The Sign of the Cross (play)

         The Citizen, 31 January 1933.[1]

The Sign of the Cross is an 1895 four-act historical tragedy, by Wilson Barrett[2] and popular for several decades. Barrett said its Christian theme was his attempt to bridge the gap between Church and stage.[3] The plot resembles that of Henryk Sienkiewicz's historical novel Quo Vadis, which was first published between 26 March 1895 and 29 February 1896 in the Gazeta Polska,[4] 11 months after the play's first production.

It was the basis for the 1932 film adaptation directed by Cecil B. DeMille: the first DeMille sound film with a religious theme, following two silent films.

  1. ^ Protest Against a Talkie: "The Sign of the Cross", The Citizen, (Tuesday, 31 January 1933), p.8.
  2. ^ See Barrett (1896).
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ David J. Welsh, "Serialization and structure in the novels of Henryk Sienkiewicz" in: The Polish Review Vol. 9, No. 3 (1964) 53.