One of cinema’s earliest pioneers, Oscar winner Cecil B. DeMille helmed 70 films throughout the silent and sound era. He made his mark in a number of genres, but was most famous for his spectacularly mounted biblical epics. Let’s take a look back at 20 of his greatest movies, ranked worst to best.
Born in 1881, DeMille made his directorial debut with “The Squaw Man” (1914), a story he remade in 1918 and 1931. He made dozens of silent films, including the ambitious biblical stories “The Ten Commandments” (1923) and “The King of Kings” (1927). He entered into the sound era with ease, earning his first Oscar nomination in Best Picture for the Claudette Colbert-headlined version of “Cleopatra” (1934).
After a series of box office smashes, he took home the Best Picture prize for his big top melodrama “The Greatest Show on Earth” (1952), which also brought him his only nomination in Best Director. Even at the time, a few eyebrows were raised when it won the Academy Award over heavy favorites “High Noon” and “The Quiet Man.” Yet triumph it did, and that same year, DeMille earned the Irving G. Thalberg Memorial Award from the Academy.
He returned to the Oscar race with his final film, a massive adaptation of “The Ten Commandments” (1956) starring Charlton Heston as Moses. Best known for its impressive parting of the Red Sea sequence, the movie became a holiday favorite thanks to multiple TV showings on Easter.
In addition to his Oscar success, DeMille also won the Golden Globe and competed at the DGA for “The Greatest Show on Earth.” He also gave birth to the Cecil B. DeMille Award at the Golden Globes, a career achievement prize of which he was the inaugural winner in 1952. He won the Lifetime Achievement Award from the DGA in 1953.
Tour our photo gallery of DeMille’s best movies, including some of the titles listed above, as well as “The Sign of the Cross” (1932), “Reap the Wild Wind” (1942), “Samson and Delilah” (1949) and more.
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20. NORTH WEST MOUNTED POLICE (1940)
Image Credit: Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Screenplay by Alan Le May, Jesse Lasky, Jr. and C. Gardner Sullivan, based on the novel ‘The Royal Canadian Mounted Police’ by R. C. Fetherstonhaugh. Starring Gary Cooper, Madeleine Carroll, Paulette Goddard, Preston Foster, Akim Tamiroff, Lon Chaney, Jr, George Bancroft.
“North West Mounted Police” was DeMille’s first film shot in Technicolor, and that’s just about the extent of its historical significance. Set in 1885, it stars Gary Cooper as a Texas Ranger who’s sent to Canada to track down a fur trapper (George Bancroft) who’s riling up the Natives against the government. While there, he falls in love with a beautiful nurse (Madeleine Carroll) who’s being romantically pursued by a Canadian mountie (Preston Foster). Shot largely on sound stages despite being set mainly outdoors. An Oscar winner for film editing and nominee for its cinematography, art direction, sound and score.
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19. DYNAMITE (1929)
Image Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Screenplay by Jeanie MacPherson, John Howard Lawson and Gladys Unger. Starring Conrad Nagel, Kay Johnson, Charles Bickford, Julia Faye, Joel McCrea.
DeMille’s first sound feature has a plot so ridiculous it almost has to be seen to be believed. Kay Johnson stars as socialite Cynthia Crothers, who stands to lose her inheritance if she’s not married by her 23rd birthday. She’s “engaged” to Roger Towne (Conrad Nagel), who’s married to Marcia (Julia Faye), who has her own lover (Joel McCrea) and is willing to divorce her husband for the right price. Desperate for cash, Cynthia marries a coal miner (Charles Bickford) sentenced to death for a crime he didn’t commit, expecting to be a wealthy widow. But when the real killer comes forward, her new spouse gets out of jail, and complications ensue.
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18. FOUR FRIGHTENED PEOPLE (1934)
Image Credit: Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Screenplay by Bartlett Cormack and Lenore Coffee, based on the novel by E. Arnot Robertson. Starring Claudette Colbert, Herbert Marshall, Mary Boland, William Gargan.
