{ "id": "ep0d9gj4fp", "slug": "the-sign-of-the-cross", "title": "The Sign of the Cross", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "label": "War and historical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics", "label": "Historical dramas and epics", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics.alpha-m-to-z", "label": "Titles M to Z", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics.alpha-m-to-z" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics.alpha-m-to-z.alpha-sc-to-z", "label": "Titles Sc to Z", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics.alpha-m-to-z.alpha-sc-to-z" } ], "geo": [ { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "label": "United States · 1800 to 1945: War and historical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800", "label": "United States · 1800 to 1945", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works", "label": "Individual films by title and year", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical", "label": "War and historical films (individual works)", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1800.culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical" } ] } ], "excerpt": "The Sign of the Cross (1932) is Cecil B. DeMille's pre-Code Paramount epic from Wilson Barrett's 1895 play, starring Fredric March, Claudette Colbert, and Charles Laughton as Nero; notorious for its milk-bath and arena scenes, cut in 1935, restored in 1993.", "snippet": "The Sign of the Cross (1932) is Cecil B. DeMille's pre-Code Paramount epic from Wilson Barrett's 1895 play, starring Fredric March, Claudette Colbert, and Charles Laughton as Nero; notorious for its milk-bath and arena scenes, cut in 1935, restored in 1993.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.individual-works.war-historical.historical-dramas-and-epics.alpha-m-to-z.alpha-sc-to-z", "markdown": "# The Sign of the Cross\n\n**The Sign of the Cross** is a 1932 American pre-Code historical epic directed by Cecil B. DeMille for Paramount Pictures, adapted from Wilson Barrett's 1895 stage play about Christians persecuted by the emperor Nero in ancient Rome. It stars [Fredric March](https://www.edgepedia.org/fredric-march) as the Roman prefect Marcus Superbus, Elissa Landi as the Christian Mercia, Claudette Colbert as Empress Poppaea, and [Charles Laughton](https://www.edgepedia.org/charles-laughton) as Nero.[1](https://kinolorber.com/film/the-sign-of-the-cross) • [2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3859-THE-SIGNOFTHECROSS?cp=1&pos=0&sid=47e4cc58-f33e-4c38-a6f7-ed7e55f35a2f&sr=0.15024145) The film is remembered both as DeMille's comeback picture and as one of the most sexually explicit and violent features a major studio had released up to that time, a combination that helped provoke the stricter enforcement of Hollywood's Production Code.[3](https://cinema.ucla.edu/events/the-sign-of-the-cross-only-yesterday-04-26-19/)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director and studio | Cecil B. DeMille, as a one-film contract with Paramount Publix Corp.; production began 25 July 1932[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3859-THE-SIGNOFTHECROSS?cp=1&pos=0&sid=47e4cc58-f33e-4c38-a6f7-ed7e55f35a2f&sr=0.15024145) |\n| Source | Wilson Barrett's play, first performed on a U.S. tour in 1895 and a London sensation from 27 May 1895[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3859-THE-SIGNOFTHECROSS?cp=1&pos=0&sid=47e4cc58-f33e-4c38-a6f7-ed7e55f35a2f&sr=0.15024145) |\n| Principal cast | Fredric March (Marcus Superbus), Elissa Landi (Mercia), Claudette Colbert (Poppaea), Charles Laughton (Nero)[1](https://kinolorber.com/film/the-sign-of-the-cross) |\n| Release | New York premiere 30 November 1932; general release 10 February 1933; 123–125 minutes[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3859-THE-SIGNOFTHECROSS?cp=1&pos=0&sid=47e4cc58-f33e-4c38-a6f7-ed7e55f35a2f&sr=0.15024145) |\n| Cost and gross | $694,064.67 cost against $2,738,993.35 gross, excluding reissue and television income[4](https://www.cecilbdemille.com/portfolio-item/the-sign-of-the-cross/) |\n| Recognition | Academy Award nomination for cinematographer Karl Struss[1](https://kinolorber.com/film/the-sign-of-the-cross) |\n| Restoration | Restored to its original 1932 length in 1993 by the DeMille Estate and MCA-Universal from DeMille's personal nitrate print[5](https://brightlightsfilm.com/wickedest-movie-world-cecil-b-demille-made-sign-cross/) • [3](https://cinema.ucla.edu/events/the-sign-of-the-cross-only-yesterday-04-26-19/) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Story\n\nThe plot follows the romance between Marcus Superbus, prefect of Rome, and Mercia, a young Christian woman, at a moment when Christianity is outlawed. Emperor Nero burns Rome and blames the Christians, ordering them sent to the arena; Empress Poppaea, who desires Marcus, learns of Mercia and, out of jealousy, conspires with Nero to have the Christians put to death.