The Woman God Forgot

This silent film is quite brilliant. All the elements of high drama are here: star-crossed lovers, warring factions, the history of a nation at stake. The costumes and sets are lavish, the expressionist acting highly... er... expressive. Great cinematography and a fast pace make this more entertaining than most feature films of its era.

The Woman God Forgot (1917) is probable the closest we get to the Cecil B. DeMille we know from the 1930s. This 1917 film reminds so much of Cleopatra (1934) and other costume dramas from that period, so it's clear he already had a feel for that kind of films early on in his career. Looks quite ambitious too, but lacks perhaps a finesse in the storytelling to really engage as much as the elaborate designs and costumes, but this was a clear sign of things to come from DeMille.