One of the director’s few financial flops, “Four Frightened People” is an entertaining bit of balderdash as only DeMille could deliver. It centers on two men (Herbert Marshall and William Gargan) and two women (Claudette Colbert and Mary Boland) who escape a plague-infested ocean steamer and arrive at a remote Malayan island via lifeboat. As they try to survive in the jungle against the primitive natives and wild animals, Marshall and Gargan find themselves increasingly attracted to Colbert, who manages to stay glamorous despite the rough conditions. Shot largely on location in Hawaii.
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17. THE BUCCANEER (1938)
Image Credit: Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Screenplay by Edwin Justus Mayer, Harold Lamb and C. Gardner Sullivan, adaptation by Jeanie Macpherson, based on the novel by Lyle Saxon. Starring Fredric March, Franciska Gaal, Akim Tamiroff, Margot Grahame, Walter Brennan, Ian Keith, Anthony Quinn, Beulah Bondi.
DeMille’s dramatic retelling of swashbuckler Jean Lafitte’s (Fredric March) escapades during the War of 1812 is far from historically accurate, but it’s amusing malarky nonetheless. March proves capably heroic as the raffish Lafitte, a pirate plunderer who sets aside his quest for wealth to help the Americans in their fight against the British during the Battle of New Orleans. A Technicolor remake was mounted in 1958 with Yul Brynner, although DeMille was too sick to personally direct it, handing those duties off to Anthony Quinn (he appeared on-camera for the prologue). This version earned an Oscar nomination for its cinematography.
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16. THIS DAY AND AGE (1933)
Image Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Written by Bartlett Cormack. Starring Charles Bickford, Richard Cromwell, Judith Allen, Harry Green, Bradley Page, Edward J. Nugent, Ben Alexander.
As its title may suggest, “This Day and Age” tries to be a powerful comment on contemporary social issues, though it’s at its best when giving in completely to melodrama and hokum. Set in small town USA, it centers on a group of civic-minded high schoolers who band together when a Jewish tailor (Harry Green) is murdered by a powerful mobster (Charles Bickford). When the courts are too afraid to punish him, the kids decide to administer their own brand of vigilante justice. There’s a lot of leaps of faith you have to take with this plot, which makes “Law & Order” look like “Masterpiece Theater,” but it’s stirring nonetheless.
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15. THE CRUSADES (1935)
Image Credit: Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Written by Harold Lamb, Waldemar Young and Dudley Nichols. Starring Loretta Young, Henry Wilcoxon, Ian Keith, C. Aubrey Smith, Katherine DeMille, Joseph Schildkraut, Alan Hale, C. Henry Gordon.
There’s not much history in this lumbering epic about the Third Crusade, but there’s a whole lot of soapy fun. It’s 12th century A.D., and King Richard the Lionhearted (Henry Wilcoxon) enlists in the war to avoid an arranged marriage to Princess Alice of France (DeMille’s daughter, Katherine DeMille). He marries the wealthy Berengaria, Princess of Navarre (Loretta Young) to secure food for his men, and she accompanies him on his journey to the Holy Land. She catches the romantic eye of Saladin, Sultan of Islam (Ian Keith), who uses her against Richard. A full-blown spectacle that really comes alive in its thrilling battle sequences.
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14. MADAM SATAN (1930)
Image Credit: Mgm/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Screenplay by Jeanie Macpherson, dialogue by Gladys Unger and Elise Janis. Starring Kay Johnson, Reginald Denny, Lillian Roth, Roland Young.
DeMille wasn’t exactly known for his light touch, which makes this musical comedy an odd entry in his filmography. Although the title might suggest a Busby Berkley-inspired Biblical epic, “Madam Satan” has little to do with the devil but everything to do with sin. Kay Johnson stars as an upperclass housewife whose husband (Reginald Denny) is having an affair with a showgirl. She decides to attend a masquerade ball dressed as the alluring “Madam Satan,” hoping to seduce her spouse and teach him a lesson. Though the party scene — set in a Zeppelin balloon — was shot in Technicolor, only black-and-white prints survive.
