Sign of the Cross (1934):
Cecil B. Demille sure had a lot of sex and
violence in his biblical epics. The ending of this particular opus
involves ‘the games’ at the Roman Gladiatorial Arena.
Amazons spear pygmies, lions eat Christians, Dogs and cats live
together – its mass hysteria! Throw nude women bound by flowered
vines to pillars and strung up between posts and fed to crocs or
left to the advances of lascivious (and somewhat suspect, given
their man-walk) large apes into the mix, and you’ve got a
real party, I say. Well, some Roman soldiers or henchmen or something
got to strip those babes, that’s for damn sure. Whether the
gorilla eats her, plays ‘hide the banana’ or just checks
her for lice, though, is anyone’s guess. There’s even
implied off-screen rape in the form of a gorgeous babe walking up
the stairs, out of the hands of the Romans and into the maws of
lions, holding her torn dress up in front. This, and Claudette Colbert
- old-school babe extraordinaire – is in a milk-bath scene
with open lesbian implications. They don’t make ‘em
like THIS anymore…
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