The Sign Of The Cross (1932)

It's Rome in the year 64 A.D. and a Roman prefect (Fredric March wearing more eyeliner and lipstick than his leading lady) finds himself falling in love with a Christian girl (Elissa Landi) even though it's his duty to arrest her. Based on the play by Wilson Barrett and directed by Cecil B. DeMille at his most hypocritically pious. DeMille treats us to such delicacies as Christians getting tortured, stamped on by elephants, gored by bulls, eaten by alligators, nubile maidens raped by gorillas, pygmies skewered on swords, decapitations, etc. all the while proclaiming the glory of Christ! This piece of camp should be more fun than it is but the scenes with the sanctimonious Christians are a thudding bore! The movie perks up in the scenes with Charles Laughton (looking like a debauched cherub) as Nero and Claudette Colbert as the decadent Poppaea (her nude scene bathing in ass's milk is a hoot). The wickedness is portrayed as so much more enjoyable than the piety that DeMille defeats his intended purpose. Romans 10, Christians 0. MGM would do this sort of thing so much better in 1951 with QUO VADIS. With Ian Keith, Tommy Conlon and Nat Pendleton.