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starring: Fredric March, Elissa Landi, Claudette Colbert, Charles Laughton, Ian Keithdirected by: Cecil B. DeMille
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786303382968
Format: Black & White, Closed-captioned, HiFi Sound, NTSC
ISBN: 6303382967
Label: Universal Studios
Manufacturer: Universal Studios
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Universal Studios
Release Date: March 28, 1995
Running Time: 125 minutes
Sales Rank: 4085
Studio: Universal Studios
Theatrical Release Date: February 10, 1933
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Editorial Review:
Amazon.com:
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
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: 
Rating: - In the third night of the great fire!
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.
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Rating:  - The movie that almost founded camp!
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 ... Read More
Rating: - the roar of the lions, the smell of the crowd
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 ... Read More
Rating:  - SELLER IS A THIEF !
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 .
Rating:  - Eat, drink, and be merry, for tomorrow we die
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I found this to be the general attitude of the Roman people, if this movie is at all historically accurate, and I believe it is. A very pitiful, empty, tragic existence. To hate other people so much just because they love and serve God, and to be so deadened in spirit that you don't mind killing en masse.
Well... I watched it last night because it has been years since I've seen a DeMille movie and I wanted to see what it was like. While I will not dismiss DeMille as a director, I think ... Read More
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