The Bible in film religious epics produced as vehicles for its biggest stars. "Samson and Delilah" was the biggest moneymaking movie of 1949 and is considered the picture that sparked the biblical-epic film craze of the 1950s. It was followed by two of 1951’s biggest box-office hits, "Quo Vadis" and "David and Bathsheba". Charlton Heston starred in Cecil B. DeMille's "The Ten Commandments" and "Ben-Hur". According to author Diane Apostolos-Cappadona, in the 1950s and 1960s, during the era of the production code, "the most acceptable cinematic path for movies to incorporate sex and violence was the biblical epic". Basing a film on the Bible
David MacDonald (director) to one story, while in Malaya he met Douglas Fairbanks who encouraged MacDonald to try his luck in Hollywood. MacDonald broke into Hollywood by getting a job as technical adviser on a film "Prestige". After that he was out of work for nine months. He eventually got a job working for Cecil B. de Mille on "Four Frightened People" directed by Cecil B. de Mille. MacDonald worked as De Mille's assistant on "The Sign of the Cross", "Cleopatra" and "The Crusades". He worked on "Lives of a Bengal Lancer" with Henry Hathaway. He also worked for King Vidor and Raoul