Runtime: 125 minutes
Directed by: Cecil B. DeMille
Starring: Fredric March, Claudette Colbert, Elissa Landi, Charles Laughton, Ian Keith
From: Paramount
Indeed, Pre-Code movies could be buckwild.
After an unexpected night off on Friday night-which was actually a good idea on my part-I was back in the swing of things last night by visiting “the bowels of the Internet” to check out a film I heard was one of the wildest from Cecil B. DeMille, which is no mean feat given something like the 50’s The Ten Commandments or films obscure in late 2022. After all, this is a film concerning how Christians were persecuted in the time of the Romans after Nero blames them for Rome burning. In fact, we do see Nero (figuratively) fiddling while Rome burns… specifically, he plays a lyre as the opening is quite fiery.
Yet, despite the religious angle this is rather tawdry, where we get to see in detail the Christians get persecuted, thrown into the Coliseum to get mauled by lions & other animals, the decadence of the Romans is shown, including Claudette Colbert bathing in asses’ milk, which happens to look like soapy water but Wiki tells me is powdered cow’s milk… if that wasn’t questionable enough, the main characters are all horny! Prefect of Rome Frederic March falls for Christian woman Elissa Landi despite Rome’s policy of executing such, Colbert is sexually charged by March—heck, not only is there a woman singing an erotic song to Landi, DeMille is more than happy to show the viewer various people (including barely-dressed women) get mauled by animals-or in stunning moments, dwarves being skewered or getting their heads cut off!
All that said, this also has poignant, heartfelt moments involving the Christians, forever devoted to their faith. What a dichotomy between the celebration of a pious faith and reveling in the debauchery of Rome, full of bloated fools who cosset their warped opinions with a fervor. This could have steamrolled out of control but it gels into a wild yet controlled two hour ride due to the direction and other talent behind the camera along with the talent of March, Landi, Colbert and Charles Laughton—the scenes the last two share are quite the delight. How much I enjoyed this movie only confirms that even if DeMille did not make too many sound pictures, I should experience more of them.
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