195-469: Madam Satan or Madame Satan is a 1930 American pre-Code musical comedy film in black and white with Multicolor sequences. It was produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille and starred Kay Johnson , Reginald Denny , Lillian Roth , and Roland Young . Madam Satan has been called one of the oddest films DeMille made and certainly one of the oddest MGM made during Hollywood's "golden age". Thematically, this marked an attempt by DeMille to return to
390-457: A World War I veteran cast onto the streets with a morphine addiction from his hospital stay. In Wild Boys of the Road (1933), the young man played by Frankie Darrow leads a group of dispossessed juvenile drifters who frequently brawl with the police. Such gangs were common; around 250,000 youths traveled the country by hopping trains or hitchhiking in search of better economic circumstances in
585-486: A chorus girl , she regularly received diamonds and pearls as gifts, but now must content herself with a corned beef sandwich. In Union Depot (1932), Douglas Fairbanks Jr. puts a luscious meal as the first order of business on his itinerary after coming into money. Given the social circumstances, politically oriented social problem films ridiculed politicians and portrayed them as incompetent bumblers, scoundrels, and liars. In The Dark Horse (1932), Warren William
780-622: A Free Europe , the public face of the organization that oversaw the Radio Free Europe service. In 1954, Secretary of the Air Force Harold E. Talbott asked DeMille for help in designing the cadet uniforms at the newly established United States Air Force Academy . DeMille's designs, most notably his design of the distinctive cadet parade uniform, won praise from Air Force and Academy leadership, were ultimately adopted, and are still worn by cadets. We have just lived through
975-474: A Mason? At the age of 21, Cecil B. DeMille married Constance Adams on August 16, 1902, at Adams's father's home in East Orange, New Jersey. The wedding party was small. Beatrice DeMille's family was not in attendance, and Simon Louvish suggests that this was to conceal DeMille's partial Jewish heritage. Adams was 29 years old at the time of their marriage, eight years older than DeMille. They had met in
1170-427: A barn to function as their film studio. Filming began on December 29, 1913, and lasted three weeks. Apfel filmed most of The Squaw Man due to DeMille's inexperience; however, DeMille learned quickly and was particularly adept at impromptu screenwriting as necessary. He made his first film run sixty minutes, as long as a short play. The Squaw Man (1914), co-directed by Oscar Apfel, was a sensation, and it established
1365-463: A black and white copy today. DeMille originally wanted writer Dorothy Parker to augment Jeanie MacPherson's original script. Learning that Parker was living in France, and that this would make collaboration too difficult, DeMille then sought vaudeville writer Elsie Janis . She agreed to work on the project, but left amicably on March 24, 1930, due to creative differences. Janis reportedly did not like
1560-588: A building named after himself that is larger than the Empire State Building . He tricks everyone he knows into poverty to appropriate others' wealth. He is ultimately shot by his secretary ( Verree Teasdale ), who then ends the film and her own life by walking off the roof of the skyscraper. Americans' mistrust and dislike of lawyers was a frequent topic of dissection in social problem films such Lawyer Man (1933), State's Attorney , and The Mouthpiece (1932). In films such as Paid (1930),
1755-496: A cablegram to all the studios in March 1934 mandating that Dillinger not be portrayed in any motion picture. The genre entered a new level following the release of Little Caesar (1931), which featured Edward G. Robinson as gangster Rico Bandello. Caesar , along with The Public Enemy (starring James Cagney ) and Scarface (1932) (starring Paul Muni ), were, by standards of the time, incredibly violent films that created
1950-483: A car for his campaign for the 1932 United States presidential election and voted for him. However, he would never again vote for a Democratic candidate in a presidential election. From June 1, 1936, until January 22, 1945, Cecil DeMille hosted and directed Lux Radio Theatre , a weekly digest of current feature films. Broadcast on the Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) from 1935 to 1954,
2145-674: A censorship board in 1921. Virginia followed suit the next year, and eight individual states had a board by the advent of sound film. Many of these boards were ineffectual. By the 1920s, the New York stage, a frequent source of subsequent screen material, had topless shows; performances were filled with profanity, mature subject matter, and sexually suggestive dialogue. Early during the sound system conversion process, it became apparent that what might be acceptable in New York would not be so in Kansas. In 1927, Hays suggested studio executives form
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#17327910498022340-551: A challenge and says she can outdo whatever Trixie is capable of doing. An elaborate masquerade ball is to be held by Jimmy aboard a moored rigid airship , the Zeppelin CB-P-55. To win back her husband's affections, Angela decides to attend the soiree as a mysterious devil woman with a French accent, "Madam Satan", to "vamp" him. Now hidden behind her mask and wrapped in an alluring gown that reveals more than it covers, Angela finds her errant husband and begins teaching him
2535-429: A committee to discuss film censorship. Irving Thalberg of Metro Goldwyn Mayer (MGM), Sol Wurtzel of Fox , and E. H. Allen of Paramount responded by collaborating on a list they called the " Don'ts and Be Carefuls ", based on items that were challenged by local censor boards, and which consisted of eleven subjects best avoided, and twenty-six to be handled very carefully. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) approved
2730-406: A convertible car in which a couple are making out. Bob rides down a portion of the now broken apart zeppelin, diving at the last minute into the city reservoir just before impact. Jimmy ends up in a tree in the middle of the lion enclosure at the city zoo. Trixie parachutes through the roof of a Turkish bath full of toweled men who immediately scramble to cover themselves. The next day, Angela, who
2925-509: A dance director, was originally hired by DeMille to do the film's choreography, but MGM insisted on Leroy Prinz . However, some dance experts believe that Kosloff did choreograph the "Ballet Mechanicique", as it seems more representative of his work than that of Prinz. The Zeppelin sequences were originally filmed in Multicolor . The color sequences were praised by reviewers for their richness and beauty. These color sequences survive only in
3120-623: A dispossessed juvenile delinquent is in court expecting a jail sentence. However the judge lets the boy go free, revealing to him the symbol of the New Deal behind his desk, and tells him "[t]hings are going to be better here now, not only here in New York, but all over the country." A box-office casualty of this hopefulness was Gabriel Over the White House , which entered production during the Hoover era malaise and sought to capitalize on it. By
3315-498: A failure. After five years and thirty hit films, DeMille became the American film industry's most successful director. In the silent era, he was renowned for Male and Female (1919), Manslaughter (1922), The Volga Boatman (1926), and The Godless Girl (1928). DeMille's trademark scenes included bathtubs, lion attacks, and Roman orgies. Many of his films featured scenes in two-color Technicolor . In 1923, DeMille released
3510-624: A faithful marriage. One of DeMille's affairs was with his screenwriter Jeanie MacPherson. Despite his reputation for extramarital affairs, DeMille did not like to have affairs with his stars, as he believed it would cause him to lose control as a director. He related a story that he maintained his self-control when Gloria Swanson sat on his lap, refusing to touch her. In 1902, he played a small part in Hamlet . Publicists wrote that he became an actor in order to learn how to direct and produce, but DeMille admitted that he became an actor in order to pay
3705-415: A few unions himself. He said he was rather against union leaders such as Walter Reuther and Harry Bridges , whom he compared to dictators. He supported Herbert Hoover and in 1928 made his largest campaign donation to Hoover. DeMille also liked Franklin D. Roosevelt, however, finding him charismatic, tenacious, and intelligent and agreeing with Roosevelt's abhorrence of Prohibition. DeMille lent Roosevelt
3900-500: A high and self-sufficing purpose. Hays and others, such as Samuel Goldwyn , obviously felt that motion pictures presented a form of escapism that served a palliative effect on American moviegoers. Goldwyn had coined the famous dictum, "If you want to send a message, call Western Union " in the pre-Code era. However, the MPPDA took the opposite stance when questioned about certain so-called "message" films before Congress in 1932, claiming
4095-510: A lasting friendship with DeMille. (He would later cast her in The Ten Commandments .) His brother, William, was establishing himself as a playwright and sometimes invited DeMille to collaborate. DeMille and William collaborated on The Genius , The Royal Mounted , and After Five . However, none of these were very successful; William deMille was most successful when he worked alone. DeMille and his brother at times worked with
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#17327910498024290-491: A lavish remake of his 1923 silent film The Ten Commandments . He went before the Paramount board of directors, which was mostly Jewish-American. The members rejected his proposal, even though his last two films, Samson and Delilah and The Greatest Show on Earth , had been record-breaking hits. Adolph Zukor convinced the board to change their minds on the grounds of morality. DeMille did not have an exact budget proposal for
4485-399: A lesson. To Trixie's dismay, Bob is indeed bewitched by Angela in her devil woman persona, nothing like the demure spouse he left at home. During the ball, several exotic musical numbers are performed. A severe thunderstorm quickly moves in, and the airship is damaged and breaks free and now in danger of breaking apart. Everyone begins to panic as they are told to abandon ship and parachute to
4680-598: A literary agent and scriptwriter, was the daughter of German Jews . She had emigrated from England with her parents in 1871 when she was 18; the newly arrived family settled in Brooklyn , New York, where they maintained a middle-class, English-speaking household. DeMille's parents met as members of a music and literary society in New York. Henry was a tall, red-headed student. Beatrice was intelligent, educated, forthright, and strong-willed. The two were married on July 1, 1876, despite Beatrice's parents' objections because of
