Cleopatra is a 1934 American epic historical drama film produced and directed by Cecil B. DeMille and distributed by Paramount Pictures. A retelling of the story of the ancient Egyptian queen Cleopatra VII, the screenplay was written by Waldemar Young and Vincent Lawrence and was based on Bartlett Cormack's adaptation of historical material. Claudette Colbert stars as Cleopatra, Warren William as Julius Caesar, and Henry Wilcoxon as Mark Antony.
Pre-production began in July 1933 while DeMille was working on another film. A staff of twelve people, headed by screenwriter Jeanie MacPherson, spent eight months doing research. The production used 250,000 square feet of space for the sets and employed more than 5,000 actors, extras, and technicians. Principal photography was completed in two months.
Cleopatra premiered in New York City on August 16, 1934. Nominated for five Academy Awards, it was the first DeMille film to receive a nomination for Best Picture. Victor Milner won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography. It is the third and final film DeMille made with Colbert and the first one he made with Wilcoxon, who would later become DeMille's associate producer.
Plot
In 48 BC, Cleopatra vies with her brother Ptolemy for control of Egypt. Pothinos kidnaps her and Apollodorus and strands them in the desert. When Pothinos informs Julius Caesar that the queen has fled the country, Caesar is ready to sign an agreement with Ptolemy when Apollodorus appears, bearing a gift carpet for the Roman. When Apollodorus unrolls it, Cleopatra emerges, much to Pothinos' surprise. He tries to deny who she is.
Caesar sees through the deception, and Cleopatra soon beguiles Caesar with the prospect of the riches of Egypt and India. Later, when they are seemingly alone, she spots a sandal peeking out from underneath a curtain and thrusts a spear into the hidden Pothinos, foiling his assassination attempt. Caesar makes Cleopatra the sole ruler of Egypt, and begins an affair with her.
Caesar eventually returns to Rome with Cleopatra to the cheers of the masses but Roman unease is directed at Cleopatra. Cassius, Casca, Brutus and other powerful Romans become disgruntled, rightly suspecting that he intends to abolish the Roman Republic and make himself emperor, with Cleopatra as his empress (after divorcing Calpurnia). Ignoring the forebodings of Calpurnia, Cleopatra, and a soothsayer who warns him about the Ides of March, Caesar goes to announce his intentions to the Senate. Before he can do so, he is assassinated.
Cleopatra is heartbroken at the news. At first, she wants to go to him, but Apollodorus tells her that Caesar did not love her, only her power and wealth, and that Egypt needs her. They return home.
Bitter rivals Marc Antony and Octavian are named co-rulers of Rome. Antony, disdainful of women, invites Cleopatra to meet with him in Tarsus, intending to bring her back to Rome as a captive. Enobarbus, his close friend, warns Antony against meeting Cleopatra, but he goes anyway. She entices him to her barge and throws a party with many exotic animals and beautiful dancers, and soon seduces him. Together, they sail to Egypt.
King Herod, who has secretly allied himself with Octavian, visits the lovers. He informs Cleopatra privately that Rome and Octavian can be appeased if Antony were to be poisoned. Herod also tells Antony the same thing, with the roles reversed. Antony laughs off his suggestion, but a reluctant Cleopatra, reminded of her duty to Egypt by Apollodorus, tests a poison on a condemned murderer to see how it works. Before Antony can drink the fatal wine, however, they receive news that Octavian has declared war.
Antony orders his generals and legions to gather, but Enobarbus informs him that they have all deserted out of loyalty to Rome. Enobarbus tells his comrade that he can wrest control of Rome away from Octavian by having Cleopatra killed, but Antony refuses to consider it. Enobarbus bids Antony goodbye, as he will not fight for an Egyptian queen against Rome. A short montage sequence shows the fighting between the forces of Antony and Octavian, ending in the naval Battle of Actium.
Antony fights on with the Egyptian army, and is defeated. Octavian and his soldiers surround and besiege Antony and Cleopatra. Antony is mocked when he offers to fight them one by one. Without his knowledge, Cleopatra opens the gate and offers to cede Egypt in return for Antony's life in exile, but Octavian turns her down. Meanwhile, Antony believes that she has deserted him for his rival and stabs himself. When Cleopatra returns, she is heartbroken to find him dying. They reconcile before he perishes. Then, with the gates breached, Cleopatra kills herself with a venomous snake and is found sitting on her throne, dead.
Cast The closing credits list 32 actors and the names of their characters:
Claudette Colbert as Cleopatra Warren William as Julius Caesar Henry Wilcoxon as Marc Antony Joseph Schildkraut as King Herod Ian Keith as Octavian Gertrude Michael as Calpurnia C. Aubrey Smith as Enobarbus Irving Pichel as Apollodorus Arthur Hohl as Brutus Edwin Maxwell as Casca Ian Maclaren as Cassius Eleanor Phelps as Charmion, Cleopatra's servant Leonard Mudie as Pothinos Grace Durkin as Iras, Cleopatra's servant Ferdinand Gottschalk as Glabrio Claudia Dell as Octavia
Harry Beresford as Soothsayer Jayne Regan as Lady Vesta (as Jane Regan) William Farnum as Lepidus Lionel Belmore as Fidius Florence Roberts as Lady Flora Richard Alexander as General Philodemas Celia Ryland as Lady Leda William V. Mong as Court physician Robert Warwick as General Achillas George Walsh as Courier Jack Rutherford as Flavius Kenneth Gibson as Scribe Wedgewood Nowell as Scribe Bruce Warren as Scribe Robert Seiter as Aelius (as Robert Manning) Edgar Dearing as the convict who tests the poison
Production Development In July 1933, several weeks before Cecil B. DeMille began production on his film Four Frightened People, Paramount informed the press that DeMille's next film would be Cleopatra. Claudette Colbert, one of the stars of Four Frightened People, was cast as Cleopatra. That same month, screenwriters Jeanie MacPherson and Bartlett Cormack were preparing the upcoming film in Hollywood. In November, while DeMille was in Hawaii filming Four Frightened People in the daytime, he and Cormack spent their nights in the Hilo public library doing research and working on the script for Cleopatra. The 12-person research team, led by MacPherson, worked for eight months.
