Claudette Colbert certainly had one banner year in 1934. An Oscar for It Happened One Night for Harry Cohn and Columbia Pictures and back at her home studio, she starred and got great reviews for Paramount's big budget item of the year, Cleopatra.
As the slinky siren Queen of the Nile who got Julius Caesar's and Mark Antony's hormones into exponential overdrive, Claudette is one sly little minx. The traditional story is told in the classic DeMille style, eye-filling spectacle, plenty of sex, and Victorian type dialog.
Because in 1963 Joe Mankiewicz released his version of Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Rex Harrison, DeMille's version has become dated. Because Mankiewicz's cast talk like real people instead of classical figures of antiquity, DeMille's version now suffers by comparison.
Warren William who in profile looks and acts like John Barrymore makes a classical Caesar who always gets shortchanged because his character in all versions gets killed off halfway into the story. Antony is played by Henry Wilcoxon who became very close friends with DeMille. DeMille tried to make him a star in this and in The Crusades, but the public didn't buy. Wilcoxon's greatest screen success was away from DeMille over at MGM as the vicar in Mrs. Miniver.
DeMille relates a story in his autobiography about how Claudette was deathly afraid of snakes and was in horror of shooting her death scene. That scene was shot last in Cleopatra. And DeMille relates how before the scene he approached a terrified Colbert with a 10 foot python draped over his shoulders. As he got closer and closer Colbert was getting more and more anxious. When he got within three feet of her, he disgarded the python and had one of his retainers produce a small 8 inch garter snake for the asp. Colbert gave a sigh of relief and did the scene.
Though it's outdated in every way by Mankiewicz's film including the spectacle DeMille loved, Cleopatra is still an interesting film to watch.
As the slinky siren Queen of the Nile who got Julius Caesar's and Mark Antony's hormones into exponential overdrive, Claudette is one sly little minx. The traditional story is told in the classic DeMille style, eye-filling spectacle, plenty of sex, and Victorian type dialog.
Because in 1963 Joe Mankiewicz released his version of Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Rex Harrison, DeMille's version has become dated. Because Mankiewicz's cast talk like real people instead of classical figures of antiquity, DeMille's version now suffers by comparison.
Warren William who in profile looks and acts like John Barrymore makes a classical Caesar who always gets shortchanged because his character in all versions gets killed off halfway into the story. Antony is played by Henry Wilcoxon who became very close friends with DeMille. DeMille tried to make him a star in this and in The Crusades, but the public didn't buy. Wilcoxon's greatest screen success was away from DeMille over at MGM as the vicar in Mrs. Miniver.
DeMille relates a story in his autobiography about how Claudette was deathly afraid of snakes and was in horror of shooting her death scene. That scene was shot last in Cleopatra. And DeMille relates how before the scene he approached a terrified Colbert with a 10 foot python draped over his shoulders. As he got closer and closer Colbert was getting more and more anxious. When he got within three feet of her, he disgarded the python and had one of his retainers produce a small 8 inch garter snake for the asp. Colbert gave a sigh of relief and did the scene.
Though it's outdated in every way by Mankiewicz's film including the spectacle DeMille loved, Cleopatra is still an interesting film to watch.