Monday, October 6, 2014
"The Sign of The Cross" - Review
I enjoyed The Sign of The Cross overall, considering it was a "step back" compared to the more recent movies we have been watching. I was actually surprised by how, other than it being in black and white, it was very cinematic in its use of cameras and editing. It did not feel "old" compared to films from ten years earlier. I really enjoyed the scene in the Colosseum of the little people versus the Amazon women, as I had never seen anything like this before. I was also surprised by the violence in the film. Then little people being beheaded and skewed was kind of disturbing and I was not expecting this type of violence from a 1932 film. I was not fond of Ancaria's dance though. I see the concept of trying to break the the virgin Christian's purity, but the whole dance and song was very awkward, then the scene became even more uncomfortable as the singing Christians could be heard through the window. Something that I thought was very powerful in the film was the use of the small Christian child. She did not understand what was going on and even was laughing and having fun the the dungeon before her ascent into the arena to be executed. When the old man covers her head as they head up the stairs it pulls a string in your heart as you such cruelty coming to a child who does not understand what is happening. The film was better than I expected and I actually enjoyed most of it.
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I agree with the point you bring up about the movie not feeling "old". Now that I really think back on it I was identifying parts throughout the movie that were different compared to today's movies as much as I have with the other films we have seen. I too felt uncomfortable with Ancaria's dance, that scene could have been done far better in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteAncaria's dance is probably the weakest scene in "Sign of the Cross", I agree. DeMille himself was unhappy with it because Paramount would not give him the orchestra he wanted (with cymbals and more Roman-sounding instruments) and insisted on the music on almost droning out Ancaria's all too lascivious lyrics. Even if DeMille had gotten his wish, however, the scene would still be just too heavy-handed in its hypocritical moralism, which barely justifies all the lurid decadence and debauchery DeMille wants to show.
ReplyDeleteThe excessive violence is a similar attempt at teasing the censors and luring the audience with gross "realism". Amazons and dwarfs are mentioned by historical sources as having fought in the arena, but it's unlikely that they were ever matched against each other (thus Marcus Junkelmann, "Gladiatoren").
I'm glad that, despite being sick the day before, I managed to introduce you to cuts and editing in the 10 minutes before the film started because what DeMille does in this regard is indeed very sophisticated and still looks "modern".