4875-448: A lot further than more recent efforts such as Wall Street , and it's amazing how much plot and character are gracefully shoehorned into 75 minutes." The film featured pre-Code megastar Warren William (later dubbed "the king of Pre-Code" ), "at his magnetic worst", playing a particularly vile and heartless department store manager who, for example, terminates the jobs of two long-standing male employees, one of whom takes his own life as
5070-595: A memory." Although the liberalization of sexuality in American film had increased during the 1920s, the pre-Code era is either dated generally to the start of the sound film era, or more specifically to March 1930, when the Hays Code was first written. Over the protests of NAMPI, New York became the first state to take advantage of the Supreme Court's 1915 decision in Mutual Film vs. Ohio by instituting
5265-470: A microphone to maintain control of the set. He was disliked by many inside and outside of the film industry for his cold and controlling reputation. DeMille was known for autocratic behavior on the set, singling out and berating extras who were not paying attention. Many of these displays were thought to be staged, however, as an exercise in discipline. He despised actors who were unwilling to take physical risks, especially when he had first demonstrated that
5460-403: A modern melodrama The Ten Commandments , which was a significant change from his previous stint of irreligious films. The film was produced on a large budget of $ 600,000, the most expensive production at Paramount. This concerned the executives at Paramount; however, the film turned out to be the studio's highest-grossing film. It held the Paramount record for twenty-five years until DeMille broke
5655-521: A new type of anti-hero. Nine gangster films were released in 1930, 26 in 1931, 28 in 1932 and 15 in 1933, when the genre's popularity began to subside after the end of Prohibition . The backlash against gangster films was swift. In 1931, Jack Warner announced that his studio would stop making them and that he himself had never allowed his 15-year-old son to see them. Cecil B. DeMille Cecil Blount DeMille ( / ˈ s ɛ s əl d ə ˈ m ɪ l / ; August 12, 1881 – January 21, 1959)
5850-546: A picture, to be titled Mad Dog of Europe , which was intended to be a full-scale attack on Hitler. Jaffe had quit his job at RKO Pictures to make the film. Hays summoned the pair to his office and told them to cease production as they were causing needless headaches for the studios. Germany had threatened to seize all the properties of the Hollywood producers in Germany and ban the import of any future American films. In
6045-515: A playwright. Eventually, he became manager of the agency and later, a junior partner with his mother. In 1911, DeMille became acquainted with vaudeville producer Jesse Lasky when Lasky was searching for a writer for his new musical. He initially sought out William deMille. William had been a successful playwright, but DeMille was suffering from the failure of his plays The Royal Mounted and The Genius . However, Beatrice introduced Lasky to DeMille instead. The collaboration of DeMille and Lasky produced
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6240-448: A potential government takeover of film censorship and social research seeming to indicate that movies that were seen to be immoral could promote bad behavior, was enough pressure to force the studios to capitulate to greater oversight. In 1922, after some risqué films and a series of off-screen scandals involving Hollywood stars, the studios enlisted Presbyterian elder Will H. Hays to rehabilitate Hollywood's image. Hays, later nicknamed
6435-549: A product of the excesses of the previous decade. In looking back upon the 1920s, events were increasingly seen as occurring in prelude to the market crash. In Dance, Fools, Dance (1931), lurid party scenes featuring 1920s flappers are played to excess. Joan Crawford ultimately reforms her ways and is saved; less fortunate is William Bakewell , who continues on the careless path that leads to his ultimate self-destruction. For Rain or Shine (1930), Milton Ager and Jack Yellen composed " Happy Days Are Here Again ". The song
6630-455: A reassessment is taking place; though some only regard the film as an amusing oddity and an exercise in DeMille using "too much of everything just because he can." The current print of Madam Satan has all of the color sequences in black-and-white and is missing at least one musical number. According to film reviews of 1930, Kay Johnson and Reginald Denny originally sang "This Is Love," but in
6825-611: A remake of his 1938 film The Buccaneer . DeMille served as executive producer, overseeing producer Henry Wilcoxon . Despite a cast led by Charlton Heston and Yul Brynner , the 1958 film The Buccaneer was a disappointment. DeMille attended the Santa Barbara premiere of The Buccaneer in December 1958. DeMille was unable to attend the Los Angeles premiere of The Buccaneer . In the months before his death, DeMille
7020-531: A result of Adams's recent miscarriage. Cecil B. DeMille's second film credited exclusively to him was The Virginian . This is the earliest of DeMille's films available in a quality, color-tinted video format. However, this version is actually a 1918 re-release. The first few years of the Lasky Company were spent in making films nonstop, literally writing the language of film. DeMille himself directed twenty films by 1915. The most successful films during
7215-911: A result, some films in the late 1920s and early 1930s depicted or implied sexual innuendo , romantic and sexual relationships between white and black people, mild profanity , illegal drug use , promiscuity , prostitution , infidelity , abortion , intense violence , and homosexuality . Nefarious characters were seen to profit from their deeds, in some cases without significant repercussions. For example, gangsters in films such as The Public Enemy , Little Caesar , and Scarface were seen by many as heroic rather than evil. Strong female characters were ubiquitous in such pre-Code films as Female , Baby Face or Red-Headed Woman , among many others, which featured independent, sexually liberated women. Many of Hollywood's biggest stars, such as Clark Gable , Bette Davis , James Cagney , Barbara Stanwyck , Joan Blondell , and Edward G. Robinson , got their start in
7410-471: A result. He also threatens to fire Loretta Young 's character, who pretends to be single to stay employed, unless she sleeps with him, then attempts to ruin her husband after learning she is married. Films that stated a position about a social issue were usually labeled either "propaganda films" or "preachment yarns". In contrast to Goldwyn and MGM's definitively Republican stance on social issue films, Warner Brothers, led by New Deal advocate Jack L. Warner ,
7605-927: A series of heart attacks from June 1958 to January 1959, and died on January 21, 1959, following an attack. DeMille's funeral was held on January 23 at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church. He was entombed at the Hollywood Memorial Cemetery (now known as Hollywood Forever). After his death, notable news outlets such as The New York Times , the Los Angeles Times , and The Guardian honored DeMille as "pioneer of movies", "the greatest creator and showman of our industry", and "the founder of Hollywood". DeMille left his multi-million dollar estate in Los Feliz, Los Angeles , in Laughlin Park to his daughter Cecilia because his wife had dementia and
7800-444: A story editor. William deMille would later convert from theater to Hollywood and would spend the rest of his career as a film director. Throughout his career, DeMille would frequently remake his own films. In his first instance, in 1917, he remade The Squaw Man (1918), only waiting four years from the 1914 original. Despite its quick turnaround, the film was fairly successful. However, DeMille's second remake at MGM in 1931 would be
7995-494: A strong point of DeMille's films. Consequently, he focused his efforts on his films' visuals. He worked with visual technicians, editors, art directors, costume designers, cinematographers, and set carpenters in order to perfect the visual aspects of his films. With his editor, Anne Bauchens , DeMille used editing techniques to allow the visual images to bring the plot to climax rather than dialogue. DeMille had large and frequent office conferences to discuss and examine all aspects of
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8190-670: A successful musical called California , which opened in New York in January 1912. Another DeMille-Lasky production that opened in January 1912 was The Antique Girl . DeMille found success in the spring of 1913, producing Reckless Age by Lee Wilson, a play about a high society girl wrongly accused of manslaughter starring Frederick Burton and Sydney Shields . However, changes in the theater rendered DeMille's melodramas obsolete before they were produced, and true theatrical success eluded him. He produced many flops. Having become disinterested in working in theatre, DeMille's passion for film
8385-537: A theater in Washington D.C. while they were both acting in Hearts Are Trumps . They were sexually incompatible; according to DeMille, Adams was too "pure" to "feel such violent and evil passions". DeMille had more violent sexual preferences and fetishes than his wife. Adams allowed DeMille to have several long-term mistresses during their marriage as an outlet while maintaining an outward appearance of
8580-477: A three-story Victorian -style house for his family in Pompton Lakes, New Jersey ; they named this estate "Pamlico". John Philip Sousa was a friend of the family, and DeMille recalled throwing mud balls in the air so neighbor Annie Oakley could practice her shooting. DeMille's sister, Agnes, was born on April 23, 1891; his mother nearly did not survive the birth. Agnes would die on February 11, 1894, at
8775-456: A war where our people were systematically executed. Here we have a man who made a film praising the Jewish people, that tells of Samson, one of the legends of our Scripture. Now he wants to make the life of Moses. We should get down on our knees to Cecil and say "Thank you!" – Alfred Zukor responding to DeMille's proposal of The Ten Commandments remake In 1952, DeMille sought approval for
8970-415: A way that might arouse passion or be made to seem right and permissible. All criminal action had to be punished, and neither the crime nor the criminal could elicit sympathy from the audience. Authority figures had to be treated respectfully, and the clergy could not be portrayed as comic characters or villains. Under some circumstances, politicians, police officers and judges could be villains, as long as it
9165-470: A wildlife sanctuary; no shooting of animals besides snakes was allowed. His wife did not like Paradise, so DeMille often brought his mistresses there with him, including actress Julia Faye . In addition to his Paradise, DeMille purchased a yacht in 1921, which he called The Seaward . While filming The Captive in 1915, an extra, Bob Fleming, died on set when another extra failed to heed DeMille's orders to unload all guns for rehearsal. DeMille instructed
