The Crusades (1935)

The Crusades is one of the original Cecil B DeMille star-studded spectacles that were made before the Production Code was signed.  These big pictures usually featured babe-type starlets in less than PG clothing and situations so the Production Code was instituted among the studios to make pictures more family friendly. 

Another pre-Production Code DeMille extravaganza is Cleopatra, a neat little movie starring Claudette Colbert and most of DeMille's regulars, which DeMille, or rather 20th Century Fox, later remade as a monumental 1960s flop under the direction of Joseph L Mankiewicz. The thing to remember is these pictures, as well as The Sign of the Cross, another DeMille spectacle, are far and away better and more entertaining than DeMille's later work in color could ever be. You never saw Christians thrown to the lions with more élan than in these old 1930's DeMille epics - or more juicy gals in various states of undress, either.

The Crusades stars lovely Loretta Young as the blond cheesecake Princess Berengaria daughter of the King of Navarre, one of the crusaders heading towards the Holy Land.   She becomes the wife of Richard the Lionhearted (Henry Wilcoxon) on the march to the Crusade by providing some badly needed cattle as her dowry.  Wilcoxon, a DeMille regular, is as strong as a blacksmith and does some impressive feats of strength throughout the movie.  He and Loretta Young develop into quite a decent pair as the story develops.
 
While DeMille could never be accused of teaching history, he did like a good story and in this case he did better than he often did.  Harold Lamb wrote the screenplay with a few extra writers working on rewriting the parts DeMille wanted emphasized.   C Aubrey Smith, another DeMille regular, plays the Hermit who travels around preaching crusade, thus arousing the nobles to head for the Holy Land.  Henry Wilcoxon is the brutish King Richard the Lionhearted and Alan Hale is his troubadour, Blondel, who sings the story to us with campy minstrelsy.  

Keeping it all in the family, DeMille employed his daughter Katherine DeMille as the princess, Alice of France, whom Richard Lionheart was fleeing.  This also helped explain some of the rancor the French king Philippe had for the Briton, probably not the real reason but it served the story's purpose. Another take on these characters may be seen in The Lion in Winter, an extremely interesting movie starring Peter O'Toole as Henry I, Richard's father, with Richard and Philippe as boys. Richard, of course, was gay so the marriage to Berengaria was likely in name only.

Of course, the story would not be complete without Saladin, King of Islam (Ian Keith) who opposes Richard with great skill both in arms and in trying to woo his Berengaria away.

The movie is presented on a Universal DVD or VHS with 4x3 black and white imagery. In keeping with the epic story line, the length of the movie is a longish 125 minutes, just over two hours.  While I found the movie excellently preserved it has gone out of print but is still available but only in the Cecil B DeMille Collection with four other titles.

Keep an eye out for it in the used video sales.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV