now and the crusade be not only historically an exercise in grandeur and bigotry and and hubris and but often be portray a such in film and even in modern one that lay claim to anti war justification for the carnage that they show . see a movie from the 30 and by a man who use christian topic often and wouldn not you expect more of the same . i do and and be sorely mistake . cecil b. demille the crusade be actually a romance movie about a man who learn humility and grace through love . that man be richard the lionheart ( henry wilcoxon ) and who join the third crusade to show off his brawn and evade a political marriage . ironically and in order to even make it to the battle and he be force into another political marriage and and even more ironic than that and upon meet his new wife he fall helplessly in love . of course and that doesn not mean the way be pave for a happily ever after unless he learn to do something with that pesky arrogance and militancy he have . this and surprisingly enough and lead him to rediscover christianity and learn a humble grace that seem a contradiction to the usual ( and also and ehrm and historical ) image of the crusade . the actual battle scene be keep to minimum and but theyre surprisingly harsh and visceral . i expect and due to the era and for demille battle scene to be poetic justification for large level of carnage and but perhaps because i be unfamiliar with a large part of demille work and perhaps because of my own immersion into the primary source of the crusade and i end up completely mesmerize by a much starker anti war message than any contemporary film have fully justify for me . add to this a very crafty script that quietly and gracefully clear up all promise and tie up loose end and and create a completely believable mix of unique characterization and and demille crusade end up be a very delicious and powerful romantic story . i have not previously be very interested in demille career beyond his importance to hollywood and film history and but this movie make it clear that he be an expert craftsman and artist . polarisdib .