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
Henry Churchill de Mille Maude Adams in a tale about business and politics in America. Belasco and de Mille chose to go their separate ways by 1891. Later that October de Mille produced "The Lost Paradise", his adaptation of the Ludwig Fulda play "Das Verlorene Paradies". The production by Charles Frohman's company proved to be another success and was considered to be de Mille's best work to date. As he was finishing "The lost Paradise", de Mille read Henry George's famous treatise "Progress and Poverty" and immediately became a dedicated Georgist "single-taxer". De Mille resolved to write a conclusion to "The Lost Paradise" called