Blu Ray Review: The Crusades (1935)

Cecil B. DeMille’s historical epics were usually long on spectacle and short on history, but he always gathered a number of top drawer actors at every level, and offered epic adventures that were well performed with striking visuals and set design.

The Crusades is a Paramount classic of the 1930s that been released to blu ray by Kino Lorber. The sharply restored visual allows one to clearly marvel at how effectively DeMille crowds each frame with movement, leaving little or no negative space in his scenes. DeMille regular Henry Wilcoxon stars as King Richard, with a quietly pregnant Loretta Young playing opposite him. The supporting cast offers the solid presence of C. Aubrey Smith, the striking beauty of DeMille’s daughter Katherine, the comic whimsy of Alan Hale, and the evil cunning of Joseph Schildkraut.

DeMille dismissed this film as a box office failure in his autobiography, but, in fact, it was able to generate a profit despite its massive production costs (and a production that extended 18 days past its proposed end date).

Kino Lorber’s blu ray is quite beautiful, and improvement on the DVD offered in the DeMille collection from many years ago. It is further enhanced by an interesting and informative commentary track by filmmaker Allan Arkush and film Historian and filmmaker Daniel Kremer.

Highly recommended, The Crusades can be ordered at this link: DeMILLE/CRUSADES