Starlets on Posters #3

I just watched The Sign of The Cross last night. It's very,
very pre-Code, if you know what I mean. Cecil B. DeMille
was a very conflicted dude. He has Claudette Colbert bath
in milk, quite obviously naked, and gives her a lot of screen
time doing it. (I've heard they filmed until the milk bath
was well past curdled.) DeMille talks about "salvation," then
he feeds a suspended nude girl to alligators (or crocodiles).
You get Fredric March fondling girls at an orgy, followed by
a discussion of "faith," followed by a tied-up half-naked girl
being molested by a gorilla. Charles Laughton wears a fake
nose and plays Nero over the top. A naked teenage boy sits
at his side during a Roman circus, which Charles must have
enjoyed a lot. The very elaborate crowd scenes are the best
part of the movie with a gazillion throwaway lines and many
interesting extras. Amazon women impale midgets on their
swords. Gladiators slay one another. An uncredited John
Carradine speaks a few lines. There is talk about ever-lasting
life. Elephants step on people's heads. And, finally, DeMille
feeds all the Christians to the lions. That is very simply a
textbook description of CONFLICTED. It is, however, a
pretty well-done conflicted film and more interesting than
his post-Code stuff.