Cleopatra (1934)

Director:

Cecil B. DeMille

Writers:

Bartlett Cormack (adaptation)
Waldemar Young (screenplay) ...
(more)

Release Date:

5 October 1934 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | History | Romance | War

Tagline:

History's most seductive woman! The screen's mightiest spectacle!

Plot:

The man-hungry Queen of Egypt leads Julius Caesar and Marc Antony astray, amid scenes of DeMillean splendor.

Plot Keywords:

Julius Caesar | Marc Antony | Egypt | Queen | Cleopatra

Awards:

Won Oscar. Another 4 nominations

Cast

Claudette Colbert	...	Cleopatra
Warren William	...	Julius Caesar
Henry Wilcoxon	...	Marc Antony
Joseph Schildkraut	...	King Herod
Ian Keith	...	Octavian
Gertrude Michael	...	Calpurnia
C. Aubrey Smith	...	Enobarbus
Irving Pichel	...	Apollodorus
Arthur Hohl	...	Brutus
Edwin Maxwell	...	Casca
Ian Maclaren	...	Cassius (as Ian MacLaren)
Eleanor Phelps	...	Charmion
Leonard Mudie	...	Pothinos
Grace Durkin	...	Iras
Ferdinand Gottschalk	...	Glabrio (scenes deleted)
Claudia Dell	...	Octavia
Harry Beresford	...	Soothsayer
Jayne Regan	...	Lady Vesta (as Jane Regan)
William Farnum	...	Lepidus
Lionel Belmore	...	Fidius
Florence Roberts	...	Lady Flora
Richard Alexander	...	Gen.Philodemas (as Dick Alexander)
Celia Ryland	...	Lady Leda
William V. Mong	...	Court physician
Robert Warwick	...	Gen. Achillas
George Walsh	...	Courier
Kenneth Gibson	...	Scribe
Wedgwood Nowell	...	Scribe (as Wedgewood Nowell)
Bruce Warren	...	Scribe
Robert Seiter	...	Aelius (as Robert Manning)
Edgar Dearing	...	Convict getting poison (as Ed Deering)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Agnes de Mille	...	Dancer (scenes deleted)
Jimmy Aye	...	Slave (uncredited)
Zita Baca	...	Handmaiden (uncredited)
Malcolm Ball	...	Extra (uncredited)
Leon Beaumon	...	Egyptian guard (uncredited)
Carlyle Blackwell Jr.	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Marjorie Bonner	...	Roman girl (uncredited)
George Bruggeman	...	Slave (uncredited)
Edmund Burns	...	Roman (uncredited)
Horace B. Carpenter	...	Roman (uncredited)
John Carradine	...	Roman soldier (uncredited)
Olga Celeste	...	Slave girl (uncredited)
Ecki	...	A Leopard (uncredited)
Mary Fahrney	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Jerry Frank	...	Slave (uncredited)
Bob Hall	...	Roman soldier (uncredited)
Neal Hart	...	Slave (uncredited)
Shep Houghton	...	Roman soldier (uncredited)
Julanne Johnston	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Edmund Jones	...	Nubian Slave (uncredited)
Jilda Keeling	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Nicholai Konovaloff	...	Roman General (uncredited)
Col. Timothy J. Lonergan	...	Roman general (uncredited)
Wilfred Lucas	...	Roman greeting Antony (uncredited)
Mary MacLaren	...	Roman Woman (uncredited)
John Roy Marsilio	...	Roman Soldier (uncredited)
John Merton	...	Roman Guard (uncredited)
Charles Morris	...	Cicero (uncredited)
Jack Mulhall	...	Roman greeting Antony (uncredited)
David Niven	...	Slave (uncredited)
Hal Price	...	Onlooker at procession (uncredited)
Harry Raven	...	Slave (uncredited)
John Roy	...	Slave (uncredited)
Jack Rutherford	...	Drussus (model builder) (uncredited)
Carl Saxe	...	Roman soldier (uncredited)
Charles Schaeffer	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Ynez Seabury	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Phillips Smalley	...	Roman (uncredited)
Ernie Smith	...	Roman soldier (uncredited)
Bryant Washburn	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Bryant Washburn Jr.	...	Undetermined Role (uncredited)
Dorothy White	...	Dancer (uncredited)

Directed by
Cecil B. DeMille

Writing credits
Bartlett Cormack		(adaptation: historical material)
Waldemar Young		(screenplay) and
Vincent Lawrence		(screenplay)

Produced by
Cecil B. DeMille	....	producer

Original Music by
Rudolph G. Kopp		(as Rudolph Kopp)

