Sword and the Cross, The (La Spada E La Croce, Italy)

A poster for the 1958 Italian epic, The Sword and the Cross, directed by Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia, starring Yvonne de Carlo as Mary Magdalene. The film was released in the US in 1960 under the title Mary Magdalene. De Carlo also starred as Moses’ wife Sephora in Cecil B. DeMille’s The Ten Commandments. The film is a classic of the genre, set against the backdrop of the Roman occupation of Israel and taking minor New Testament characters like Mary Magdalene and Barabbas and building a feature-length film around them.