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13. THE SQUAW MAN (1931)
Image Credit: MGM Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Screenplay by Edwin Milton Royle, Lucien Hubbard, Lenore J. Coffee and Elsie Janis. Starring Warner Baxter, Lupe Velez, Eleanor Boardman, Charles Bickford, Roland Young, Paul Cavanagh.
DeMille shot “The Squaw Man” three times: once as his directorial debut in 1914, again in 1918 (of which only the last reel remains) and finally this sound version in 1931. Each iteration centers on a British army officer (played here by Warner Baxter) who travels to the American West after taking the blame for his cousin’s (Paul Cavanagh) embezzlement in order to protect his wife (Eleanor Boardman), who he secretly loves. He marries a Native woman (Lupe Velez) after rescuing her from a brutish cattle rustler (Charles Bickford), but when his cousin suddenly dies, he must choose between his new spouse and his true beloved.
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12. THE CHEAT (1915)
Image Credit: Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Written by Hector Turnbull and Jeanie Macpherson. Starring Sessue Hayakawa, Fannie Ward, Jack Dean.
A box office smash in its day, “The Cheat” garnered considerable controversy from Japanese Americans for its unflattering portrayal of a degenerate Asian ivory merchant (when it was re-released in 1918, the title card changed the character to Burmese, which wasn’t much better). Yet the performance by Sessue Hayakawa (“The Bridge on the River Kwai”) brings more nuance to the role than the screenplay allows. Fannie Ward stars as a stockbroker’s wife who gets in trouble for embezzling $10,000 to the charity she chairs. In desperation, she turns to the unprincipled Hayakawa to replace the money, but it comes with a price.
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11. THE SIGN OF THE CROSS (1932)
Image Credit: Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Screenplay by Waldemar Young and Sidney Buchman, based on the play by Wilson Barrett. Starring Fredric March, Elissa Landi, Claudette Colbert, Charles Laughton.
Conventional wisdom has it that “The Sign of the Cross” is a low point for DeMille, a rancid turkey that seeks to sermonize while indulging in debauchery. Yet there’s a certain campy charm to this Biblical epic that makes it more enjoyable than some of the director’s more serious efforts. Fredric March stars as a Roman soldier caught between his love for a Christian girl (Elissa Landi) and Emperor Nero (a hammy Charles Laughton). See Claudette Colbert as the Empress Poppaea bathe in goats milk! See Christians fed to the lions! See pygmies empaled by Amazonian women! Oh, and stay for the preaching.
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10. UNCONQUERED (1947)
Image Credit: Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Screenplay by Charles Bennett, Fredric M. Frank and Jesse Lasky, Jr., based on the novel by Neil H. Swanson. Starring Gary Cooper, Paulette Goddard, Howard Da Silva, Boris Karloff, Cecil Kellaway, Ward Bond.
With “Unconquered,” DeMille’s epics grew substantially in runtime (146 minutes) and budget (a whopping $4 million), setting the stage for his grandest sagas. While it ostensibly dramatizes the violent conflict between Native Americans and American colonialists in the 1800s, the real struggle is between the heroic Gary Cooper and the villainous Howard Da Silva, who each bid for a convicted felon (Paulette Goddard) sentenced to indentured servitude. When Cooper wins her and grants her freedom, Da Silva kidnaps her and takes her westward, where he’s selling arms to the natives. It’s up to Cooper to save both Goddard and the English settlers.
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9. THE PLAINSMAN (1936)
Image Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Screenplay by Waldemar Young, Harold Lamb and Lynn Riggs, story by Courtney Ryley Cooper, based on stories by Frank J. Wilstach. Starring Gary Cooper, Jean Arthur, James Ellison, Charles Bickford, John Miljan.
