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(2018) Cecil B. Demille, classical Hollywood, and modern American mass culture, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan.
This chapter explores the consensus of cinematic faith. Like the Prodigal Son, DeMille broke away from the proven formula of his consumer films to begin work on a series of high-concept pictures that eschewed stardom and modern hedonism, and tested the limits of dramatic spirituality. Never a church-goer and deeply distrustful of clerical authority, the director melded Biblical fundamentalism with modern science and "New Thought" spirituality. The chapter explores the more conventional spiritual questions facing traditional Christians—addressed in his self-described "Divine Law" trilogy which included The Ten Commandments (1923), The King of Kings (1927), and The Sign of the Cross (1932)—and concludes with three revealing yet lesser-known and more experimental spiritual films—Feet of Clay (1924), The Road to Yesterday (1925), and The Godless Girl (1928)—that expanded the notion of faith beyond Scripture.
Publication details
DOI: 10.1007/978-3-319-76986-8_3
Full citation:
Blanke, D. (2018). The wanderer, in Cecil B. Demille, classical Hollywood, and modern American mass culture, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 89-128.
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