9360-503: Is actually a showgirl Bob has been seeing named Trixie ( Lillian Roth ), but Bob claims that Trixie is Jimmy's new wife. Angela is more amused than angered by the clumsy lies, but it soon becomes clear that Bob has lost interest in their marriage, as he feels Angela has become staid and cold. They each declare that they are moving out and leaving the other, but Angela instantly repents. Her maid encourages her to fight for her happiness. Angela tells Jimmy that she has left home and will spend
9555-533: Is again enlisted, this time to get an imbecile, who is accidentally in the running for Governor, elected. The candidate wins the election despite his incessant, embarrassing mishaps. Washington Merry-Go-Round portrayed the state of a political system stuck in neutral. Columbia Pictures considered releasing the film with a scene of the public execution of a politician as the climax before deciding to cut it. Cecil B. DeMille released This Day and Age in 1933, and it stands in stark contrast to his other films of
9750-589: Is currently the eighth-highest-grossing film of all time, adjusted for inflation . In addition to his Best Picture Awards, he received an Academy Honorary Award for his film contributions, the Palme d'Or (posthumously) for Union Pacific (1939), a DGA Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award . He was the first recipient of the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award , which
9945-470: Is decidedly anti-capitalist; however, its preface claims otherwise: In many parts of the South today, there exists an endless dispute between rich land-owners, known as planters, and the poor cotton pickers, known as "peckerwoods". The planters supply the tenants with the simple requirements of everyday life and; in return, the tenants work the land year in and year out. A hundred volumes could be written on
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#173279104980210140-457: Is hiding; Jimmy conceals Angela under a blanket and says she is his girlfriend, a married woman whose name he will not reveal. Trixie reenters so that Bob will know the woman is not her. After the men leave, Trixie observes that Angela was caught in her own trap. She says that the difference between them is that Trixie understands the things that a man wants in a woman, and as long as she gives them to Bob, he will stay with her. Angela takes that as
10335-477: Is inhabited by the archangel Gabriel upon being knocked unconscious. The spirit's behavior is similar to that of Abraham Lincoln . The president solves the nation's unemployment crisis and executes an Al Capone -type criminal who has continually flouted the law. Dictators were not just glorified in fiction. Columbia's Mussolini Speaks (1933) was a 76-minute paean to the fascist leader, narrated by NBC radio commentator Lowell Thomas . After showing some of
10530-401: Is to ENTERTAIN. ... This we must keep before us at all times and we must realize constantly the fatality of ever permitting our concern with social values to lead us into the realm of propaganda ... the American motion picture ... owes no civic obligation greater than the honest presentment of clean entertainment and maintains that in supplying effective entertainment, free of propaganda, we serve
10725-596: Is unharmed, and Bob, who has his arm in a sling, reconcile after a visit from a heavily bandaged Jimmy. The cast of Madam Satan is listed by the American Film Institute. Katherine DeMille , DeMille's daughter, was an uncredited "Zeppelin Reveler". Cecil B. DeMille voices an uncredited Radio Newscaster Songs Soundtrack Abe Lyman , who can be seen in Madam Satan , was hired to play
10920-469: The Los Angeles Times noted: "The general impression of the DeMille picture is that it is too much in one key. The superabundance of sound palls, and leaves one weary. Besides, there is a staginess about the whole result that casts anything approaching convictions to one side." The Film Daily , a trade paper widely read by theater owners in 1930, also highlighted in its review the production's alleged excesses, including its extravagant production values and
11115-524: The 1939 New York World's Fair . DeMille used clips from his own films in Land of Liberty . Though the film was not high-grossing, it was well-received, and DeMille was asked to shorten its running time to allow for more showings per day. MGM distributed the film in 1941 and donated profits to World War II relief charities. In 1942, DeMille released Paramount's most successful film, Reap the Wild Wind . It
11310-581: The Great Depression of the 1930s motivated studios to produce films with racy and violent content, which boosted ticket sales. Soon, the flouting of the code became an open secret. In 1931, The Hollywood Reporter mocked the code, and Variety followed suit in 1933. In the same year as the Variety article, a noted screenwriter stated that "the Hays moral code is not even a joke any more; it's just
11505-615: The Home Guard made up of film studio employees with DeMille as captain. Eventually, the Guard was enlarged to a battalion and recruited soldiers from other film studios. They took time off weekly from film production to practice military drills. Additionally, during the war, DeMille volunteered for the Justice Department's Intelligence Office, investigating friends, neighbors, and others he came in contact with in connection with
11700-622: The Lux Radio show was one of the most popular weekly shows in the history of radio. While DeMille was host, the show had forty million weekly listeners, gaining DeMille an annual salary of $ 100,000. From 1936 to 1945, he produced, hosted, and directed all shows with the occasional exception of a guest director. He resigned from the Lux Radio show because he refused to pay a dollar to the American Federation of Radio Artists (AFRA) because he did not believe that any organization had
11895-551: The Producers Distributing Corporation . His first film in the new production company, DeMille Pictures Corporation, was The Road to Yesterday in 1925. He directed and produced four films on his own, working with Producers Distributing Corporation because he found front office supervision too restricting. Aside from The King of Kings, none of DeMille's films away from Paramount were successful. The King of Kings established DeMille as "master of
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#173279104980212090-689: The Victorian era was sometimes ridiculed as being naïve and backward. When the Code was announced, The Nation , a liberal periodical, attacked it. The publication stated that if crime were never presented in a sympathetic light, then, taken literally, "law" and "justice" would become the same. Therefore, events such as the Boston Tea Party could not be portrayed. And if clergy were always to be presented positively, then hypocrisy could not be examined either. The Outlook agreed. Additionally,
12285-483: The "Match King", who attempts to corner the global market on matches. William's vile character, Paul Kroll, commits robbery, fraud, and murder on his way from a janitor to a captain of industry. When the market collapses in the 1929 crash, Kroll is ruined and chooses suicide over imprisonment. William played another unscrupulous businessman in Skyscraper Souls (1932): David Dwight, a wealthy banker who owns
12480-484: The "film capital of the world". The film grossed over ten times its budget after its New York premiere in February 1914. DeMille's next project was to aid Oscar Apfel in directing Brewster's Millions , which was wildly successful. In December 1914, Constance Adams brought home John DeMille, a fifteen-month-old, whom the couple legally adopted three years later. Biographer Scott Eyman suggested that this may have been
12675-525: The "screen Landis". In 1924, Hays introduced a set of recommendations dubbed "The Formula", which the studios were advised to heed, and asked filmmakers to describe to his office the plots of films they were planning. The Supreme Court had already decided unanimously in 1915 in Mutual Film Corporation v. Industrial Commission of Ohio that free speech did not extend to motion pictures, and while there had been token attempts to clean up
12870-529: The 1920s. "After two years the Jazz Age seems as far away as the days before the war", F. Scott Fitzgerald commented in 1931. In the sense noted by Fitzgerald, understanding the moral climate of the early 1930s is complex. Although films experienced an unprecedented level of freedom and dared to portray things that would be kept hidden for several decades, many in America looked upon the stock market crash as
13065-630: The Cross (1932) is said to be the first sound film to integrate all aspects of cinematic technique. Cleopatra (1934) was his first film to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture . After more than thirty years in film production, DeMille reached a pinnacle in his career with Samson and Delilah (1949), a biblical epic that became the highest-grossing film of 1950. Along with biblical and historical narratives, he also directed films oriented toward "neo-naturalism", which tried to portray
13260-588: The Earl of Huntington was well received by audiences. DeMille wrote a few of his own plays in-between stage performances, but his playwriting was not as successful. His first play was The Pretender-A Play in a Prologue and 4 Acts set in seventeenth century Russia. Another unperformed play he wrote was Son of the Winds , a mythological Native American story. Life was difficult for DeMille and his wife as traveling actors; however, traveling allowed him to experience part of
13455-707: The Famous Players–Lasky. He volunteered for the Intelligence Office during World War II as well. Although DeMille considered enlisting in World War I, he stayed in the United States and made films. However, he did take a few months to set up a movie theater for the French front. Famous Players–Lasky donated the films. DeMille and Adams adopted Katherine Lester in 1920, whom Adams had found in
13650-722: The Henry C. de Mille School for Girls in her home in February 1893. The aim of the school was to teach young women to properly understand and fulfill the women's duty to herself, her home, and her country. Before Henry de Mille's death, Beatrice had "enthusiastically supported" her husband's theatrical aspirations. She later became the second female play broker on Broadway . On Henry de Mille's deathbed, he told his wife that he did not want his sons to become playwrights. DeMille's mother sent him to Pennsylvania Military College (now Widener University) in Chester, Pennsylvania , at age 15. He fled
13845-605: The Jesse Lasky Feature Play Company merged with Adolph Zukor's Famous Players Film Company , becoming Famous Players–Lasky . Zukor became president with Lasky as the vice president. DeMille was maintained as director-general, and Goldwyn became chairman of the board. Goldwyn was later fired from Famous Players–Lasky due to frequent clashes with Lasky, DeMille, and Zukor. While on a European vacation in 1921, DeMille contracted rheumatic fever in Paris. He
14040-550: The Lasky Company. This was the first feature-length film made in Hollywood. There were problems with the perforation of the film stock, and it was discovered the DeMille had brought a cheap British film perforator, which had punched in sixty-five holes per foot instead of the industry-standard of sixty-four. Lasky and DeMille convinced film pioneer Siegmund Lubin of the Lubin Manufacturing Company of Philadelphia to have his experienced technicians reperforate
