Sign of the Cross [VHS]

Sign of the Cross [VHS]
by Cecil B. DeMille

Sign of the Cross [VHS]

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Product details

Actor: Charles Laughton, Claudette Colbert, Elissa Landi, Fredric March, Ian Keith
Director: Cecil B. DeMille
Cinematographer: Karl Struss
Producer: Cecil B. DeMille
Writer: Dudley Nichols
Writer: Henryk Sienkiewicz
Writer: Sidney Buchman
Writer: Waldemar Young
Writer: Wilson Barrett
Edition: VHS Tape
Audio: English (Original Language), Analog
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, HiFi Sound, NTSC
Running Time: 125 minutes
Release Date: 1995-03-28
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Publisher: Universal Studios
Studio: Universal Studios

VHS Movie Reviews of Sign of the Cross [VHS]

Movie Review: In One Word: Shocking!
Summary: 3 Stars

This was a powerful and shocking movie, at least for people who see a lot of classic films, including movies from the '30s. I haven't seen this in quite a while but I never forgot seeing a nude Claudette Colbert taking a milk bath!

However, seeing Christians persecuted was not entertaining to me. Although there is no gore, it's pretty brutal to almost see lions eating people, elephants crushing them, alligators ripping them apart, gladiators being speared, stabbed, torn up, etc., etc.I'm sure there were some outcries after this was released.

The Christians, led by Elissa Landi, are inspiring in their bravery in the midst of all this persecution. One wonders how - in real life - they did it. In addition to the torture, violent scenes, this movie was shocking in its day for the nudity.

Regarding other actors, Charles Laughton was convincing as the sick, sadistic "Nero" but Frederic March looked more like a silent film star with all the eye makeup.

Of a final note, it was interesting to see an "intermission" in this film, considering it's just two hours, but that was a long time for a film in 1932.

Movie Review: In the third night of the great fire!
Summary: 4 Stars

Brutal, dramatic and poignant film that recreates the events after the painful destruction of Rome by Nero's caprice: Marcus is the loyal officer who falls in love with a very young and beaty Christian; but in the meantime Poppea is in love with him, and due that reason she will send to death the woman he loves.

Claudette Colbert as Nero' wife is alluring and seductive: Frederic March as Marcus is believe believable too, but Charles Laughton as Nero simply is I top form.

Sometimes uneven and sometimes taut; but despite of the facts, the script maintains its force all the way through.

A film worth to see it.

Movie Review: The movie that almost founded camp!
Summary: 5 Stars

SOTC is so far over the top, it's a classic in spite of itself. Almost laughable all the way through, and 99% prime ham, but at the same time, you can appreciate the whole DeMille brand-stamp of epic films, as well as what they could get away with pre-code! March is a little stiff as the proper Roman patrician party boy with a crisis (Marcus Superbus, fer Godsake. Even his name is campy). Laughton has never been so, well, shall we say, closet-free in a role. He just exudes ultra-high camp. The villian is appropriately slimy, and Claudette Colbert is on fire, she's so hot. The colesseum scenes are still eye-grabbing, with all kinds of 30s-style violence and suggestion, some very unexpected. A definite must-own by any movie buff, so, naturally, it's out of print with, apparently, no plans for a DVD in sight. Thanks again, studios. Greed always wins out.
PS: If you're consider yourself an easily-offended Christian, don't watch this. If you do, you have no justification to complain afterward.
PPS: If you find THIS film gross/gory, have you ever seen any films made after 1957?

Movie Review: the roar of the lions, the smell of the crowd
Summary: 4 Stars

Bizarre and lavish, this 1932 epic is an entertaining curiosity piece. It starts in "Rome...the third night of the Great Fire, 64 A.D.", with Charles Laughton as a flabby, insane Nero, playing a harp and taking delight in the conflagration, with his hatred for Christians the basis for the plot.
It meshes together the faith and determination of a few brave souls with the debauchery of the times and mankind's fascination with the misfortunes of others, culminating in the remarkably well filmed Colosseum scene.
From Claudette Colbert, who plays Poppaea, Nero's wife, bathing in milk (and it was real milk, which started to sour and stink on the second of many days of filming), to the crocodiles on the march, there are depictions of every kind of excess and sensual liberty.

The costuming is skimpy, even to Frederic March's laughable micro-mini outfits, and the dialogue is often silly with some of the hammiest performances on film, but DeMille's talent for orchestrating crowd scenes, and the good/evil theme of the film make for outrageous and sometimes thought-provoking viewing. It's about depravity, courage, and the triumph (if only spiritually) of the underdog, and well worth seeing for the arena sequence alone.
Based on Wilson Barrett's popular 1895 play, the cinematography by Karl Struss (who in his long career also did the '58 cult favorite "The Fly") is brilliant, with many cross images using light/shade and doors. Total running time is 125 minutes.

Movie Review: SELLER IS A THIEF !
Summary: 1 Stars

BEWARE ! seller is a THIEF . I bought a vhs from seller . finally emailed after seven days . And sd his computer was down . sd he would check on my order and never emailed me back . kept emailing seller . Never had a response . Take my advise before buying from seller or you will be next .

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Summary of Sign of the Cross [VHS]

Cecil B. DeMille's pre-Hays Code Roman costume drama manages to mix fast-and-loose historical facts with melodrama and titillation. Fredric March plays Marcus Superbus, a Roman soldier and womanizer who jeopardizes his position in Nero's storm troopers by developing a crush on a beautiful Christian girl, Mercia (Elissa Landi). With the Christians keeping their faith far underground, Superbus walks a tightrope between his obligations to the state and his love for Mercia until she and her family are rounded up and hauled off to the arena. The Sign of the Cross is not without its problems; by modern standards, it often seems slow and stagy, and its moralistic message comes across as blunt and heavy-handed. DeMille, however, shrewdly knew how to keep an audience's attention in ways that would have been impossible in subsequent years. Consider Claudette Colbert as the alluring, evil Poppaea, lolling in a bath of asses' milk with her breasts almost completely exposed. Or there's the scene where Marcus tries to get Mercia to loosen up a bit; his idea of a fun time is to take her to an orgy where she's groped by a lesbian during an erotic dance. Then there's Charles Laughton as the decadent Nero, his fey manner abetted by an oiled-up boy-toy at his side in nearly every scene. The climactic scenes at the arena are still violent today, with Christians being gnawed by lions, gladiators knocking each other's brains out, and an Amazon spearing a Pygmy and carrying him around like a kebab! The Sign of the Cross was heavily cut for rerelease in later years but is now available again in its uncut form. --Jerry Renshaw

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