CECIL B. DEMILLE: AMERICAN EPIC (2004) B/W 120m dir: Kevin Brownlow

narrated by Kenneth Brannagh

From Now Playing: A Viewer's Guide to Turner Classic Movies: "... two-part documentary [each part runs 60 minutes] about the life and career of director Cecil B. DeMille. ...

"Produced and directed by Kevin Brownlow and Patrick Stanbury and narrated by Kenneth Brannagh, the documentary provides a fascinating look at the life and career of the man described as both 'a thoroughly bad director' and 'the greatest showman on Earth.' Among interview subjects are DeMille colleagues, including Charlton Heston, Angela Lansbury and Elmer Bernstein; contemporary filmmakers Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg; and family members such as son Richard DeMille, granddaughter Cecilia Presley and the late Agnes DeMille, the celebrated dancer/choreographer and niece of DeMille.

"Among the DeMille spectacles accompanying the documentary are ... The Squaw Man (1914), The Sign of the Cross (1932) and The Crusades (1935). The Squaw Man, DeMille's first feature and a grandiose production in its day, has a new musical score. Agnes DeMille says it was with The Sign of the Cross, DeMille's first box-office smash after the end of the silent era, that made her uncle finally hit on the formula that would provide his greatest successes: a mixture of 'extreme religious fervor and extreme sexuality.' Charles Laughton and Claudette Colbert star as Nero and Poppaea, the wicked Emperor and Empress who delight in feeding Christians to the lions."