Cleopatra - 1934

In 1934 the Hays code had just taken effect, so DeMille got away with using more risque imagery than he would be able to in his later productions. He opens the film with a naked, strategically lit slavegirl holding up incense burners as the title appears on screen.

The film is also memorable for the sumptuous art deco look of its sets (by Hans Dreier) and costumes (by Travis Banton), the atmospheric music by Rudolph Kopp, and for DeMille's legendary set piece of Cleopatra's seduction of Antony, which takes place on Cleopatra's barge.

The film won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography (Victor Milner), and was nominated Best Picture, Best Assistant Director (Cullen Tate), Best Film Editing (Anne Bauchens), and Best Sound, Recording (Franklin Hansen).

It has been released for home viewing several times, most recently as a 75th anniversary DVD edition in 2009 by Universal Studios Home Entertainment.

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.

Revealing mistakes: As you look at Pothinos' chariot as it comes at you the horse in the right side is a good hand shorter than the horse on the left.

In 48 BC, Cleopatra, facing palace revolt in her kingdom of Egypt, welcomes the arrival of Julius Caesar as a way of solidifying her power under Rome. When Caesar, whom she has led astray, is killed, she transfers her affections to Marc Antony and dazzles him on a barge full of DeMillean splendor. But the trick may not work a third time...

Trivia Snippet:
"Daily Variety reported that the film was badly panned by Italian critics, one of whom called it a "travesty and a burlesque," when shown in Rome. It also was met with "catcalls and derisive laughter" from the audience."

Trivia Snippet:
"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."

Taglines for Cleopatra (1934)

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

The love affair that shook the world!

Set In A Spectacle of Thrilling Magnificence!

Cast of Cleopatra

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
Leonard Mudie as Pothinos
Grace Durkin as Iras
Ferdinand Gottschalk as Glabrio (scenes deleted)