The Sign of the Cross is a 1932 American pre-Code epic film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille and released by Paramount Pictures.

Based on the original 1895 play by English playwright Wilson Barrett,[2] the screenplay was written by Waldemar Young and Sidney Buchman.

It stars Fredric March, Elissa Landi, Claudette Colbert, and Charles Laughton, with Ian Keith and Arthur Hohl.

Both play and film have a strong resemblance to the 1895–96 novel Quo Vadis and, like the novel, take place in ancient Rome during the reign of Nero.

At the meeting, Roman soldiers surround the Christians, and Titus and some members of his congregation are struck dead by arrows.

After a few days under the hot lights, the milk turned sour, making it very unpleasant for Colbert to work in the stench.

[5][6][7] To save production expense during the Great Depression, existing sets were reused as well as costumes left over from the making of The Ten Commandments (1923).

In the original version, Marcus Superbus (Fredric March) is unsuccessful in his attempt to seduce Mercia (Elissa Landi), an innocent Christian girl.

He then urges Ancaria (Joyzelle Joyner) to perform the erotic "Dance of the Naked Moon" that will "warm her into life".

[12] Some gladiatorial combat footage was also cut for the 1938 reissue, as were arena sequences involving naked women being attacked by crocodiles and a gorilla.

The last few seconds of the edited version of the film showed the planes flying off into the distance, rather than simply fading out on the original closing scene of the movie.

The reaction of the Catholic Church in the United States to the content in this film and in Ann Vickers helped lead to the 1934 formation of the Catholic Legion of Decency, an organization dedicated to identifying and combating objectionable content, from the point of view of the Church, in motion pictures.