Cleopatra
1934/USA
Directed by Cecil B. DeMille
Paramount Pictures (A Cecil B. DeMille Production)
First viewing
Cleopatra: Together we could conquer the world.
Julius Caesar: Nice of you to include me.
Cleopatra (Claudette Colbert) seduces Julius Caesar (Warren William) and then Marc Antony (Henry Wilcoxson) in an attempt to save her beloved Egypt from conquest by Rome.
The Hollywood epic is my least favorite genre of movie. While spectacular, the sets here are more reminiscent of the studio backlot than of Egypt. Claudette Colbert can’t help but be just a bit charming but the other acting is over-the-top when it is not just wooden. Colbert wears many revealing gowns and there is plenty of suggestive dancing and gore to be had, but nothing near to that on display in DeMille’s <i>The Sign of the Cross</i> a couple of years earlier.
Re-release trailer
Loved the trailer. It’s always fun to see DeMille.
Welcome back! DeMille was quite the showman, wasn’t he?
Look at that picture of Henry Wilcoxen and tell me that he isn’t beautiful. He continued to be in films for years but never quite made it as a top star. Too bad.
I never thought of Colbert as a sex symbol until I saw this film. She was quite the hot number and I don’t remember her every playing this type after Cleopatra. My favorite scene which may be the one in the picture you posted, is on the barge with the men beating the drums to set the tempo of the rowing (and obviously indicating what was going on behind the gossamer curtains!!)
He is indeed gorgeous. The most bizaarly suggestive scene in the film for me is when Cleopatra is putting on the show to seduce Marc Anthony and the slave girl is carressing the ox! And then DeMille cuts to Wilcoxson getting turned on. I don’t know how they got away with it.