14235-570: The October 29, 1929, market crash) highlighted Bow's sexual attractiveness. 1920s stars such as Bow, Gloria Swanson , and Norma Talmadge freely displayed their sexuality in a straightforward fashion. The Great Depression presented a unique time for film-making in the United States. The economic disaster brought on by the stock market crash of 1929 changed American values and beliefs in various ways. Themes of American exceptionalism and traditional concepts of personal achievement, self-reliance, and
14430-488: The Pre-Code era was more incendiary than the gangster film; neither preachment yarns nor vice films so outraged the moral guardians or unnerved the city fathers as the high caliber scenarios that made screen heroes out of stone killers. In the early 1930s, several real-life criminals became celebrities. Two in particular captured the American imagination: Al Capone and John Dillinger . Gangsters like Capone had transformed
14625-465: The United States for the next few years. DeMille's primary criticism was of closed shops, but later included criticism of communism and unions in general. The United States Supreme Court declined to review his case. Despite his loss, DeMille continued to lobby for the Taft–Hartley Act , which passed. This prohibited denying anyone the right to work if they refuse to pay a political assessment, however,
14820-408: The United States he had not yet seen. DeMille sometimes worked with the director E. H. Sothern , who influenced DeMille's later perfectionism in his work. In 1907, due to a scandal with one of Beatrice's students, Evelyn Nesbit , the Henry de Mille School lost students. The school closed, and Beatrice filed for bankruptcy. DeMille wrote another play originally called Sergeant Devil May Care , which
15015-573: The Wind . A unique practice at the time, DeMille offered ten percent of his profit to the crew. On November 7, 1954, while in Egypt filming the Exodus sequence for The Ten Commandments , DeMille (who was seventy-three) climbed a 107-foot (33 m) ladder to the top of the massive Per Rameses set and suffered a serious heart attack. Despite the urging of his associate producer, DeMille wanted to return to
15210-420: The age of three from spinal meningitis . DeMille's parents operated a private school in town and attended Christ Episcopal Church. DeMille recalled that this church was the place where he visualized the story of his 1923 version of The Ten Commandments . On January 8, 1893, at age 40, Henry de Mille died suddenly from typhoid fever , leaving Beatrice with three children. To provide for her family, she opened
15405-458: The audience as to how to commit crime. Sadistic violence and reaction shots showing the faces of individuals on the receiving end of violence were considered especially sensitive areas. The Code later recommended against scenes showing robbery, theft, safe-cracking, arson, "the use of firearms", "dynamiting of trains, machines, and buildings" and "brutal killings", on the basis that they would be rejected by local censors. No motion picture genre of
15600-606: The audience feels sure that evil is wrong and good is right." The Code contained an addendum, commonly referred to as the Advertising Code, that regulated film advertising copy and imagery. On February 19, 1930, Variety published the entire contents of the Code. Soon the men obligated to enforce the code – Jason Joy, who was the head of the Committee until 1932, and his successor, Dr. James Wingate – would be seen as generally ineffective. The first film
15795-441: The audience was Charles Frohman , who would cast DeMille in his play Hearts are Trumps , DeMille's Broadway debut. Cecil B. DeMille began his career as an actor on the stage in the theatrical company of Charles Frohman in 1900. He debuted as an actor on February 21, 1900, in the play Hearts Are Trumps at New York's Garden Theater . In 1901, DeMille starred in productions of A Repentance , To Have and to Hold , and Are You
15990-425: The audiences' desire for realism led to certain unsavory social, legal, and political issues being portrayed in film. The length of pre-Code films was usually comparatively short, but that running time often required tighter material and did not affect the impact of message films. Employees' Entrance (1933) received the following 1985 review from Jonathan Rosenbaum : "As an attack on ruthless capitalism, it goes
16185-459: The authenticity of the film. During pre-production of Union Pacific , DeMille was dealing with his first serious health issue. In March 1938, he underwent a major emergency prostatectomy . He suffered from a post-surgery infection from which he nearly did not recover, citing streptomycin as his saving grace. The surgery caused him to suffer from sexual dysfunction for the rest of his life, according to some family members. Following his surgery and
16380-399: The authority to order studios to remove material from a film in 1930, but instead worked by reasoning and sometimes pleading with them. Complicating matters, the appeals process ultimately put the responsibility for making the final decision in the hands of the studios themselves. One factor in ignoring the Code was the fact that some found such censorship prudish. This was a period in which
16575-433: The autobiography. DeMille did not like the first draft of the biography, saying that he thought the person portrayed in the biography was an "SOB"; he said it made him sound too egotistical. Besides filmmaking and finishing his autobiography, DeMille was involved in other projects. In the early 1950s, DeMille was recruited by Allen Dulles and Frank Wisner to serve on the board of the anti-communist National Committee for
16770-710: The back of a restaurant menu. As director-general, DeMille's job was to make the films. In addition to directing, DeMille was the supervisor and consultant for the first year of films made by the Lasky Feature Play Company. Sometimes, he directed scenes for other directors at the Feature Play Company in order to release films on time. Moreover, when he was busy directing other films, he would co-author other Lasky Company scripts as well as create screen adaptations that others directed. The Lasky Play Company sought out William deMille to join
16965-529: The ban on homosexuality or the use of specific curse words, were never directly mentioned but were assumed to be understood without clear demarcation. Miscegenation, the mixing of the races, was forbidden. The Code stated that the notion of an "adults-only policy" would be a dubious, ineffective strategy that would be difficult to enforce. However, it did allow that "maturer minds may easily understand and accept without harm subject matter in plots which does younger people positive harm." If children were supervised and
17160-532: The beginning of the Lasky Company were Brewster's Millions (co-directed by DeMille), Rose of the Rancho , and The Ghost Breaker . DeMille adapted Belasco's dramatic lighting techniques to film technology, mimicking moonlight with U.S. cinema's first attempts at "motivated lighting" in The Warrens of Virginia . This was the first of few film collaborations with his brother William. They struggled to adapt
17355-635: The bills. From 1904 to 1905, DeMille attempted to make a living as a stock theatre actor with his wife, Constance. DeMille made a 1905 reprise in Hamlet as Osric. In the summer of 1905, DeMille joined the stock cast at the Elitch Theatre in Denver, Colorado. He appeared in eleven of the fifteen plays presented that season, although all were minor roles. Maude Fealy would appear as the featured actress in several productions that summer and would develop
17550-522: The boudoir comedies genre that had brought him financial success about 10 years earlier. The first 50 minutes present four characters' relationships, with the next 1 hour and 10 minutes set on a Zeppelin trip. One morning after awakening to discover her husband Bob ( Reginald Denny ) never returned home last night, socialite Angela Brooks ( Kay Johnson ) reads in the newspaper that Bob and a woman named "Mrs. Brooks" were in night court together along with Bob's best friend Jimmy Wade ( Roland Young ). The woman
17745-460: The breaking point. These economic circumstances led to a loss of nearly half of the weekly attendance numbers and closure of almost a third of the country's theaters in the first few years of the depression. Even so, 60 million Americans went to the cinema weekly. Apart from the economic realities of the conversion to sound, were the artistic considerations. Early sound films were often noted for being too verbose. In 1930, Carl Laemmle criticized
17940-606: The channel's standard programming rotation. Notes Pre-Code Hollywood Pre-Code Hollywood was an era in the American film industry that occurred between the widespread adoption of sound in film in the late 1920s and the enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code censorship guidelines (popularly known as the Hays Code ) in 1934. Although the Hays Code was adopted in 1930, oversight
18135-572: The characters, and named it The Return of Peter Grimm , producing and presenting it as his own work. DeMille was credited in small print as "based on an idea by Cecil DeMille". The play was successful, and DeMille was distraught that his childhood idol had plagiarized his work. DeMille performed on stage with actors whom he would later direct in films: Charlotte Walker , Mary Pickford , and Pedro de Cordoba . DeMille also produced and directed plays. His 1905 performance in The Prince Chap as
18330-503: The company, but he rejected the offer because he did not believe there was any promise in a film career. When William found out that DeMille had begun working in the motion picture industry, he wrote DeMille a letter, disappointed that he was willing "to throw away [his] future" when he was "born and raised in the finest traditions of the theater". The Lasky Company wanted to attract high-class audiences to their films, so they began producing films from literary works. The Lasky Company bought
18525-659: The condition that DeMille not exceed his production budget of $ 650,000 for The Sign of the Cross . Produced in eight weeks without exceeding budget, the film was financially successful. The Sign of the Cross was the first film to integrate all cinematic techniques. The film was considered a "masterpiece" and surpassed the quality of other sound films of the time. DeMille followed this epic uncharacteristically with two dramas released in 1933 and 1934. This Day and Age and Four Frightened People were box office disappointments, though Four Frightened People received good reviews. DeMille would stick to his large-budget spectaculars for
18720-439: The connection between mobsters and Broadway productions in movies such as Lights of New York (1928), Tenderloin (1928), and Broadway (1929). The Hays Office had never officially recommended banning violence in any form in the 1920s—unlike profanity, the drug trade or prostitution—but advised that it be handled carefully. New York's censor board was more thorough than that of any other state, missing only around 50 of
