Cecil B DeMille was a producer and director of some of the greatest epic films from the 1920's and 1930's and a major influence on the development of Hollywood. He initially started producing plays with his brother before moving California and the early film industry. His first film was the Squaw Man filmed for the first time in Hollywood and unusally at that point made the stage play into a feature film rather then the normal one reel (20 minute film). His first solo production was The Virginian. He directed a lot of films in a variety of different genres in 1914/15 though few survive. He was creating and exploring what film could be. In 1917 he worked with Mary Pickford then the biggest star in Romance Of The Redwoods. In 1919 he directed the first of his films staring Gloria Swanson (Don't Change Your Husband). His first Biblical epic was the silent 1923 The Ten Commendments. This was produced on a vast scale with hugh sets and a large cast.
In the Volga Boatmen he develops his cinematrgraphic style. The King Of Kings was the story of the life of Jesus and was also a commercial success. This really created the Biblical epicand the ressurection is filmed in two strip colour. Dynamite in 1929 was his first full sound film. He embraced all that sound could bring to film. He remade The Sqaw Man as a sound film as his inital sound films were not commercially successful. The Sign Of The Cross in 1932 returned to a religious theme though has violence and sexuality and has the classic scene with Claudette Colbert bathing in asses milk. With Cleopatra his sets produce the Hollywood version of art deco authentic Egypt that attracted the depression era audiences. He followed this with another massive epic The Crusades. With The Pailnsman he made a western spectacle that had little historical accuracy. His first full colour film was North West Mounted Police in 1940. After World War 2 he returned to Biblical epics with Samson And Delilah in 1949. The Greatest Show On Earth is one of the best circus films and introduced Charlton Heston to films. His final film was a remake of The Ten Commandments in 1956.
