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Rating:  - only applies to 2, but watch them all
Cleopatra, 1934 - (****) - forget liz & dick! this is the version to see: all the excesses of de mille (how that man could cover up smut with righteousness, lol) and a tour-de-force performance by claudette colbert in the eponymous role, not to mention warren william and de mille stalwart henry wilcoxon as julius caesar and marc antony, both gleefully chewing up the over the top scenery. once you see that barge sequence (what ARE they doing there???) you will never forget it. first rate fun, and until "the ten commandments", arguably the directors best.
The Crusades, 1935 - (***) - henry wilcoxon is a fine richard the lion hearted, and ian keith a fine saladin, in cecil b de milles plea for tolerance. unfortunately, apart from the usual spectacle, the movie falls rather flat, probably victimized by the bland righteousness of leading lady loretta young: surely one of the more deservedly forgotten stars of hollywoods golden era. watch it for the size of the thing, but you might want to have a book handy during the dialogue sequences.
Rating:  - Great Fun from a Master
Cecil B. DeMille will never be viewed as a master of cinema along the lines of a John Ford, a Howard Hawkes, an Alfred Hitchcock, or a John Huston. But he did know how to delivery the goods. I do believe that anyone who love movies from the '30's and '40's will enjoy this collection.
For me the highlight of the collection is Claudette Colbert. She is so much fun to watch in both CLEOPATRA and SIGN OF THE CROSS. She is truly magnficent!!! And you can see why she was such a popular star. She may have won her Oscar for IT HAPPENED ONE NIGHT, but her all-knowing performance as Cleopatra probably help cinch the award for her.
Rating:  - Cecil B. DeMille Collection
most of the movies in this collection where good and one i didn't like at all. it was a romance movie and i don't like those movies. I bought these movies because of the movie Cleopatra but it wasn't the movie i wanted, my mastake. you live and learn form youe mastakes.
Rating: - Interesting Mix
I was never a De Mille fan but purchased this box set for "Union Pacific" (which I feel is his best film) and the restored "The Sign of the Cross" a film which is okay as a whole but very entertaining in certain sections and for Laughton's Nero. I was also impressed with this film's presentation of the Christians going into the arena not with brave smiles on their faces but rather with absolute terror. It's a very moving sequence. "Four Frightened People" is a curio; okay to see once but that's it. "Cleopatra" and "The Crusades" are ponderous and boring. The boxed sets have their downside in that the titles one wants might have to be purchased along with films that wouldn't normally be desired for one's collection. At least the unwanted films, whichever ones they may be for you, don't take up valuable storage space.
Rating: - DeMille's baths were a very real contribution to the sexuality of the screen...
Of the many screen incarnations of the romantically foolish, politically shrewd Egyptian queen, this was Cecil B. DeMille's... His Victorian puritan's approach to the sex and scandals surrounding Cleopatra's throne reflected her continuing appeal to the imagination - even if that imagination were really a childhood fantasy of adult desires...
Authenticity, except as decorative embroidery, took second place to his desire to capture her timeless appeal on film... Facts and figures may vary, fashions and desirable objects may be ever changing, but sex, sin and punishment make up a triangle of eternal allure...
Travis Banton's wardrobe transformed Claudette Colbert from a flirtatious star into a splendid, seductive woman with fanciful art direction... The film had the opulence, the barbarity, the epic sweep and shocking decadence of certain books and paintings that were at the heart of so much of this film...
The French-born, American-raised Claudette Colbert made three films with Cecil B. DeMille, but felt more comfortable in contemporary comedies, for one of which, 'It Happened One Night,' she won an Oscar, and in all of which she identified herself with the most American of American secretaries, sweethearts, wives and mothers...
Colbert's popularity lasted well into the fifties... but her magic rests with 'Cleopatra'.
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