The film stars Henry Wilcoxon as Richard, Loretta Young as Berengaria, and Ian Keith as Saladin, along with C. Aubrey Smith, Katherine DeMille, Joseph Schildkraut and Alan Hale Sr. in supporting roles.

The hermit convinces a number of European rulers to travel to Jerusalem in order to bring the Holy City into Christian hands.

Berengaria is fearful that her presence in camp is causing disloyalty among Richard's allies, in particular the powerful French King Philip, and may harm their holy quest.

Saladin escapes the siege, and after finding Berengaria wounded, brings her to Jerusalem to care for her, with admiration and growing affection.

In this particular film the relationship between Richard I and Saladin is connected not only by the conflict of the Crusade but "an improbable, if entertaining, erotic triangle" with Berengaria of Navarre.

Another scene has the Saracens shoot a Crusader messenger, who demands surrender of the city, with one of them wearing a helmet with devil horns upon it.

[6] However, Saladin is also depicted as an honorable and respectable man, in comparison to the treacherous European Christian nobles who try to undermine Richard.

Kozlovic also notes that when Saladin offers peace to the "foes of Islam", Richard responds by drawing his sword "and saying 'We are going to slaughter you!

To his surprise, Nasser enthusiastically accepted DeMille's request, because The Crusades had been immensely popular in Egypt, and appreciated the film's nuanced depiction of Saladin and the Muslim characters.

[9][10] Katherine Orrison writes in Written in Stone: Making Cecil B. DeMille's Epic The Ten Commandments, that Nasser's minister of war Abdel Hakim Amer stated "The Crusades was immensely popular here in Egypt.

[3] Andre Sennwald of The New York Times called the film a "grand show" and "two hours of tempestuous extravaganza".

Sennwald also praised the "superbly managed" staging of the attack on the city of Acre and cited "excellent performances" all around, stating in conclusion, "It is rich in the kind of excitement that pulls an audience irresistibly to the edge of its seat.

"[14] John Mosher of The New Yorker was less enthused, finding it "rather mild De Mille" that "doesn't compare by a long shot with many other scenes in the Master's collection.

[15] Similarly reserved, Graham Greene writing for The Spectator described it as "a very long film" with a "stuffy horsehair atmosphere of beards and whiskers", and criticized its historical accuracy as "a little quiet fun at the expense of Clio" with as "complete [a] lack of period sense" as "decorated mid-Victorian Bibles".

[17] This film, along with The Sign of the Cross, Four Frightened People, Cleopatra and Union Pacific, was released on DVD in 2006 by Universal Studios as part of The Cecil B. DeMille Collection.