[1](https://kinolorber.com/film/the-sign-of-the-cross) • [6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sign_of_the_cross) In the arena sequence Marcus refuses to require Mercia to renounce her faith and instead joins her and the other Christians in martyrdom; the film ends as the dungeon doors close, casting the shadow of a cross.[7](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023470/plotsummary/) The AFI Catalog synopsis places the story in Rome in the year 66 A.D., while the Kino Lorber synopsis gives 64 A.D.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3859-THE-SIGNOFTHECROSS?cp=1&pos=0&sid=47e4cc58-f33e-4c38-a6f7-ed7e55f35a2f&sr=0.15024145) • [1](https://kinolorber.com/film/the-sign-of-the-cross)\n\n## Production\n\n**A comeback under constraint.** DeMille had gone independent in 1925, then signed a three-picture deal with MGM in the early talkie period; when those films failed, he returned to Paramount on a contract for one film only, this one. The [Depression](https://www.edgepedia.org/depression) constrained him to a reported budget of $650,000, and the studio would not tolerate his old free-spending ways.[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/72483/the-sign-of-the-cross) He reassembled his regular crew at reduced salaries: production and costume designer Mitchell Leisen, editor Anne Bauchens, and assistant director Roy Burns. Leisen built miniatures and mattes in place of full sets, and cinematographer Karl Struss used prism lenses to make crowd scenes appear to hold twice the number of extras. Midway through a take, Burns told DeMille the money was gone; DeMille called \"Cut!\" and told Bauchens to begin editing what had been shot.[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/72483/the-sign-of-the-cross) The DeMille estate's own figures put the final cost at $694,064.67 against a gross of $2,738,993.35.[4](https://www.cecilbdemille.com/portfolio-item/the-sign-of-the-cross/)\n\nThe spectacle remained lavish despite the economies. Animals including lions, tigers, bears, and elephants were rented from a dozen zoos; the lions refused to eat the lamb-stuffed dummies prepared for the arena scenes, and the elephants, hearing the extras' applause, stood on their heads as they had been trained to do. The fire of Rome was staged at Paramount's ranch in the Santa Monica Mountains with gas pipes running through replica Roman structures, while Laughton, holding a lyre, sang as the flames rose.[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/72483/the-sign-of-the-cross) • [4](https://www.cecilbdemille.com/portfolio-item/the-sign-of-the-cross/) DeMille hired 4,500 extras, about half of whom had worked on his *The Ten Commandments* (1923) and nearly two-thirds on *[The King of Kings](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-king-of-kings-1927-film)* (1927).[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3859-THE-SIGNOFTHECROSS?cp=1&pos=0&sid=47e4cc58-f33e-4c38-a6f7-ed7e55f35a2f&sr=0.15024145)\n\n**Casting.** DeMille had seen Charles Laughton, then unknown in the United States, in a London play and judged him perfect as Nero; the film became Laughton's first American film. He also recruited [Claudette Colbert](https://www.edgepedia.org/claudette-colbert), then known for lighter comedies and dramas, asking how she would like to play \"the wickedest woman in the world.\"[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/72483/the-sign-of-the-cross) Colbert's milk-bath scene as Poppaea took several days to shoot; the milk, probably powdered cow's milk despite press claims that it was real, turned to cheese overnight under the hot lights, and the odor nearly made Colbert faint.