Cleopatra (1934) UMR Stats

Cleopatra (1934) UMR Links

Cogerson Review of Cleopatra (1934)

Things I Learned About 1934’s Cleopatra

1. Cecil B. DeMille was determined to bring the Cleopatra story to the masses, feeling that the William Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw versions were too highbrow.

2. Claudette Colbert is very good as Cleopatra. She is sexy, warm, cool, conniving and loving….hard to keep your eyes off her when she is on the screen.

3. Claudette Colbert’s 1934…..is one of the greatest years a thespian has ever had…all three of her movies were nominated for the Best Picture Oscar….with It Happened One Night winning….as well as her winning the Best Actress Oscar.

4. Warren William makes a wonderful Julius Caesar…..too bad he is not in second half of the movie.

5. I rarely criticize a performance….especially since I could not act my way out of a paper bag….but Henry Wilcoxon did not make a good Marc Anthony.

6. This was one of Henry Wilcoxon’s first movies……and he would become a favorite of DeMille…..appearing in almost all of the rest of his movies.

7. On a IMDb search…..I saw that one of Henry Wilcoxon’s last movies was playing the bishop in Caddyshack…..I found that very cool.

8. C. Aubrey Smith is excellent as Enobarbus…Mark Anthony’s right hand man.

9. The grand finale battle scenes were not too impressive….actually the quick jump edits remind me of the current action movies….where those quick edits make it hard to know what is going on.

10. In the end….I liked this movie….with Colbert’s performance being the main reason.