His name is synonymous with the "swords and sandals" birth of the Hollywood blockbuster, but most viewers are familiar only with his 1956 epic The Ten Commandments, made when DeMille was 73. Universal dug up five others from his 1920s-'30s heyday for this frills-free boxed set. Cleopatra, The Signs of the Cross, and The Crusades are pure DeMille, with elaborate sets and costumes, and outsized performances. Aside from their interminable talkiness, these films feel surprisingly modern -- a testament to DeMille's influence. Four Frightened People hasn't aged well (much like other jungle adventures from that era), but Union Pacific, a western about the construction of the transcontinental railroad, is the real treat of the set. -- Jordan Harper