The Crusades (film)

The Crusades is a 1935 American historical adventure film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille, and originally released by Paramount Pictures. It stars Loretta Young as Berengaria of Navarre and Henry Wilcoxon as Richard I of England. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Cinematography Victor Milner as well as for Best Foreign Film at the Venice Film Festival in 1935.

Andre Sennwald of The New York Times called the film a grand show and two hours of tempestuous extravaganza. Sennwald also praised the superbly managed staging of the attack on the city of Acre and cited excellent performances all around, stating in conclusion, It is rich in the kind of excitement that pulls an audience irresistibly to the edge of its seat. Variety also praised the film, writing, Probably only DeMille could make a picture like Crusades and get away with it. Its long, and the story is not up to some of his previous films, but the production has sweep and spectacle. Film Daily declared it one of the best DeMille pictures ... The battle scenes are among the most thrilling made since the inception of talking pictures. John Mosher of The New Yorker was less enthused, finding it rather mild De Mille that doesnt compare by a long shot with many other scenes in the Masters collection. There is nothing in the film as astonishing as his Passing through the Red Sea, nothing as amazingly ornamental as his arenas of Imperial Rome. Mosher did praise Wilcoxons performance, however, especially in his scenes with Young. Similarly reserved, Graham Greene writing for The Spectator described it as a very long film with a stuffy horsehair atmosphere of beards and whiskers, and criticized its historical accuracy as a little quiet fun at the expense of Clio with as complete a lack of period sense as decorated midVictorian Bibles. Greene did praise de Milles childlike eye for details, however, and characterized the setpiece scenes e.g. the cavalry charge and the storming of Acre as scenes of real executive genius.Lorraine K. Stock writes in Hollywood in the Holy Land, in her chapter Now Starring in the Third Crusade that Crusading films have been used by European and American countries to spread a political or cultural agenda. One way with which this is done is through the main Crusading heroes such as Richard the Lionhearted and main antagonist Saladin.

Source: Wikipedia