Cleopatra
About Cleopatra
Cleopatra, played by Theda Bara, tricks Julius Caesar, played by Fritz Leiber, into an alliance. They plan to rule together until he is assassinated. A priest, Pharon, is sent to kill her and instead loves her. She takes treasure from a tomb, goes to Rome, and draws Mark Antony, played by Thurston Hall, back to Alexandria. Antony is recalled, married to Octavia, and still returns. He and Cleopatra lose the sea battle at Actium, flee, and are taken by Octavius. Antony dies in her arms. Pharon brings a serpent. She dies wearing her crown.
Cast & crew
More about Cleopatra
J. Gordon Edwards directed for William Fox. Adrian Johnson's script draws on H. Rider Haggard's 1889 novel Cleopatra, the 1890 play Cléopâtre by Émile Moreau and Victorien Sardou, and Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra. John W. Boyle, Rial Schellinger, and George Schneiderman photographed it. Edward M. McDermott edited. George James Hopkins designed the costumes, his first film. José Martínez wrote the music. Copies of the Great Pyramid and the Sphinx were built in Ventura County, an Alexandria waterfront near Los Angeles, and a battle fleet at the Balboa Peninsula. Fox released it on October 14, 1917, at 125 minutes, eleven reels. About 2,000 extras were used.
Themes
Making
Hopkins's costumes for Bara were cut so that jewelry and a few panels of cloth did much of the covering. The sea fight was staged with a built fleet off Balboa, not on a studio tank alone.
Look
John W. Boyle, Rial Schellinger, and George Schneiderman shot the palace sets, the pyramid and sphinx built in Ventura County, and the fleet at Balboa.
Music
José Martínez wrote a score for the silent picture. The film itself uses English intertitles.
Preservation
Mostly lost. The last complete prints burned at Fox in 1937 and at the Museum of Modern Art in 1958. About 20 seconds were long the only known footage. About 40 seconds more surfaced in August 2023 with a toy projector.
Notes
- Albert Roscoe plays Pharon. Genevieve Blinn plays Octavia. Henri De Vries plays Octavius. Herschel Mayall plays Ventidius.
- The last two known complete prints burned, one in the Fox studio fire of 1937 and one at the Museum of Modern Art in 1958.
- For years a fragment of about 20 seconds was the only footage in circulation. On August 22, 2023, about 40 seconds more turned up with a 1920s toy projector sold on eBay.
- A reconstruction was screened at the Hollywood Heritage Museum on February 8, 2017. It has not been issued to the public.
- Trade accounts put the cost between $250,000 and $500,000 and the gross at $1,000,000.
Scenes
- Antony dies in Cleopatra's arms after the defeat at Actium.
- Pharon brings the serpent, and she dies in the crown.
Influenced by
- Cleopatra (H. Rider Haggard novel)
- Cléopâtre (Moreau and Sardou play)
- Antony and Cleopatra (Shakespeare)
Also available
- Wikimedia Commons (Cleopatra (1917) fragment - J. Gordon Edwards.webm)