‘The Plainsman” throws in just about everything but the kitchen sink, with Wild Bill Hickok, Calamity Jane, Buffalo Bill, General Custer and even Abraham Lincoln popping up for a highly fictionalized western yarn. With the Civil War winding down, a shady gunrunner (Charles Bickford) finds a lucrative business in selling arms to Native Americans. Custer (John Miljan) enlists a newly domesticated Hickok (Gary Cooper) to stop an Indian uprising with the help of Calamity Jane (Jean Arthur) and Buffalo Bill (James Ellison). It’s all terribly silly and far from historically accurate, but a highly entertaining adventure nonetheless.
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8. UNION PACIFIC (1939)
Image Credit: Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Written by Walter DeLeon, Jack Cunningham and C. Gardner Sullivan, based on the novel ‘Trouble Shooter’ by Ernest Haycox. Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Joel McCrea, Akim Tamiroff, Robert Preston, Lynne Overman, Brian Donlevy.
Though it falls far short in terms of quality, “Union Pacific” is still in the grand tradition of epics like “Doctor Zhivago” and “Titanic,” a sweeping romance set against the backdrop of history. DeMille presents us with the building of the first transcontinental railroad, centering on a love triangle between the overseer (Joel McCrea), his best friend (Robert Preston) and an Irish postmistress (Barbra Stanwyck). The melodrama is frequently interrupted by some stirring action sequences, including a train crash and an attack by Native Americans. The film won the first ever Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, awarded retrospectively in 2002.
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7. SAMSON AND DELILAH (1949)
Image Credit: Paramount/Kobal/Shutterstock Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Screenplay by Jesse L. Lasky, Jr., Fredric M. Frank and Harold Lamb, based on the novel ‘Judge and Fool’ by Vladimir Jabotinsky and the Holy Bible. Starring Hedy Lamarr, Victor Mature, George Sanders, Angela Lansbury, Henry Wilcoxon.
DeMille mounts this Old Testament story with his usual aplomb, creating a Technicolor saga that’s equal parts cheesy and magnificent. Victor Mature plays Samson, the strongman who derives his great strength through his luscious hair. When he falls in love with the seductive Delilah (Hedy Lamarr), she learns his secret and betrays him to the Philistines. George Sanders is best in show as the slimy Saran, while Angela Lansbury pops up as Delilah’s older sister, Semadar (despite actually being 10 years younger than Lamarr). An Oscar winner for costumes and art direction, it earned additional bids in cinematography, score and special effects.
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6. REAP THE WILD WIND (1942)
Image Credit: Snap/Shutterstock Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Screenplay by Charles Bennett, Jesse Lasky, Jr., Alan Le May and Jeanie Macpherson, based on the novel by Thelma Strabel. Starring Ray Milland, John Wayne, Paulette Goddard, Robert Preston, Susan Hayward, Charles Bickford, Raymond Massey.
“Reap the Wild Wind” is the kind of rip-roaring adventure flick that delighted American audiences during World War II. Set in the 1840s, it centers on a Florida ship salvager (Paulette Goddard) who falls in love with a dashing captain (John Wayne) whose vessel wrecked on the Key West coast. But the arrival of a new suitor (Ray Milland) and a slimy villain (Raymond Massey) complicate their love affair. DeMille once again proves a master of special effects in the underwater sequences (Oscar voters rewarded it with a trophy). The film also competed at the Academy for its color cinematography and art direction.
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5. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1923)
Image Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Written by Jeanie Macpherson. Starring Theodore Roberts, Charles De Roche, Estelle Taylor, Julia Faye, Richard Dix, Rod La Rocque, Leatrice Joy, Nita Naldi, Edythe Chapman.
Before he helmed the highly popular Charlton Heston epic, DeMille brought “The Ten Commandments” to the screen with an ambitious silent version. This adaptation differs from the later one in that it doesn’t focus solely on Moses (Theodore Roberts): rather, it also tells a parallel story set in modern times, in which two brothers (Richard Dix and Rod La Rocque) each react to their mother’s (Edythe Chapman) devout Christianity in different ways. While Dix follows the commandments and becomes a carpenter, La Rocque decides to break every one of them and rise to the top. Needless to say, it doesn’t work out so well for him.