[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/72483/the-sign-of-the-cross)\n\n## Censorship and reissues\n\nThe film's content, including lions devouring Christians, nudity, homosexuality, orgies, and murder, drew objections from censors, but DeMille refused to make cuts and generally prevailed before the Code was strictly enforced.[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/72483/the-sign-of-the-cross) The Hays Office wanted Ancaria's seductive dance around Mercia eliminated entirely; according to DeMille's autobiography, when Will H. Hays asked what he intended to do about the scene, DeMille answered, \"Not a damn thing,\" and the dance stayed in the picture. Before general release, however, three or four minutes were cut, including a passage in which Marcus is the target of a dancing wanton's advances, and a crocodile sequence was trimmed after early New York screenings. Singapore's censors cut scenes of trucks carrying dead bodies, a gorilla dancing around a nude girl, and elephants walking over Christians.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3859-THE-SIGNOFTHECROSS?cp=1&pos=0&sid=47e4cc58-f33e-4c38-a6f7-ed7e55f35a2f&sr=0.15024145)\n\nThe UCLA Film & Television Archive describes the film as the most graphically violent and sexually explicit feature yet released by a major studio, and Variety called it \"the boldest censor-bait ever attempted in a picture\"; the New York Times reported women at the Rialto covering their eyes and fainting.[3](https://cinema.ucla.edu/events/the-sign-of-the-cross-only-yesterday-04-26-19/) The film's reissue was repeatedly rejected by the Production Code Administration in the mid- to late 1930s, and much of the sexual and violent content was cut when it was reissued in 1935 after full enforcement of the Code.[3](https://cinema.ucla.edu/events/the-sign-of-the-cross-only-yesterday-04-26-19/) • [9](https://www.qnetwork.com/review/4292)\n\n**The 1944 reissue.** During World War II, DeMille recommended reissuing the film with a prologue drawing parallels between Nero's persecution of Christians and [Adolf Hitler](https://www.edgepedia.org/adolf-hitler)'s dictatorship. The prologue, written by Dudley Nichols with Mitchell Leisen as art director, cost a reported $100,000 to $125,000 and ran 8.5 to 11 minutes; it shows American B-17 bombers dropping leaflets over Rome while two chaplains reminisce. The reissue opened 1 December 1944 and received a certificate of approval only after a shot of a robe falling out of scene was deleted.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3859-THE-SIGNOFTHECROSS?cp=1&pos=0&sid=47e4cc58-f33e-4c38-a6f7-ed7e55f35a2f&sr=0.15024145)\n\n**Restoration.** In 1993 the DeMille Estate and MCA-Universal restored the film to its original length, preserved from DeMille's personal 35 mm nitrate print, and it has since been recognized as a work of art in its own right.[5](https://brightlightsfilm.com/wickedest-movie-world-cecil-b-demille-made-sign-cross/) • [3](https://cinema.ucla.edu/events/the-sign-of-the-cross-only-yesterday-04-26-19/) Kino Lorber issued the restored version on Blu-ray in 2020, sourced from UCLA-held material.[9](https://www.qnetwork.com/review/4292)\n\n## Reception and significance\n\nThe film was a commercial success even in the depths of the Depression, and it returned DeMille to Paramount, where he remained for the rest of his career.[8](https://www.tcm.com/articles/72483/the-sign-of-the-cross) Contemporary reviewers treated it as a spectacle event: the Daily Telegraph called it \"the most brutal as well as the most spectacular talkie yet made,\" and the Brooklyn Daily Eagle called it \"the biggest thing the screen has offered since the coming of the talkies.\"[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sign_of_the_cross) On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes it holds an 80% Tomatometer score from 25 reviews.[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sign_of_the_cross)\n\nThe UCLA program notes credit DeMille's handling of symbolism, crowds, crane shots, montage, contrapuntal sound, multitrack mixing, and silence, calling it superior to the 1932 work of [Ernst Lubitsch](https://www.edgepedia.org/ernst-lubitsch), Rouben Mamoulian, and [Irving Thalberg](https://www.edgepedia.org/irving-thalberg).[3](https://cinema.ucla.edu/events/the-sign-of-the-cross-only-yesterday-04-26-19/) Later assessments are more divided: one reviewer finds the film fascinating but not very good, telling a story later handled in *Quo Vadis* (1951), *The Robe* (1953), and *Ben-Hur* (1959), while crediting Laughton and Colbert with stealing their scenes.