The Sign of the Cross
October 27

This sword-and-sandals curiosity is the most decadent of all the spectacles created by the currently rehabilitating DeMille!! Plumped and perfumed Charles Laughton, given a Roman-coin profile and a complete body-waxing by the Paramount makeup department, is the most debauched Nero ever essayed on film. The arena contests where hapless Christians face off in death-battles against a Noah's arkload of savage beasts are wondrously effervescent and sadistic. No shortage of sexy, pre-code lesbians, either. With Fredric March and Claudette Colbert. A must-see for anyone who's ever felt special in a toga.

—Guy Maddin

• Written by Waldemar Young, Sidney Buchman, from a play by Wilson Barrett. Photographed by Karl Struss. With Fredric March, Claudette Colbert, Elissa Landi, Charles Laughton. (124 mins, B&W, 35mm, From UCLA Film & Television Archive, permission Universal)