18915-502: The country's 1,000 to 1,300 annual releases. From 1927 to 1928, violent scenes removed included those in which a gun was pointed at the camera or "at or into the body of another character". Also subject to potential censorship were scenes involving machine guns, criminals shooting at law enforcement officers, stabbing or knife brandishing (audiences considered stabbings more disturbing than shootings), whippings, choking, torture and electrocution, as well as scenes perceived as instructive to
19110-517: The currently circulating print, this song is only heard playing in the background during a scene in which Johnson is speaking to her maid. The original Multicolor sequences of Madam Satan exist only in black-and-white . The film was released for home viewing on VHS and, as of November 9, 2010, was released on DVD via the Warner Archive Collection made-to-order process. The film is televised by Turner Classic Movies as part of
19305-476: The destruction of an airship in Madam Satan ; and the parting of the Red Sea in both versions of The Ten Commandments . In his early films, DeMille experimented with photographic light and shade, which created dramatic shadows instead of glare. His specific use of lighting, influenced by his mentor David Belasco, was for the purpose of creating "striking images" and heightening "dramatic situations". DeMille
19500-411: The direction the script was going. Hollywood censor Jason Joy worked with DeMille to minimize censorable elements in the potentially objectionable script. "They agreed to put less revealing costumes on the girls at the masquerade party. Body stockings, larger fig leaves and translucent fishnets took care of most of the nudity . The drinking scenes were toned down ...", Angela's "Madam Satan" costume also
19695-432: The dramatic" and was determined to continue the artistic legacy of her husband after he died. Beatrice became a play broker and author's agent, influencing DeMille's early life and career. DeMille's father worked with David Belasco who was a theatrical producer, impresario, and playwright. Belasco was known for adding realistic elements in his plays such as real flowers, food, and aromas that could transport his audiences into
19890-410: The early 1900s, the United States was still primarily a rural country, especially in self-identity. D. W. Griffith 's The Musketeers of Pig Alley (1912) is one of the earliest American films to feature urban organized crime. Prohibition 's arrival in 1920 created an environment in which those who wished to consume alcohol often had to consort with criminals, especially in urban areas. Nonetheless,
20085-483: The early 1930s. Complicating matters for the studios, the advent of sound film in 1927 required an immense expenditure in sound stages, recording booths, cameras, and movie-theater sound systems, not to mention the new-found artistic complications of producing in a radically altered medium. The studios were in a difficult financial position even before the market crash as the sound conversion process and some risky purchases of theater chains had pushed their finances near
20280-578: The economic realities of a country struggling to find its next meal. In Blonde Venus (1932), Marlene Dietrich 's character resorts to prostitution to feed her child, and Claudette Colbert 's character in It Happened One Night (1934) gets her comeuppance for throwing a tray of food onto the floor by later finding herself without food or financial resources. Joan Blondell 's character in Big City Blues (1932) reflects that, as
20475-450: The era. Other stars who excelled during this period, however, like Ruth Chatterton (who decamped to England) and Warren William (the so-called "king of pre-Code", who died in 1948), would be largely forgotten by the general public within a generation. Beginning in late 1933 and escalating throughout the first half of 1934, American Catholics launched a campaign against what they deemed the immorality of American cinema. This, along with
20670-498: The estates. When "talking pictures" were invented in 1928, Cecil B. DeMille made a successful transition, offering his own innovations to the painful process; he devised a microphone boom and a soundproof camera blimp . He also popularized the camera crane. His first three sound films were produced at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. These three films, Dynamite , Madame Satan , and his 1931 remake of The Squaw Man were critically and financially unsuccessful. He had completely adapted to
20865-399: The events implied elliptically, the code allowed what Brandeis University cultural historian Thomas Doherty called "the possibility of a cinematically inspired thought crime ". The Code sought not only to determine what could be portrayed on screen, but also to promote traditional values. Sexual relations outside of marriage could not be portrayed as attractive and beautiful, presented in
21060-409: The film This was also the first American feature film; however, only by release date, as D. W. Griffith 's Judith of Bethulia was filmed earlier than The Squaw Man , but released later. Additionally, this was the only film in which DeMille shared director's credit with Oscar C. Apfel. The Squaw Man was a success, which led to the eventual founding of Paramount Pictures and Hollywood becoming
21255-489: The film "is a strange conglomeration of unreal incidents that are sometimes set forth with no little technical skill. It begins with the flash of a bird bath and closes with the parachuting of passengers from a giant dirigible that is struck by lightning. This production, in which occasional songs are rendered, boasts of no fewer than 46 listed characters besides Abe Lyman and his band." A similar review by Edwin Schallert in
21450-494: The film's message. The Jazz Age prelude was almost singularly used to cast shame on the boisterous behavior of the 1920s. Cabin in the Cotton (1932) is a Warner Bros. message film about the evils of capitalism. The film takes place in an unspecified southern state where workers are given barely enough to survive and taken advantage of by being charged exorbitant interest rates and high prices by unscrupulous landowners. The film
21645-471: The films appear more old-fashioned. Composer Elmer Bernstein described DeMille as "sparing no effort" when filmmaking. Bernstein recalled that DeMille would scream, yell, or flatter—whatever it took to achieve the perfection he required in his films. DeMille was painstakingly attentive to details on set and was as critical of himself as he was of his crew. Costume designer Dorothy Jeakins, who worked with DeMille on The Ten Commandments (1956), said that he
21840-565: The frequent use of "risque lines" in its dialogue. The paper in its October 5 issue summarizes the film in all-capital letters as a " TYPICAL DE MILLE ORGY OF SPECTACULAR SETTINGS AND COSTUMES WITH 'HOT' LINES THAT KILL IT FOR FAMILY TRADE. " E. B. White in The New Yorker , 11 October 1930, wrote:"it contrives some of the most ludicrous moments ever flung on screen". "probably the wackiest semi-musical-comedy/romance/drama/disaster film you're likely to encounter in this lifetime" Today,
22035-441: The grandiose and of biblical sagas". Considered at the time to be the most successful Christian film of the silent era, DeMille calculated that it had been viewed over 800 million times around the world. After the release of DeMille's The Godless Girl , silent films in America became obsolete, and DeMille was forced to shoot a shoddy final reel with the new sound production technique. Although this final reel looked so different from
22230-416: The ground. By that time Angela has unmasked and made herself known to Bob, who quickly resents her deception, he gives her his parachute harness and goes to find another harness for Trixie after she is unable to find one; Angela extorts a promise from Trixie to leave Bob alone in return for her own parachute harness. When Bob returns, he gives Angela his, and she parachutes safely into the open jump seat of
22425-406: The guilty man to leave town and would never reveal his name. Lasky and DeMille maintained the widow Fleming on the payroll; however, according to leading actor House Peters Sr. , DeMille refused to stop production for the funeral of Fleming. Peters claimed that he encouraged the cast to attend the funeral with him anyway since DeMille would not be able to shoot the film without him. On July 19, 1916,
22620-488: The home of the U.S. film industry. The continued success of his productions led to the founding of Paramount Pictures with Lasky and Adolph Zukor . His first biblical epic, The Ten Commandments (1923), was both a critical and commercial success; it held the Paramount revenue record for twenty-five years. DeMille directed The King of Kings (1927), a biography of Jesus, which gained approval for its sensitivity and reached more than 800 million viewers. The Sign of
22815-601: The law did not apply retroactively. Consequently, DeMille's television and radio appearance ban lasted for the remainder of his life, though he was permitted to appear on radio or television to publicize a movie. William Keighley was his replacement. DeMille would never again work on radio. In 1939, DeMille's Union Pacific was successful through DeMille's collaboration with the Union Pacific Railroad . The Union Pacific gave DeMille access to historical data, early period trains, and expert crews, adding to
23010-471: The laws of man fighting the forces of nature. He received his first nomination for the Academy Award for Best Director for his circus drama The Greatest Show on Earth (1952), which won both the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture – Drama . His last and best-known film, The Ten Commandments (1956), also a Best Picture Academy Award nominee,
23205-439: The legal system turns innocent characters into criminals. The life of Joan Crawford 's character is ruined and her romantic interest is executed so that she may live free, although she is innocent of the crime for which the district attorney wants to convict her. Religious hypocrisy was addressed in such films as The Miracle Woman (1931), starring Barbara Stanwyck and directed by Frank Capra . Many pre-Code films dealt with
23400-497: The legendary impresario David Belasco , who had been a friend and collaborator of their father. DeMille would later adapt Belasco's The Girl of the Golden West , Rose of the Rancho , and The Warrens of Virginia into films. DeMille was credited with creating the premise of Belasco's The Return of Peter Grimm . The Return of Peter Grimm sparked controversy, because Belasco had taken DeMille's unnamed screenplay, changed
23595-650: The list, and Hays created the Studio Relations Committee (SRC) to oversee its implementation. However, there was still no way to enforce these tenets. The controversy surrounding film standards came to a head in 1929. Director Cecil B. DeMille was responsible for the increasing discussion of sex in cinema in the 1920s. Starting with Male and Female (1919), he made a series of films that examined sex and were highly successful. Films featuring Hollywood's original " It girl " Clara Bow such as The Saturday Night Kid (released four days before
