A Few Words About A few words about…™ The Sign of the Cross – in Blu-ray (1 Viewer)

[lark144]

I did see the prologue on broadcast TV. It would have been nice as an extra, but it's no great loss.

It's on the DVD I have that is part of the "Cecil B. DeMille Collection" that Universal released a ways back. It's not something I would look at more than once, but I guess it's interesting from a historical perspective.

 

[bujaki]

It's on the DVD I have that is part of the "Cecil B. DeMille Collection" that Universal released a ways back. It's not something I would look at more than once, but I guess it's interesting from a historical perspective.

It's like the re-release version of All Quiet on the Western Front (sometime during WW2) which was heavily edited and included a prologue as well. That was the first version I saw on TV in Puerto Rico. I knew there was something wrong when a 1930 film began with WW2 footage!

 

[cadavra]

It's on the DVD I have that is part of the "Cecil B. DeMille Collection" that Universal released a ways back. It's not something I would look at more than once, but I guess it's interesting from a historical perspective.

Are you sure? I just went back and pulled my copy; there are no extras of any kind, not even trailers.

 

[lark144]

Are you sure? I just went back and pulled my copy; there are no extras of any kind, not even trailers.

I didn't check initially because I didn't know where the set was, and I was certain I was correct. Then yesterday I was looking for something else and came across it. I could have sworn the prologue was there but apparently I hallucinated it. Sorry to get your hopes up. More and more of these senior moments keep cropping up. My apologies. This may be the last time I rely on my memory.

 

[Johnny Angell]

I didn't check initially because I didn't know where the set was, and I was certain I was correct. Then yesterday I was looking for something else and came across it. I could have sworn the prologue was there but apparently I hallucinated it. Sorry to get your hopes up. More and more of these senior moments keep cropping up. My apologies. This may be the last time I rely on my memory.

Welcome to the club.

 

[philip*eric]

Unfortunately, I knew that nothing from the re-edited version from 1944 was ever issued on disc . That version not only has a newly filmed introduction/prologue(approximately nine minutes) but quite a few other variations. The opening credits were redone ; the scenes aboard the WW2 aircraft in the prologue dissolve into the scene of Nero burning Rome ; and the ending dissolves from the scene of Marcus and Mercia walking up the stairs into a shot of airplanes flying over modern day Rome. Additionally the 1944 film had many individual cuts of sexy or violent scenes , reducing the running time by at least 10 minutes. The prologue adds to the cast - Tom Tully, Arthur Shields, Oliver Thorndike, Stanley Ridges, James Millican, Joel Allen, John James, and William Forrest. UCLA Archives has a preservation copy of the 1944 reissue and it really should have been included on this Blu-ray, if only for comparison. I have the French Blu-ray release (which also adds a dvd ) that has some nice extras including featurettes on DeMille and Colbert - some in French- plus a trailer and photo gallery. I will naturally get this new release but an opportunity was missed to make this a special edition of a very special film.

 

[bujaki]

Unfortunately, I knew that nothing from the re-edited version from 1944 was ever issued on disc . That version not only has a newly filmed introduction/prologue(approximately nine minutes) but quite a few other variations. The opening credits were redone ; the scenes aboard the WW2 aircraft in the prologue dissolve into the scene of Nero burning Rome ; and the ending dissolves from the scene of Marcus and Mercia walking up the stairs into a shot of airplanes flying over modern day Rome. Additionally the 1944 film had many individual cuts of sexy or violent scenes , reducing the running time by at least 10 minutes. The prologue adds to the cast - Tom Tully, Arthur Shields, Oliver Thorndike, Stanley Ridges, James Millican, Joel Allen, John James, and William Forrest. UCLA Archives has a preservation copy of the 1944 reissue and it really should have been included on this Blu-ray, if only for comparison. I have the French Blu-ray release (which also adds a dvd ) that has some nice extras including featurettes on DeMille and Colbert - some in French- plus a trailer and photo gallery. I will naturally get this new release but an opportunity was missed to make this a special edition of a very special film.

This is the version I first saw on TV.

 

[philip*eric]

This is the version I first saw on TV.

Until the early 1990s, the 1944 version was the only one available to watch. It wasn't until American Movie Classics debuted the Roadshow version during a week devoted to restored films that most of us finally were given the opportunity to see the original film. I believe that that print was Cecil B. DeMille's own copy from his personal collection.

 

[JSLasher]

Another bonus, at least for me, is the uncredited music score by Rudolph G Kopp, which is quite sophisticated given the time frame [recorded a year before Max Steiner created history with his King Kong score]. Kopp's score holds pride-of-place as the first to feature intermission music in a sound film. His entr'acte includes a blustery two-bar fanfare, followed by a 3-part music cue bookended by Caesar's March. There is also the famous lesbian dance, which caused DeMille and a few Paramount executives considerable angst, not because of the implied sexuality, but the constant changes to the orchestration of the music so that the instruments would not drown out Miss Joyner's terribly [more Hispanic than Deep South] accented 'singing' in Dance of the Naked Moon.

Thanks for the three 'thumb's up'. Kopp also composed the music for DeMille's Cleopatra (1934) and The Crusades (1935), the latter of which so impressed Henry Mancini that he mentioned Kopp in Did They Mention the Music?

 

[Reed Grele]

Pre-ordered.

 

[Matt Hough]

I watched this Blu-ray last night and thoroughly enjoyed the presentation. As RAH said, you can notice tiny places of wear and tear, but they are very minor, and they pale in comparison with the lush Struss black and white cinematography. Biggest take away from this viewing was that Charles Laughton was in it less than I remembered. He's great in his four sequences, of course, but his lower billing is no accident.

I also took the time to listen to both audio commentaries. Each has interesting information to impart and are worth a listen, but del Valle's is more rambling and repetitive stream-of-consciousness and thus less interesting to me.

 

[battlebeast]

I watched this Blu-ray last night and thoroughly enjoyed the presentation. As RAH said, you can notice tiny places of wear and tear, but they are very minor, and they pale in comparison with the lush Struss black and white cinematography. Biggest take away from this viewing was that Charles Laughton was in it less than I remembered. He's great in his four sequences, of course, but his lower billing is no accident.

I also took the time to listen to both audio commentaries. Each has interesting information to impart and are worth a listen, but del Valle's is more rambling and repetitive stream-of-consciousness and thus less interesting to me.

Is it the full, uncut version?

 

[Matt Hough]

Is it the full, uncut version?

Yes, with intermission.

 

[B-ROLL]

Yes, with intermission.

With Claudette Colbares ...