The release of a Cecil B. DeMille movie was a big event in Hollywood with his sprawling epics. His August 1935 "The Crusades" was no exception. The director's latest epic, set in the late 1100s, is unusual in that the Christian wars in the Middle East was an era cinema had largely ignored before DeMille placed a spotlight on them.
It was a difficult production for the director. He was highly stressed filming the battle scenes showing the Crusaders using parapets to attack the city of Acre. He displayed an unusually short temper with the extras, harping on their shortcomings and demanding more from them, to the point the actors realized he was endangering their lives. Several were injured in the scaling of the castle walls and the aggressive fighting between combatants, which led to the death of a few horses. DeMille was cranking his voice through a megaphone so loud that one extra, an expert in archery, decided to take matters in his own hands. He took aim at the director's megaphone he was holding to his mouth and shot an arrow at it. The weapon hit its target, just inches from DeMille's head. Stunned, the director walked off and called it a day. For the remainder of the filming, DeMille did not once raise his voice to the people on the set.
Unique to cinema in the 1930s was the director's sympathetic view in "The Crusades" of the Muslims' occupation of Palestine and Jerusalem, led by Saladin (Ian Keith). DeMille noted in his memoirs, "One of my objectives was to bring out that the Saracens were a cultivated people, and their great leader, Saladin, as perfect and gentle a knight as any in Christiandom." "The Crusades" concentrates on England's King Richard the Lion-Hearted (Henry Wilcoxon), who marries Bergengaria, Princess of Navarre (Loretta Young), for the money he needs to feed and pay his knights traveling to the Middle East. In the king's meeting with Saladin, the Muslim leader is overtaken by the beauty of Richard's wife, and eventually helps save his life from his real enemies in the film, the French.
The key to casting "The Crusades" was to find the perfect actress for the role of Bergengaria. DeMille said the actress playing the part "must act like Helen Hayes, have the vivacity of Miriam Hopkins, the wistfulness of Helen Mack, and the charm of Marion Davies. As for looks, she must be a combination of all four." His first choice was Merle Oberon, who was unavailable. Young was then hired despite her pregnancy to Clark Gable, which she didn't divulge to DeMille. After filming ended, Young took a break from movies and went into hiding, keeping her pregnancy and delivery secret.
"The Crusaders" didn't fare as well as expected for Paramount Pictures. One reason was its high production costs. Another is audiences weren't used to witnessing any hint of a sympathetic portrayal of Muslims and Arabs on the screen in the form of their leader Saladin. Film historian Anton Kozlovic saw "The Crusades" as "not as enthusiastically received in the West as DeMille would have liked, probably because it showed the good and noble side of the Muslims and contrasted it with the darker deeds of Christianity." Even though "The Crusades" lost $700,000 in its initial release, the movie did recoup its loses in subsequent showings. DeMille viewed the film as a success, however, as opposed to his earlier drawing room dramas. Director Ernst Lubitsch, who specialized in sophisticated romantic comedies, and head of production at Paramount, frequently visited the set of "The Crusades." DeMille, shocked to see the legendary director so fascinated by his work, asked him "What on earth interests you in my poor efforts?" "I'm hypnotized," answered Lubitsch. "There isn't a cocktail shaker or a tuxedo in sight!" "The Crusaders" was nominated for the Academy Awards Best Cinematography (Victor Milner) and won the best foreign film for 1935 at the prestigious Venice Film Festival. In a footnote, the actor who played King Richard, Henry Wilcoxon, played a memorable scene as the Bishop on the golf course with Bill Murray in 1980's "Caddyshack."
It was a difficult production for the director. He was highly stressed filming the battle scenes showing the Crusaders using parapets to attack the city of Acre. He displayed an unusually short temper with the extras, harping on their shortcomings and demanding more from them, to the point the actors realized he was endangering their lives. Several were injured in the scaling of the castle walls and the aggressive fighting between combatants, which led to the death of a few horses. DeMille was cranking his voice through a megaphone so loud that one extra, an expert in archery, decided to take matters in his own hands. He took aim at the director's megaphone he was holding to his mouth and shot an arrow at it. The weapon hit its target, just inches from DeMille's head. Stunned, the director walked off and called it a day. For the remainder of the filming, DeMille did not once raise his voice to the people on the set.
Unique to cinema in the 1930s was the director's sympathetic view in "The Crusades" of the Muslims' occupation of Palestine and Jerusalem, led by Saladin (Ian Keith). DeMille noted in his memoirs, "One of my objectives was to bring out that the Saracens were a cultivated people, and their great leader, Saladin, as perfect and gentle a knight as any in Christiandom." "The Crusades" concentrates on England's King Richard the Lion-Hearted (Henry Wilcoxon), who marries Bergengaria, Princess of Navarre (Loretta Young), for the money he needs to feed and pay his knights traveling to the Middle East. In the king's meeting with Saladin, the Muslim leader is overtaken by the beauty of Richard's wife, and eventually helps save his life from his real enemies in the film, the French.
The key to casting "The Crusades" was to find the perfect actress for the role of Bergengaria. DeMille said the actress playing the part "must act like Helen Hayes, have the vivacity of Miriam Hopkins, the wistfulness of Helen Mack, and the charm of Marion Davies. As for looks, she must be a combination of all four." His first choice was Merle Oberon, who was unavailable. Young was then hired despite her pregnancy to Clark Gable, which she didn't divulge to DeMille. After filming ended, Young took a break from movies and went into hiding, keeping her pregnancy and delivery secret.
"The Crusaders" didn't fare as well as expected for Paramount Pictures. One reason was its high production costs. Another is audiences weren't used to witnessing any hint of a sympathetic portrayal of Muslims and Arabs on the screen in the form of their leader Saladin. Film historian Anton Kozlovic saw "The Crusades" as "not as enthusiastically received in the West as DeMille would have liked, probably because it showed the good and noble side of the Muslims and contrasted it with the darker deeds of Christianity." Even though "The Crusades" lost $700,000 in its initial release, the movie did recoup its loses in subsequent showings. DeMille viewed the film as a success, however, as opposed to his earlier drawing room dramas. Director Ernst Lubitsch, who specialized in sophisticated romantic comedies, and head of production at Paramount, frequently visited the set of "The Crusades." DeMille, shocked to see the legendary director so fascinated by his work, asked him "What on earth interests you in my poor efforts?" "I'm hypnotized," answered Lubitsch. "There isn't a cocktail shaker or a tuxedo in sight!" "The Crusaders" was nominated for the Academy Awards Best Cinematography (Victor Milner) and won the best foreign film for 1935 at the prestigious Venice Film Festival. In a footnote, the actor who played King Richard, Henry Wilcoxon, played a memorable scene as the Bishop on the golf course with Bill Murray in 1980's "Caddyshack."