23790-422: The longest running time (146 minutes), longest filming schedule (102 days), and largest budget ($ 5 million). The sets and effects were so realistic that 30 extras needed to be hospitalized due to a scene with fireballs and flaming arrows. It was commercially very successful. DeMille's next film, Samson and Delilah in 1949, became Paramount's highest-grossing film up to that time. A Biblical epic with sex, it
23985-411: The lowest point of his career. DeMille traveled abroad to find employment until he was offered a deal at Paramount. In 1932, DeMille returned to Paramount at the request of Lasky, bringing with him his own production unit. His first film back at Paramount, The Sign of the Cross , was also his first success since leaving Paramount besides The King of Kings . DeMille's return was approved by Zukor under
24180-416: The most influential plays he saw was Hamlet , directed by Sothern. DeMille's filmmaking process always began with extensive research. Next, he would work with writers to develop the story that he was envisioning. Then, he would help writers construct a script. Finally, he would leave the script with artists and allow them to create artistic depictions and renderings of each scene. Plot and dialogue were not
24375-564: The motion picture "Czar", was paid the then-lavish sum of $ 100,000 a year (equivalent to more than $ 1.7 million in 2022 dollars). Hays had previously served as U.S. Postmaster General under president Warren G. Harding and as the head of the Republican National Committee . At the time of his hiring, he was president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA); he held
24570-601: The movies before, such as when the studios formed the National Association of the Motion Picture Industry (NAMPI) in 1916, little had come of the efforts. In 1929, Catholic layman Martin Quigley , editor of the prominent trade paper Motion Picture Herald , and Father Daniel A. Lord , a Jesuit priest, created a code of standards (of which Hays strongly approved) and submitted it to
24765-534: The music. He recorded two numbers from the film for Brunswick Records . "Live And Love Today" and "This Is Love" were released on Brunswick's popular 10-inch series as record number 4804. Regal label in Australia also released a version of "Live And Love To-Day" by the Rhythmic Troubadours, record number G20999, in 1930. Choreography Theodore Kosloff , a DeMille regular who was better known as
24960-402: The night at the apartment he shares with his supposed wife Trixie. Trixie doesn't know about Bob's lie, so Jimmy rushes to her apartment to warn her. Trixie is displeased because she wants Bob all to herself. But when Angela arrives they reluctantly pretend to be married while Angela tries to trick them into revealing the truth. The scene becomes more farcical when Bob arrives as well, while Trixie
25155-434: The office reviewed, The Blue Angel , which was passed by Joy without revision, was considered indecent by a California censor. Although there were several instances where Joy negotiated cuts from films, and there were indeed definite, albeit loose, constraints, a significant amount of lurid material made it to the screen. Joy had to review 500 films a year using a small staff and little power. The Hays office did not have
25350-604: The orphanage over which she was the director. In 1922, the couple adopted Richard deMille. Film started becoming more sophisticated and the subsequent films of the Lasky company were criticized for primitive and unrealistic set design. Consequently, Beatrice deMille introduced the Famous Players–Lasky to Wilfred Buckland , who DeMille had known from his time at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts, and he became DeMille's art director. William deMille reluctantly became
25545-491: The overcoming of odds lost great currency. Due to the constant empty economic reassurances from politicians in the early years of the Depression, the American public developed an increasingly jaded attitude. The cynicism, challenging of traditional beliefs, and political controversy of Hollywood films during this period mirrored the attitudes of many of their patrons. Also gone was the carefree and adventurous lifestyle of
25740-413: The perception of entire cities. Capone gave Chicago its "reputation as the locus classicus of American gangsterdom, a cityscape where bullet-proof roadsters with tommygun-toting hoodlums on running boards careened around State Street spraying fusillades of slugs into flower shop windows and mowing down the competition in blood-spattered garages". Capone appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1930. He
25935-482: The period. Filmed shortly after DeMille had completed a five-month tour of the Soviet Union , This Day and Age takes place in America and features several children torturing a gangster who got away with the murder of a popular local shopkeeper. The youngsters are seen lowering the gangster into a vat of rats when the police arrive, and their response is to encourage the youths to continue this. The film ends with
26130-482: The play from the stage to the set. After the film was shown, viewers complained that the shadows and lighting prevented the audience from seeing the actors' full faces, complaining that they would only pay half price. However, Sam Goldwyn realized that if they called it "Rembrandt" lighting, the audience would pay double the price. Additionally, because of DeMille's cordiality after the Peter Grimm incident, DeMille
26325-489: The position for 25 years and "defended the industry from attacks, recited soothing nostrums , and negotiated treaties to cease hostilities". Hollywood mimicked the decision Major League Baseball had made in hiring judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis as League Commissioner the previous year to quell questions about the integrity of baseball in the wake of the 1919 World Series gambling scandal ; The New York Times called Hays
26520-498: The previous eleven reels that it appeared to be from another movie, according to Simon Louvish, the film is one of DeMille's strangest and most "DeMillean" film. The immense popularity of DeMille's silent films enabled him to branch out into other areas. The Roaring Twenties were the boom years and DeMille took full advantage, opening the Mercury Aviation Company , one of America's first commercial airlines. He
26715-601: The production of sound film despite the film's poor dialogue. After his contract ended at MGM, he left, but no production studios would hire him. He attempted to create a guild of a half a dozen directors with the same creative desires called the Director's Guild. However, the idea failed due to lack of funding and commitment. Moreover, DeMille was audited by the Internal Revenue Service due to issues with his production company. This was, according to DeMille,
26910-548: The progress Italy has made during Mussolini 's 10-year reign, Thomas opines, "This is a time when a dictator comes in handy!" The film was viewed by over 175,000 jubilant people during its first two weeks at the cavernous Palace Theater in Albany, New York . The election of Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) in 1932 quelled the public affection for dictators. As the country became increasingly enthraled with FDR, who
27105-516: The project in order to complete a different project, but in reality, it was to preserve his reputation and avoid appearing reactionary. While concurrently filmmaking, he served in World War II at the age of sixty as his neighborhood air-raid warden. In 1942, DeMille worked with Jeanie MacPherson and brother William deMille in order to produce a film called Queen of Queens , which was intended to be about Mary, mother of Jesus . After reading
27300-404: The project, and it promised to be the most costly in U.S. film history. Still, the members unanimously approved it. The Ten Commandments , released in 1956, was DeMille's final film. It was the longest (3 hours, 39 minutes) and most expensive ($ 13 million) film in Paramount history. Production of The Ten Commandments began in October 1954. The Exodus scene was filmed on-site in Egypt with
27495-532: The rapid production of his films in the early years of the Lasky Company. The cuts were sometimes rough, but the movies were always interesting. DeMille often edited in a manner that favored psychological space rather than physical space through his cuts. In this way, the characters' thoughts and desires are the visual focus rather than the circumstances regarding the physical scene. As DeMille's career progressed, he increasingly relied on artist Dan Sayre Groesbeck's concept, costume, and storyboard art. Groesbeck's art
27690-447: The record again. In the early 1920s, scandal surrounded Paramount; religious groups and the media opposed portrayals of immorality in films. A censorship board called the Hays Code was established. DeMille's film The Affairs of Anatol came under fire. Furthermore, DeMille argued with Zukor over his extravagant and over-budget production costs. Consequently, DeMille left Paramount in 1924 despite having helped establish it. He joined
27885-573: The required stunt would not harm them. This occurred with Victor Mature in Samson and Delilah . Mature refused to wrestle Jackie the Lion, even though DeMille had just tussled with the lion, proving that he was tame. DeMille told the actor that he was "one hundred percent yellow". Paulette Goddard 's refusal to risk personal injury in a scene involving fire in Unconquered cost her DeMille's favor and
28080-414: The rest of his career. Cecil B. DeMille was outspoken about his strong Episcopalian integrity, but his private life included mistresses and adultery. DeMille was a conservative Republican activist, becoming more conservative as he aged. He was known as anti-union and worked to prevent the unionizing of film production studios. However, according to DeMille himself, he was not anti-union and belonged to
28275-612: The right to "levy a compulsory assessment upon any member." DeMille sued the union for reinstatement but lost. He then appealed to the California Supreme Court and lost again. When the AFRA expanded to television, DeMille was banned from television appearances. Consequently, he formed the DeMille Foundation for Political Freedom in order to campaign for the right to work. He began presenting speeches across
28470-527: The rights and wrongs of both parties, but it is not the object of the producers of Cabin in the Cotton to take sides. We are only concerned with the effort to picture these conditions. In the end, however, the planters admit their wrongdoing and agree to a more equitable distribution of capital. The avaricious businessman remained a recurring character in pre-Code cinema. In The Match King (1932), Warren William played an industrialist based on real-life Swedish entrepreneur Ivar Kreuger , himself nicknamed
28665-577: The rights to the play The Squaw Man by Edwin Milton Royle and cast Dustin Farnum in the lead role. They offered Farnum a choice to have a quarter stock in the company (similar to William deMille) or $ 250 per week as salary. Farnum chose $ 250 per week. Already $ 15,000 in debt to Royle for the screenplay of The Squaw Man , Lasky's relatives bought the $ 5,000 stock to save the Lasky Company from bankruptcy. With no knowledge of filmmaking, DeMille
