For all the hype it got I was expecting a lot more!

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Fun premise, good actors, bad writing. This film seemed to have potential at the beginning but it quickly devolves into a trite action film. Ultimately it's very boring.

Blistering performances.

The plot.After burning Rome, Emperor Nero decides to blame the Christians, and issues the edict that they are all to be caught and sent to the arena. Two old Christians are caught, and about to be hauled off, when Marcus, the highest military official in Rome, comes upon them. When he sees their stepdaughter Mercia, he instantly falls in love with her and frees them. Marcus pursues Mercia, which gets him into trouble with Emperor (for being easy on Christians) and with the Empress, who loves him and is jealous.Never was a big fan of Demille and this movie might be why. Acting is over the top and the direction heavy handed.Laughton is especially bizarre. Rubber nose that doesn't match his own skin color so it looks like he has a red nose through out.The romance angle is really poorly done. In fact the writing is really horrible

The Sign of the CrossThe "Sign of the Cross" is a Hollywood film made in 1932. Fredric March plays Marcus Superbus, possibly the prefect of the Praetorian Guard, who falls in love with Mercia (Elissa Landi) a Christian. At the end, they go to their deaths together in the Colosseum. Claudette Colbert plays the empress Poppea. Nero is played by Charles Laughton. It's a fairly spectacular film. There is an orgy at which Marcus tries and fails to seduce Mercia away from Christianity and into sin. Then there is the games in the Colosseum that end with the Christians being fed to the lions. Near the beginning there is the famous scene of Poppea bathing in milk; you may or may not get see a little more, a very little more, than was normal in Hollywood films of the time. The weakness is in the characterisations. When Marcus and Mercia first meet there is absolutely no chemistry between them and it is absent throughout the film. March is too lightweight for a senior Roman officer. He is neither Russell Crowe nor Stephen Boyd. Colbert's Poppea is no more evil than Amanda Barrie's Cleopatra. Colbert's Poppea comes across as being flirtatious and rather vacuous, but far more seductive than the Mercia of Elissa Landi. Although Nero was mad, I always imagined him to be far more dynamic than Laughton's version.

As the film opens in 64AD Rome, the city is burning and Nero (Charles Laughton) is playing his hand held harp. He comes up with the idea to blame all the social, political, and economic problems on the nascent Christians, some of whom who are old enough to have witnessed Christ's crucifixion. This leads to one of the better portrayals of the Colliseum "games" that's ever made it to the big screen and surely must have made Depression weary viewers forget their problems for the time being. The love story of the relationship between prefect Marcus Superbus (Frederic March) and the young Christian woman Mercia (Elissa Landi) seems like a distraction, though it was probably necessary to counterbalance the salacious depictions of debauchery, especially Claudette Colbert's bathing scene in milk brought to her by slaves, and a wild dance that goes on while the Christians sing hymns as they're being led to the Colisseum dungeon. I think Frederic March probably became great sometime after this film, but Laughton, who doesn't get that much screen time, is great as Nero the hedonist and also as a serious ruler. But what will surely capture attention is the finale, which goes on quite extensively, and which DeMille in pre-code fashion, let it all fly, while bringing an effective and moving human touch to the suffering.

Set in Ancient Rome, SIGN OF THE CROSS follows Police Prefect Marcus Suberbus (Young Fredric March with eye-shadow and a tendency for delicious barnstorming!) He is ordered to capture and sometimes kill Rome's "dangerous" and elusive underground Christian cult. However, he falls in love with Mercia, a captive girl who refuses to give up her faith. Along the way, we meet Nero. Charles Laughton plays Nero as a boozed, up, spineless, psychotic baby. Claudette Colbert takes it all away as Poppaea, Nero's wife. Her nude milk-bath, constant demonic purring delivery hypnotizes the audience. There's a bizarre orgy sequence about half-way through the film where a crazy lesbian dancer entertains the crowd and us with her "Dance of the Naked Moon". Trust me, you have to see this.Then comes the third act of SIGN OF THE CROSS. The captive Christians are forced to participate in deranged and warped games at the Coliseum. This scene will simply blow you out of your comfy-chair, and still come at ya! Naked girls are fed to alligators, one is offered to what looks like a lovesick gorilla, amazon women fight and behead hopping pygmies, men are made to box grizzly bears, and much, much more. DeMille adds to this craziness by cutting in reaction shots of the Coliseum crowd. Some scream in horror, a woman is obviously sexually turned on by the carnage, many gawk and gamble, while others yawn in boredom.If you watched SIGN OF THE CROSS, let's say on late night TV in the past, you saw the heavily censored version with most of the above insanity cut out. Upon a 1944 re-release, the Production Code forced most of the Coliseum scenes removed. A prologue and epilogue with World War II fighter pilots talking about Nero's Rome was tacked on. This is the original 1932 uncut version, with the Coliseum craziness replaced and the fighter pilot footage removed. Soak in it!