An average movie

To be honest, I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but, since it was directed by Cecil B. DeMille and since it was available on YouTube, I thought I might as well check it out. Well, it is only afterwards that I discovered that this movie was considered as possibly the worst one DeMille had delivered in his career and I have to agree that it wasn’t really good. Basically, the whole thing was just too disjointed. Seriously, who was actually the main character in this tale and you might wonder if this movie really required some full-blown fantasy showing some decadent bacchanal in the Roman era but my guess is that it was maybe DeMille’s favorite part. And, yet, some ideas were not bad though. Indeed, it was interesting how reckless, selfish and even rather unlikeable Lydia Thorne was and it was actually quite satisfying to see her ending up in jail, in spite of all the wealth she had. Back then, many movies were focusing on the rich and fortunate and it was refreshing to see a movie showing how actually vapid this lifestyle was. Unfortunately, it didn’t last for long though and the way she found redemption after spending a few years in jail was rather preposterous. Indeed, if you thought that the fantasy scenes in Rome were unrealistic, these scenes taking place in prison were even worse as if this woman went to some nice friendly summer camp and came back as a complete new person. Unfortunately, we all know that, in most cases, going to jail would be actually a dreadful, if not even seriously traumatic experience. Another issue was the really convoluted love story between Lydia Thorne and Daniel O'Bannon. I mean, wasn’t it a major conflict of interest that this District Attorney would be prosecuting her case when they were actually acquainted? Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, I still think it is worth a look but probably only if you are really interested in Cecil B. DeMille’s work.

6/10