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4. THE GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH (1952)
Image Credit: Moviestore/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Written by Fredric M. Frank, Theodore St. John, Frank Cavett, Barre Lyndon. Starring Betty Hutton, Cornel Wilde, Charlton Heston, James Stewart, Dorothy Lamour, Gloria Grahame, Lyle Bettger.
A huge success in its time, this big top melodrama now regularly ranks among the worst Best Picture winners of all time. But by God, it’s still cheesy, soapy fun, with Charlton Heston as the circus manager, Betty Hutton and Cornel Wilde as the dueling trapeze artists and James Stewart as the clown with a dark secret. The ending train crash remains spectacular. Even in 1952, it’s Oscar victory over heavy favorites “High Noon” and “The Quiet Man” was a stunning upset; its only other trophy came in the now-defunct Best Motion Picture Story category. DeMille also earned his lone nomination in Best Director, losing to John Ford (“The Quiet Man”).
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3. THE KING OF KINGS (1927)
Image Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Written by Jeannie Macpherson. Starring H.B. Warner, Dorothy Cumming, Ernest Torrence, Joseph Schildkraut, James Neill.
The life of Christ has been committed to the screen many times to varying degrees of success, including this massively entertaining silent version that was a box office sensation. DeMille turns the bible’s most famous story into a spectacle for the ages, with lavish sets, sumptuous costumes and a cast of thousands. H.B. Warner stars as Jesus during the weeks before his crucifixion. Two sequences — the prologue and the resurrection — were filmed in glorious two-strip Technicolor, giving them an extra bit of magnificence. Make sure you seek out the original 155 minute version that premiered at the Grauman’s Chinese Theater.
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2. CLEOPATRA (1934)
Image Credit: Moviestore/Shutterstock Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Screenplay by Waldemar Young and Vincent Lawrence, adaptation by Bartlett Cormack. Starring Claudette Colbert, Warren Williams, Henry Wilcoxon, Joseph Schildkraut.
Before there was the notorious Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton bomb, there was this opulent DeMille production that remains one of the director’s very best films. Claudette Colbert stars as the sensual Egyptian princess, who leads both Marc Antony (Henry Wilcoxon) and Julius Caesar (Warren Williams) astray in an attempt to become the country’s sole ruler. DeMille fills “Cleopatra” with moments of splendor and sordid melodrama, making for a delicious entertainment. The film earned him his first Oscar nomination in Best Picture, winning for its cinematography and competing for sound, film editing and assistant direction.
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1. THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (1956)
Image Credit: Paramount/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. Screenplay by Aeneas MacKenzie, Jesse L. Lasky Jr., Jack Gariss, Fredric M. Frank, based on ‘Prince of Egypt’ by Dorothy Clarke Wilson, ‘Pillar of Fire’ by J.H. Ingraham, ‘On Eagle’s Wings’ by A.E. Southon, and the Book of Exodus. Starring Charlton Heston, Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter, Edward G. Robinson, Yvonne De Carlo, Debra Paget, John Derek.
Of all the biblical epics DeMille brought to the screen, none is more entertaining than this overblown, extravagant and hokey retelling of the life of Moses (Charlton Heston). It follows the prophet from the time he was discovered as an abandoned infant in the bullrushes to his struggles to save the Jews from their enslavement in Egypt. Yul Brynner, Anne Baxter and Edward G. Robinson ham it up as Rameses, Nefretiri and Dathan, respectively. DeMille’s skill for spectacle is on full display with the parting of the Red Sea and the writing of the stone tablets, which won the movie an Academy Award for its visual effects. An Oscar nominee for Best Picture, it has become a holiday classic thanks to multiple showings on Easter. A holy masterpiece, indeed.
