The Sign of the Cross

1933. USA. Directed by Cecil B. DeMille. With Claudette Colbert. DeMille is best known for epic films that are long on gilded spectacle and short on historical accuracy, but Dalí considered the director's anachronistic use of modern devices in his Biblical films to be a decidedly Surrealist tendency. The notorious scene of Colbert bathing in milk influenced Dalí's own Chaos and Creation (1960), in which he showers a beautiful woman with water and chocolate sauce. Print courtesy UCLA Film and Television Archive, preserved with funding by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation and the Cecil B. DeMille Estate. 115 min.