|
Available on DVD! To buy, click on link(s) below and help keep this site afloat (commissions earned) |
Always make sure of DVD-compatibility!!!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
After Emperor Nero (Charles Laughton) set fire to Rome, he blamed the
Christians for it to try and get the Roman populace up and in arms against
this unwanted new sect. Prefect Marcus (Frederic March), whose unaware of
the scheme behind it all, is Nero's chief Christian-hunter - and at the
same time Nero's wife Poppaea (Claudette Colbert) wants him for herself,
even though he has turned her down countless times. However, when Marcus
witnesses Mercia (Elissa Landi) defending two old Christians against Roman
soldiers, he immediately falls in love with her (and she with him), and
even though he correctly suspects all three of them being Christians, he
lets them off the hook - which hasn't gone unnoticed by Tigellinus (Ian
Keith), technically Marcus's subordinate, but more than a bit interested
in snatching his post. So Tigellinus soon leads a campaign especially
designed to smoke out the Christians Mercia's with - and despite Marcus's
attempts to save them he soon has them arrested and thrown into prison.
Marcus uses his influence with the Emperor to free her (but not the
others), but when he tries to introduce her to Roman high society in a
lavish banquet, she totally shuts down because she can't forget the fate
of those with her, and even refuses herself to Marcus (something she has
never done before), only wanting to be with her people. This wish is
quickly fulfilled when Tigellinus comes to fetch her - which is based on a
scheme made up by Poppaea, who refuses to share her Marcus with that
Christian girl. In the Colisseum, the Christians are sacrificed one
after another, thrown to different animals including tigers and
alligators, but upon Tigellinus' order, Mercia is saved until very last.
Marcus dashes in in a desperate attempt to save her, suggesting for her to
renounce her faith in exchange for her life - but she refuses, as she
rather dies with her people than live in sin. When he sees her
determination, Marcus decides to face death with her, even if he knows
nothing about Christianity. Sign of the Cross is a movie
that clearly has its moments: Every time either Charles Laughton or
Claudette Colbert are on screen they steal the scene, there's a very
atmospheric torture scene in a dungeon that shows exactly nothing and is
all the more horrible for it, and the colliseum scenes at the end of the
movie are rather delicious in both their twisted inventiveness and
execution. In between though, the film, as lavishly shot as it might be,
rather rises above pure clichée, its main characters lack depth -
especially Marcus's transformation from fierce Christian-hater to
sympathizer is not really worked out, while Mercia and her people are
simply too good to be true. That's not to say the movie's all bad, it
looks good, the camerawork's fine (considering its days technical
limitations), the cast is uniformly at least decent, and there are at
least moments of tension. But to call the movie a masterpiece would be a
gross exaggeration.
|