Cinematography by
Victor Milner

Film Editing by
Anne Bauchens		(uncredited)

Casting by
Billy Gordon		(uncredited)

Art Direction by
Roland Anderson		(uncredited)
Hans Dreier		(uncredited)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
David MacDonald	....	assistant director (uncredited)
Cullen Tate	....	assistant director (uncredited)

Art Department
Ralph Jester	....	sculptor: Caesar's Head (uncredited)

Sound Department
Treg Brown	....	sound effects editor (uncredited)
Franklin Hansen	....	sound director (uncredited)
Harry Lindgren	....	sound recording engineer (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Barney Wolff	....	special effects (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Ray Jones	....	still photographer (uncredited)
William C. Mellor	....	camera operator (uncredited)
Robert Rhea	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Guy Roe	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Cliff Shirpser	....	assistant camera (uncredited)
Cooper Smith	....	camera operator (uncredited)

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Travis Banton	....	costumes: Miss Colbert

Music Department
Nat W. Finston	....	musical director (uncredited)
Max Reese	....	orchestrator (uncredited)
Milan Roder	....	composer: stock music (uncredited)
Milan Roder	....	orchestrator (uncredited)

Other crew
Adolph Zukor	....	presenter
Emily Barrye	....	script clerk (uncredited)
Roy Burns	....	business manager (uncredited)
Florence Cole	....	secretary: Mr. DeMille (uncredited)
Gladys Jeans	....	stand-in: Claudette Colbert (uncredited)
Jeanie Macpherson	....	researcher (uncredited)
Gladys Percey	....	researcher (uncredited)
Chester Seay	....	archery instructor (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Paramount Pictures (as Paramount Productions Inc.)

Distributors

• Paramount Pictures (1934) (USA) (theatrical)
• Paramount Pictures (1952) (USA) (theatrical) (re-release)
• MCA/Universal Pictures (1958) (USA) (TV)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (1995) (USA) (VHS)
• Universal Home Entertainment (2006) (USA) (DVD)
• Universal Studios Home Entertainment (2009) (USA) (DVD)

Runtime:

100 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

USA:Approved (PCA #80)

Filming Locations:

El Segundo, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

One of over 700 Paramount Productions, filmed between 1929 and 1949, which were sold to MCA/Universal in 1958 for television distribution, and have been owned and controlled by MCA ever since.

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: During the romantic barge scene, where Antony first makes love to Cleopatra, as the camera pulls further back, we see slaves in the galley pulling at the oars. When the barge is shown from the outside, no oars are visible, and the barge seems to be traveling under its own power.

Quotes:

Cleopatra: So Rome would forgive and take you back? And all they demand is for us to part. Why don't they ask the sun to fall right out of the sky?

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Tinseltown (1980)

Cleopatra one of DeMille's more literate pictures

I have been very fond of this movie for years, particularly as compared with Fox's bloated monstrosity of 1963. Colbert is admittedly somewhat miscast (her face is altogether Parisienne), but she handles the part with considerable charm. Warren William, usually a very limited actor, is as good a Caesar as I have seen on film, commanding and uncomfortable by turns; while Henry Wilcoxon is the definitive Mark Antony, laughing, brawling, swaggering, crude and brooding. C. Aubrey Smith as Enobarbus, the last of the hardcore Roman republicans, is perfect. Victor Milner's cinematography is superb, if old-fashioned. There is one magnificent pullback shot aboard Cleopatra's barge, with more and more stuff entering the frame, which as pure cinema is worth more than all four hours of the Liz Taylor version for my money. Shakespeare and Shaw have both been drawn upon here and there, and the movie has generally good (and fun) dialogue, not always one of DeMille's strengths. Consider also the scene of Cleopatra's entrance into Rome: contrary to DeMille's usual reputation, this scene is underplayed, depicting a plausible parade through a very real Roman street with authentic trappings, compared to the outrageously bogus and overblown spectacle given us in 1963. A word is also in order for the music of Rudolph Kopp, an extremely obscure Hollywood composer, who turns in an atmospheric score redolant of the old silent movies. This style is easy to make fun of, but see how effective it is in the highly theatrical opening credits! DeMille used silent film technique well into the talkie era, particularly in crowd scenes, and it still works. The battle scenes are the weakest point, since evidently Paramount ran out of cash and C.B. had to make do with a bunch of short shots put together with Russian cutting; nevertheless, this is still as good a picture on the subject as has yet been made, a bit of extravagant old Hollywood at its most polished.