Chaplian Lloyd (1944... -
Angelo Rossitto
Pygmy -
Arthur Shields
Chaplain Costello (1... -
Kent Taylor
A lover -
Tom Tully
Hoboken (1944 prolog... -
Ethel Wales
Complaining wife -
Richard Alexander
Viturius -
William Forrest
Colonel Hugh Mason (...
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All Critics (6) | Top Critics (2) | Fresh (2) | Rotten (4) | DVD (1)
Cast is uniformly good, but only one exceptional performance is registered. That's Laughton's.
Top CriticNot for people with scruples.
The Caligula of its day.
The film's generous helpings of sex and violence are overwhelmed by its general air of condescension and phony piety.
It wasn't great when it was first released and it's definitely not improved since.
Audience Reviews for The Sign of the Cross
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Foreign Titles
- The Sign of the Cross (1932) (DE)
- The Sign of the Cross (1932) (UK)
it has charles laughton as the sinisterly merciless niro who enjoys witnessing his palace burned, claudette colbert as the lecherous empress who would arbitrarily disposes of her love rival due to the bitter jealousy, and fredric march as the love-crazed roman official who sacrifice himself for his love toward a fanatic christian woman. colbert exuberates the aristocratic sensuality in the floral bathing pond with her breasts vaguely baring, and lasciviously willful enough to respond her reluctant candidate of paramour "i love you" while he spitefully addresses her as tramp. except the slightly unproper curl bang, colbert paves the stepping stone for her niche of the 1934 cleopatra, another collaboration with director demile.
laughton's obese insolence also savors up (or uglifies) the image of empirer niro. fredric march's gallant is a flat character who could barely move anyone, and his dedication of love could be explained by the proverb "what you can't get is always the best." elissa landi's blonde christian lily is a dreary character with uncomprehesible religious fever. maybe demonstrating how sincere christian martyrs explored the path of this widely converted religion itself is a preachy topic, and it makes you probe how could a former cult with so many stubbornly radical followers get so overwhelmingly popular? the sign of the cross was the the zodiac mark then, and the main difference is it's been validified with pragmatic hegemony today.
demile's trademark is his lush vaudevilles, and the most intriguing one would be the snake-swaying lustful dance from a sedutress clinging to another female while the christian martyrs are marching outside with their jarring gospels. and mostly controversial of all, the circus theater of ancient rome plays various rousingly vile beast-human sequences, such as tiger nibbing child, ape rapping a tied naked woman on the pole, amazonian decapitating midget, crocodiles looming over a confined woman....and the last one, lions devouring christians. they're all disturbingly gory manifested by the stark tone of black and white, with enough explicit insinuations to suggest the brutality of roman mob, and the most unsettling of all, the wailing excitement and morbid amusement on the audience's faces.
you may wonder if christiany is really such a great religion that people are willing to be consumed by wild felines alive for it...is march's last-min pledge out of his sudden elightenment or he's just a romantic steer willing to die with his lover?