[9](https://www.qnetwork.com/review/4292) • [10](https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/74504) The film's plot closely parallels [Henryk Sienkiewicz](https://www.edgepedia.org/henryk-sienkiewicz)'s novel *Quo Vadis*, sharing the love story between a Roman officer and a Christian woman and the persecution narrative, though Barrett's play ends with the lovers' martyrdom where the novel gives them a happy ending.[11](https://www.bip.uni.lodz.pl/fileadmin/user_upload/rozprawa_doktorska_mgr_Anna_Pro%C5%9Bniak.pdf)\n\n## Earlier versions\n\nBarrett's play had already reached the screen twice before DeMille. A British film version was made in 1904, directed by William Haggar.[2](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3859-THE-SIGNOFTHECROSS?cp=1&pos=0&sid=47e4cc58-f33e-4c38-a6f7-ed7e55f35a2f&sr=0.15024145) The Famous Players Film Company released a silent adaptation on 21 December 1914, directed by Frederick Thomson and starring William Farnum as Marcus Superbus and Rosina Henley as Mercia; a print survives in the Eye Film Instituut Nederland archive, and the title is in the American public domain.[12](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/S/SignOfTheCross1914.html) A separate 1900 [Georges Méliès](https://www.edgepedia.org/georges-melies) short released in the United States under the title *The Sign of the Cross* (original French title *Le Diable au couvent*) is a fantasy about Satan in a convent and is unrelated to Barrett's play.[13](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0000242/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [The Sign of the Cross, Kino Lorber Theatrical](https://kinolorber.com/film/the-sign-of-the-cross)\n2. [The Sign of the Cross (1933), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/3859-THE-SIGNOFTHECROSS?cp=1&pos=0&sid=47e4cc58-f33e-4c38-a6f7-ed7e55f35a2f&sr=0.15024145)\n3. [The Sign of the Cross / Only Yesterday, UCLA Film & Television Archive](https://cinema.ucla.edu/events/the-sign-of-the-cross-only-yesterday-04-26-19/)\n4. [The Sign of the Cross, CecilBDemille.com](https://www.cecilbdemille.com/portfolio-item/the-sign-of-the-cross/)\n5. [The Wickedest Movie in the World: How Cecil B. DeMille Made The Sign of the Cross, Bright Lights Film Journal](https://brightlightsfilm.com/wickedest-movie-world-cecil-b-demille-made-sign-cross/)\n6. [The Sign of the Cross, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/sign_of_the_cross)\n7. [The Sign of the Cross (1932) – Plot, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0023470/plotsummary/)\n8. [The Sign of the Cross, Turner Classic Movies article by Margarita Landazuri](https://www.tcm.com/articles/72483/the-sign-of-the-cross)\n9. [The Sign of the Cross review by James Kendrick, QNetwork](https://www.qnetwork.com/review/4292)\n10. [Sign of the Cross, The – Blu-ray review by Stuart Galbraith IV, DVD Talk](https://www.dvdtalk.com/reviews/review/74504)\n11. [Anna Prośniak, doctoral dissertation on The Sign of the Cross and Quo Vadis, University of Łódź](https://www.bip.uni.lodz.pl/fileadmin/user_upload/rozprawa_doktorska_mgr_Anna_Pro%C5%9Bniak.pdf)\n12. [The Sign of the Cross (1914), Progressive Silent Film List, Silent Era](https://www.silentera.com/PSFL/data/S/SignOfTheCross1914.html)\n13. [The Sign of the Cross (1900), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0000242/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › War and historical films (individual works) › Historical dramas and epics › Titles M to Z › Titles Sc to Z*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-sign-of-the-cross", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/the-sign-of-the-cross.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"The Sign of the Cross\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-sign-of-the-cross. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[The Sign of the Cross](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-sign-of-the-cross)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/the-sign-of-the-cross](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-sign-of-the-cross). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"The Sign of the Cross\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/the-sign-of-the-cross. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "The Sign of the Cross is Cecil B." }