In January 1934, DeMille revealed that the dialogue of Cleopatra would be written in modern English. Vincent Lawrence, a screenwriter signed to work on the film, did his writing at home. Before producing his own version, DeMille wanted to see the 1917 silent version of Cleopatra with Theda Bara in the title role, so he borrowed a print of that film and screened it on February 15. By February 17, $60,000 had been spent on research and story preparation. DeMille's idea was to humanize the characters and give them "their first really human chance", because he felt they were always depicted as "ponderous and pompous, villains and heroes." He did not like William Shakespeare's play Antony and Cleopatra, so he based the screenplay on historical sources, including The Life and Times of Cleopatra by Arthur Weigall. DeMille saw Cleopatra as a victim of malicious Roman propaganda and believed she did not regard Calpurnia as Julius Caesar's legitimate wife. He wanted to "make the picture an authentic screen document" and also stated that he had finally discovered the answer to "the riddle of Cleopatra's desertion of the Battle of Actium", which had been a mystery to the historians who wrote about it.
Casting Claudette Colbert was DeMille's first choice for the role of Cleopatra. In July 1933, columnist Edwin Schallert wrote, "Colbert has become DeMille's supreme find of the talkies. She missed playing in This Day and Age, but is in the cast of Four Frightened People, and ever since she did Poppaea in The Sign of the Cross, DeMille has had the idea of presenting her in another glitter role." Before he signed her for the part, DeMille warned Colbert that she would have to play Cleopatra's death scene with a snake. He said to her, "I want you to play it. I don't want anyone but you for Cleopatra. Will we just not say any more about the snake until we come to it, and will you trust me if I tell you that you can play the scene?" Colbert agreed because she wanted the role. She gained weight for the film and also read biographies of Cleopatra.
Silent film star Theda Bara, who portrayed Cleopatra in the 1917 silent version, said:
Fredric March, Colbert's co-star in The Sign of the Cross, was DeMille's first choice for the role of Marc Antony. In October 1933, columnist Louella Parsons said that March was about to leave Paramount to become a freelancer but had signed with the studio to play the part. Other candidates for the role included Richard Dix, Charles Bickford, and William Gargan. In late December, Parsons revealed that March had been replaced by Brian Aherne, who owed Paramount one film and was chosen by DeMille for the role. Aherne was not cast in the film, and DeMille had to look for another actor. In his autobiography, DeMille remembered how he discovered Henry Wilcoxon. He had not yet found a "satisfactory" Marc Antony and was waiting his turn to use Paramount's projection room in order to see some footage of horses he wanted to use in the film. While he was waiting in the projectionist's booth, DeMille heard "a resonant, manly voice, with only a pleasant trace of an English accent." He then looked through the window of the booth and saw on the screen "a young actor, with a handsome, strong, sensitive face, a finely-shaped head, and a powerfully-built frame." DeMille saw the test a second time and asked about the actor. The projectionist told him that the young man was an English stage actor who had just signed with Paramount and that they were changing his name from Harry Wilcoxon to Henry Wilcoxon. DeMille replied, "Harry or Henry, he is Marc Antony." In January 1934, Parsons announced that DeMille had found an actor to play Antony and that he made a deal with Emmanuel Cohen to borrow Henry Wilcoxon.
In November 1933, Parsons notified her readers that Charles Laughton, who played Nero in The Sign of the Cross, had been cast as Julius Caesar. DeMille also considered Adolph Menjou and John Gilbert. He searched Hollywood, New York, and London for an actor who could play Caesar. The press reported that DeMille was making ten screen tests every day. DeMille selected Warren William for the role of Caesar after he saw him in The Mouthpiece. William's Roman profile helped him win the role. In February 1934, Warners loaned William to Paramount. In his autobiography, DeMille wrote:
DeMille had a role in mind for his daughter Katherine DeMille, an up-and-coming actress, but she turned it down. Katherine wanted to avoid accusations of nepotism and also thought she was still not prepared for such an important job, saying that both she and her father had "strong tempers."
In March 1934, C. Aubrey Smith was cast as Enobarbus. That same month, Gertrude Michael was given the role of Caesar's wife, Calpurnia, and Eleanor Phelps won the part of Charmion, Cleopatra's handmaiden. Judith Allen, the leading lady of DeMille's This Day and Age, was the director's original choice for the role of Marc Antony's wife, Octavia, but the role was later assigned to Claudia Dell. DeMille cast two of his favorite actors, Joseph Schildkraut and Ian Keith, in the roles of King Herod and Octavian, respectively.
Art direction and set design