Film historian William K. Everson once observed that the secret to the success of Cecil B. DeMille's 1934 Cleopatra is that DeMille subtly reshaped the known historical events into a contemporary "gold-digger makes good" scenario. Exhibiting the same determination with which Barbara Stanwyck sleeps her way to the top in 1933's Baby Face, Queen Cleopatra (Claudette Colbert) uses her feminine wiles to become sole ruler of Egypt. By turns kittenish and cold-blooded, Cleopatra wraps such otherwise
responsible Roman worthies as Julius Caesar (Warren William, who wittily plays his role like one of his standard ruthless business executives) and Marc Antony (Henry Wilcoxon) around her well-manicured little finger. To emphasize the "contemporary" nature of the film, DeMille adds little modernistic touches throughout: The architecture of Egypt and Rome has a distinctly art-deco look; a matron at a social gathering clucks "Poor Calpurnia...well, the wife is always the last to know"; and, after Caesar's funeral, Mark Anthony is chided by an associate for "all that 'Friends, Romans, Countrymen' business!" Cleopatra's barge scene and her suicide from the bite of a snake marked two of the most memorable sequences in DeMille's career. Remarkably, for all the enormous sets and elaborate costumes, Cleopatra came in at a budget of $750,000 -- almost $40 million less than the 1963 Elizabeth Taylor remake. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi
Despite many incongruous elements, like treating the text as soap opera and the dialogue as gossip, this is one of DeMille's most enjoyable films, superior to Mankiewicz 1963 version, in large part due to Claudette Colbert's sexy interpretation.
For my money the best cinematic Cleo, baby, Cleo, and the reason is the sensuous, languorous smoky turn given by Claudette Colbert who, along with the ever conspicuous DeMille, conspire to seduce us into sublime and decadent oblivion ... and it doesn't seem as bad as my preacher says it is. Opulence that makes Liz
come off as a frumpy housewife at a golf club social.
The only reason to watch this movie is for Colbert. Otherwise, it's just the same old story we've seen over and over in other movies about Cleopatra, nothing new.
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