28860-496: The role of Angela, but her lover and business partner Joseph P. Kennedy reportedly persuaded her not to accept the role. Swanson still was trying to salvage her disastrous venture in Queen Kelly (1929) and was advised to appear in films only made by her own production company. Although originally scheduled to be shot in 70 days, it took 59, with principal photography commencing on March 3 and ending on May 2, 1930. Madam Satan
29055-437: The scenes. While working in theatre, DeMille used real fruit trees in his play California , as influenced by Belasco. Similar to Belasco, DeMille's theatre revolved around entertainment rather than artistry. Generally, Belasco's influence of DeMille's career can be seen in DeMille's showmanship and narration. E. H. Sothern's early influence on DeMille's work can be seen in DeMille's perfectionism. DeMille recalled that one of
29250-464: The school to join the Spanish–American War , but failed to meet the age requirement. At the military college, even though his grades were average, he reportedly excelled in personal conduct. DeMille attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (tuition-free due to his father's service to the academy). He graduated in 1900, and for graduation, his performance was the play The Arcady Trail . In
29445-424: The screenplay, Daniel A. Lord warned DeMille that Catholics would find the film too irreverent, while non-Catholics would have considered the film Catholic propaganda. Consequently, the film was never made. Jeanie MacPherson would work as a scriptwriter for many of DeMille's films. In 1938, DeMille supervised the compilation of film Land of Liberty to represent the contribution of the American film industry to
29640-454: The script. Noisy and bright, it was not well-liked by critics, but was a favorite among audiences. DeMille signed a contract with Prentice Hall publishers in August 1953 to publish an autobiography. DeMille would reminisce into a voice recorder, the recording would be transcribed, and the information would be organized in the biography based on the topic. Art Arthur also interviewed people for
29835-479: The set right away. DeMille developed a plan with his doctor to allow him to continue directing while reducing his physical stress. Although DeMille completed the film, his health was diminished by several more heart attacks. His daughter Cecilia took over as director as DeMille sat behind the camera with Loyal Griggs as the cinematographer. This film would be his last. Due to his frequent heart attacks, DeMille asked his son-in-law, actor Anthony Quinn , to direct
30030-586: The streets in protest became a prevalent sight during the Great Depression. The Bonus Army protests of World War I veterans on the capital in Washington, D.C., on which Hoover unleashed a brutal crackdown, prompted many of the Hollywood depictions. Although social issues were examined more directly in the pre-Code era, Hollywood still largely ignored the Great Depression, as many films sought to ameliorate patrons' anxieties rather than incite them. Hays remarked in 1932: The function of motion pictures
30225-569: The studios wanted to appease the German government. The ban on Jews and negative portrayals of Germany by Hitler's government even led to a significant reduction in work for Jews in Hollywood until after the end of World War II. As a result, only two social problem films released by independent film companies addressed the mania in Germany during the pre-Code era ( Are We Civilized? and Hitler's Reign of Terror ). In 1933, Herman J. Mankiewicz and producer Sam Jaffe announced they were working on
30420-447: The studios. Lord's concerns centered on the effects sound film had on children, whom he considered especially susceptible to the medium's allure. Several studio heads, including Irving Thalberg of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM), met with Lord and Quigley in February 1930. After some revisions, they agreed to the stipulations of the Code. One of the main motivating factors in adopting the Code was to avoid direct government intervention. It
30615-599: The success of Union Pacific , in 1940, DeMille first used three-strip Technicolor in North West Mounted Police . DeMille wanted to film in Canada; however, due to budget constraints, the film was instead shot in Oregon and Hollywood. Critics were impressed with the visuals but found the scripts dull, calling it DeMille's "poorest Western". Despite the criticism, it was Paramount's highest-grossing film of
30810-450: The surface of American life in the Depression was the fear of the angry mob, portrayed in panicked hysteria in films such as Gabriel Over the White House (1933), The Mayor of Hell (1933), and American Madness (1932). Massive wide shots of angry hordes, comprising sometimes hundreds of men, rush into action in terrifyingly efficient uniformity. Groups of agitated men either standing in breadlines, loitering in hobo camps, or marching
31005-426: The time the film was released on March 31, 1933, FDR's election had produced a level of hopefulness in America that rendered the film's message obsolete. Adolf Hitler 's rise to power in Germany and his regime's anti-Semitic policies significantly affected American pre-Code filmmaking. Although Hitler had become unpopular in many parts of the United States, Germany was still a voluminous importer of American films and
31200-734: The urban-crime genre was mostly ignored until 1927 when Underworld , which is recognized as the first gangster movie, became a surprise hit. According to the Encyclopedia of Hollywood entry on Underworld , "The film established the fundamental elements of the gangster movie: a hoodlum hero; ominous, night-shrouded city streets; floozies; and a blazing finale in which the cops cut down the protagonist." Gangster films such as Thunderbolt (1929) and Doorway to Hell (1930) were released to capitalize on Underworld ' s popularity, with Thunderbolt being described as "a virtual remake" of Underworld . Other late-1920s crime films investigated
31395-558: The use of four Technicolor-VistaVision camera filming 12,000 people. They continued filming in 1955 in Paris and Hollywood on 30 different sound stages. They were even required to expand to RKO sound studios for filming. Post-production lasted a year, and the film premiered in Salt Lake City . Nominated for an Academy Award for Best Picture, it grossed over $ 80 million, which surpassed the gross of The Greatest Show on Earth and every other film in history, except for Gone with
31590-557: The wall-to-wall banter of sound pictures, and director Ernst Lubitsch wondered what the camera was intended for if characters were going to narrate all the onscreen action. The film industry also withstood competition from the home radio, and often characters in films went to great lengths to belittle other media. The film industry was not above using the new medium to broadcast commercials for its projects however, and occasionally turned radio stars into short feature performers to take advantage of their built-in following. Seething beneath
31785-441: The working film including story-boards, props, and special effects. DeMille rarely gave direction to actors; he preferred to "office-direct", where he would work with actors in his office, going over characters and reading through scripts. Any problems on the set were often fixed by writers in the office rather than on the set. DeMille did not believe a large movie set was the place to discuss minor character or line issues. DeMille
31980-480: The year. Audiences liked its highly saturated color, so DeMille made no further black-and-white features. DeMille was anti-communist and abandoned a project in 1940 to film Ernest Hemingway's For Whom the Bell Tolls due to its communist themes, despite the fact he had already paid $ 100,000 for the rights to the novel. He was so eager to produce the film that he hadn't yet read the novel. He claimed he abandoned
32175-663: The young couple's differing religions; Beatrice converted to Episcopalianism . DeMille was a brave and confident child. He gained his love of theater while watching his father and Belasco rehearse their plays. A lasting memory for DeMille was a lunch with his father and actor Edwin Booth . As a child, DeMille created an alter ego, Champion Driver, a Robin Hood -like character, evidence of his creativity and imagination. The family lived in Washington, North Carolina , until Henry built
32370-502: The youngsters taking the gangster to a local judge and forcing the magistrate to conduct a trial in which the outcome is never in doubt. The need for strong leaders who could take charge and steer America out of its crisis is seen in Gabriel Over the White House (1933), about a benevolent dictator who takes control of the United States. Walter Huston stars as a weak-willed, ineffectual president (likely modeled after Hoover) who
32565-772: Was a North Carolina -born dramatist, actor, and lay reader in the Episcopal Church . DeMille's father was also an English teacher at Columbia College (now Columbia University ). He worked as a playwright, administrator, and faculty member during the early years of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts , established in New York City in 1884. Henry deMille frequently collaborated with David Belasco in playwriting; their best-known collaborations included "The Wife", "Lord Chumley", "The Charity Ball", and "Men and Women". Cecil B. DeMille's mother, Beatrice,
32760-486: Was a characteristically DeMille film. Again, 1952's The Greatest Show on Earth became Paramount's highest-grossing film to that point. Furthermore, DeMille's film won the Academy Award for Best Picture and the Academy Award for Best Story . The film began production in 1949, Ringling Brothers-Barnum and Bailey were paid $ 250,000 for use of the title and facilities. DeMille toured with the circus while helping write
32955-486: Was able to rekindle his partnership with Belasco. He adapted several of Belasco's screenplays into film. DeMille's most successful film was The Cheat ; DeMille's direction in the film was acclaimed. In 1916, exhausted from three years of nonstop filmmaking, DeMille purchased land in the Angeles National Forest for a ranch that would become his getaway. He called this place, "Paradise", declaring it
33150-506: Was also a real estate speculator, an underwriter of political campaigns, and vice president of Bank of America . He was additionally vice president of the Commercial National Trust and Savings Bank in Los Angeles where he approved loans for other filmmakers. In 1916, DeMille purchased a mansion in Hollywood. Charlie Chaplin lived next door for a time, and after he moved, DeMille purchased the other house and combined
33345-442: Was an American filmmaker and actor. Between 1914 and 1958, he made 70 features, both silent and sound films . He is acknowledged as a founding father of American cinema and the most commercially successful producer-director in film history. His films were distinguished by their epic scale and by his cinematic showmanship. His silent films included social dramas, comedies, Westerns, farces, morality plays, and historical pageants. He
33540-655: Was an active Freemason and member of Prince of Orange Lodge #16 in New York City. DeMille was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts , and grew up in New York City. He began his career as a stage actor in 1900. He later moved to writing and directing stage productions, some with Jesse L. Lasky , who was then a vaudeville producer. DeMille's first film, The Squaw Man (1914), was also the first full-length feature film shot in Hollywood . Its interracial love story made it commercially successful, and it first publicized Hollywood as
33735-411: Was auctioned by his granddaughter Cecilia DeMille Presley who also lived there in the late 1980s. DeMille believed his first influences to be his parents, Henry and Beatrice DeMille. His playwright father introduced him to the theater at a young age. Henry was heavily influenced by the work of Charles Kingsley , whose ideas trickled down to DeMille. DeMille noted that his mother had a "high sense of
33930-502: Was circulated on set to give actors and crew members a better understanding of DeMille's vision. His art was even shown at Paramount meetings when pitching new films. DeMille adored the art of Groesbeck, even hanging it above his fireplace, but film staff found it difficult to convert his art into three-dimensional sets. As DeMille continued to rely on Groesbeck, the nervous energy of his early films transformed into more steady compositions of his later films. While visually appealing, this made
34125-470: Was clear that they were the exception to the rule. The entire document contained Catholic undertones and stated that art must be handled carefully because it could be "morally evil in its effects" and because its "deep moral significance" was unquestionable. The Catholic influence on the Code was initially kept secret, owing to the Anti-Catholic bias of the time. A recurring theme was "throughout,
34320-475: Was confined to bed and unable to eat. His poor physical condition upon his return home affected the production of his 1922 film Manslaughter . According to Richard Birchard, DeMille's weakened state during production may have led to the film being received as uncharacteristically substandard. During World War I, the Famous Players–Lasky organized a military company underneath the National Guard called
34515-622: Was even offered seven-figure sums by two major Hollywood studios to appear in a film, but he declined. Dillinger became a national celebrity as a bank robber who eluded arrest and escaped confinement several times. He had become the most celebrated public outlaw since Jesse James . His father appeared in a popular series of newsreels giving police homespun advice on how to catch his son. Dillinger's popularity rose so quickly that Variety joked that "if Dillinger remains at large much longer and more such interviews are obtained, there may be some petitions circulated to make him our president." Hays wrote
34710-404: Was featured in countless newsreels , it exhibited less desire for alternative forms of government. Many Hollywood films reflected this new optimism. Heroes for Sale , despite being a tremendously bleak and at times anti-American film, ends on a positive note as the New Deal appears as a sign of optimism. When Wild Boys of the Road (1933), directed by William Wellman , reaches its conclusion,
34905-464: Was ignited when he watched the 1912 French film Les Amours de la reine Élisabeth . Desiring a change of scene, Cecil B. DeMille, Jesse Lasky, Sam Goldfish (later Samuel Goldwyn ), and a group of East Coast businessmen created the Jesse L. Lasky Feature Play Company in 1913, over which DeMille became director-general. Lasky and DeMille were said to have sketched out the organization of the company on
35100-895: Was introduced to observe the process at film studios. He was eventually introduced to Oscar Apfel , a stage director who had been a director with the Edison Company . On December 12, 1913, DeMille, his cast, and crew boarded a Southern Pacific train bound for Flagstaff via New Orleans . His tentative plan was to shoot a film in Arizona , but he felt that Arizona did not typify the Western look they were searching for. They also learned that other filmmakers were successfully shooting in Los Angeles, even in winter. He continued to Los Angeles. Once there, he chose not to shoot in Edendale , where many studios were, but in Hollywood. DeMille rented
35295-444: Was made less revealing. An entire scene in which Angela confronts Trixie, and Trixie is shown wearing a sheer nightgown because she "has nothing to hide" was deleted. The collaboration ended up being agreeable to both men. The notoriously finicky Ohio censor board passed the film without cuts. Thomas Meighan was sought for the lead role of Bob Brooks before Reginald Denny was cast on January 9, 1930. DeMille wanted Gloria Swanson for
35490-424: Was named after his grandmothers Cecelia Wolff and Margarete Blount. He was the second of three children of Henry Churchill de Mille (September 4, 1853 – February 10, 1893) and his wife, Matilda Beatrice deMille (née Samuel; January 30, 1853 – October 8, 1923), known as Beatrice. His brother, William C. deMille , was born on July 25, 1878. Henry de Mille, whose ancestors were of English and Dutch-Belgian descent,
35685-472: Was named in his honor. DeMille's reputation had a renaissance in the 2010s, and his work has influenced numerous other films and directors. Cecil Blount DeMille was born on August 12, 1881, in a boarding house on Main Street in Ashfield, Massachusetts , where his parents had been vacationing for the summer. On September 1, 1881, the family returned with the newborn DeMille to their flat in New York. DeMille
35880-608: Was particularly adept at directing and managing large crowds in his films. Martin Scorsese recalled that DeMille had the skill to maintain control of not only the lead actors in a frame but the many extras in the frame as well. DeMille was adept at directing "thousands of extras", and many of his pictures include spectacular set pieces: the toppling of the pagan temple in Samson and Delilah ; train wrecks in The Road to Yesterday , Union Pacific and The Greatest Show on Earth ;
36075-483: Was poor, and it did not become rigorously enforced until July 1, 1934, with the establishment of the Production Code Administration . Before that date, film content was restricted more by local laws, negotiations between the Studio Relations Committee (SRC) and the major studios, and popular opinion than by strict adherence to the Hays Code, which was often ignored by Hollywood filmmakers. As
36270-551: Was produced with a large budget and contained many special effects including an electronically operated giant squid . After working on Reap the Wild Wind , in 1944 , he was the master of ceremonies at the rally organized by David O. Selznick in the Los Angeles Coliseum in support of the Dewey – Bricker ticket as well as Governor Earl Warren of California. DeMille's subsequent film Unconquered (1947) had
36465-552: Was renamed The Royal Mounted . He also toured with the Standard Opera Company, but there are few records to indicate DeMille's singing ability. DeMille had a daughter, Cecilia, on November 5, 1908, who would be his only biological child. In the 1910s, DeMille began directing and producing other writer's plays. DeMille was poor and struggled to find work. Consequently, his mother hired him for her agency The DeMille Play Company, and taught him how to be an agent and
36660-582: Was repeated sarcastically by characters in several films such as Under Eighteen (1931) and 20,000 Years in Sing Sing (1933). Less comical was the picture of the United States' future presented in Heroes for Sale that same year (1933), in which a hobo looks into a depressing night and proclaims, "It's the end of America". Heroes for Sale was directed by prolific pre-Code director William Wellman and featured silent film star Richard Barthelmess as
36855-591: Was researching a film biography of Robert Baden-Powell , the founder of the Scout Movement . DeMille asked David Niven to star in the film, but it was never made. DeMille also was planning a film about the space race as well as another biblical epic about the Book of Revelation . DeMille's autobiography was mostly completed by the time DeMille died and was published in November 1959. Cecil B. DeMille suffered
37050-450: Was skilled in humiliating people. Jeakins admitted that she received quality training from him, but that it was necessary to become a perfectionist on a DeMille set to avoid being fired. DeMille had an authoritarian persona on set; he required absolute attention from the cast and crew. He had a band of assistants who catered to his needs. He would speak to the entire set, sometimes enormous with countless numbers of crew members and extras, via
37245-513: Was the most expensive film made by Metro in 1930, and would remain its most expensive musical until The Merry Widow (1934). Madam Satan was released at a time when American theaters had become saturated with musicals, and as a result, it was a financial failure, eventually resulting in a net loss of $ 390,000. In his review for The New York Times , film critic Mordaunt Hall described Madam Satan as "an inept story with touches of comedy that are more tedious than laughable." He further noted
37440-423: Was the most prominent maker of these types of films and preferred they be called "Americanism stories". Pre-Code historian Thomas Doherty has written that two recurring elements marked the so-called preachment yarns. "The first is the exculpatory preface; the second is the Jazz Age prelude." The preface was essentially a softened version of a disclaimer that intended to calm any in the audience who disagreed with
37635-426: Was the responsibility of the Studio Relations Committee, headed by Colonel Jason S. Joy, to supervise film production and advise the studios when changes or cuts were required. The Code was divided into two parts. The first was a set of "general principles" that mostly concerned morality. The second was a set of "particular applications", an exacting list of items that could not be depicted. Some restrictions, such as
37830-405: Was unable to care for an estate. She would die one year later. His personal will drew a line between Cecilia and his three adopted children, with Cecilia receiving a majority of DeMille's inheritance and estate. The other three children were surprised by this, as DeMille did not treat the children differently in life. Cecilia lived in the house for many years until her death in 1984, but the house
38025-420: Was unique in using this technique. In addition to his use of volatile and abrupt film editing, his lighting and composition were innovative for the time period as filmmakers were primarily concerned with a clear, realistic image. Another important aspect of DeMille's editing technique was to put the film away for a week or two after an initial edit in order to re-edit the picture with a fresh mind. This allowed for
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