The fabled queen of Egypt's affair with Roman general Marc Antony is ultimately disastrous for both of them.The fabled queen of Egypt's affair with Roman general Marc Antony is ultimately disastrous for both of them.The fabled queen of Egypt's affair with Roman general Marc Antony is ultimately disastrous for both of them.
Helen Gardner
- Cleopatra - Queen of Egypt
- (as Miss Gardner)
Pearl Sindelar
- Iras - An Attendant
- (as Miss Sindelar)
Helene Costello
- Nicola - a Child
- (as Miss Helene)
Charles Sindelar
- Antony - a Triumvir and General
- (as Mr. Sindelar)
James R. Waite
- Venditius - a Roman Soldier
- (as Mr. Waite)
Mr. Osborne
- Diomedes - a Rich Egyptian
- (as Mr. Osborn)
Harry Knowles
- Kephren - Captain of the Guards to the Queen
- (as Harley Knowles)
Miss Winter
- Charmian - Attendant to the Queen
- (uncredited)
- Director
- Writers
- Victorien Sardou
- Charles L. Gaskill(uncredited)
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaThis film is one of the first six-reel feature films produced in the US. With the tagline "The most beautiful motion picture ever made", the film was the first to offer a feature-length depiction of Cleopatra, although there had been a short film about Antony and Cleopatra earlier.
- GoofsThe costumes and hairstyles of Cleopatra and her servants are reminiscent of the Greek style, definitely not Egyptian, albeit in the Roman Period. This is not a goof. Cleopatra was part of a Greek dynasty that had ruled in Egypt for a couple of centuries since Alexander the Great. Her statues show her in Greek-style dress.
- Quotes
Pharon - a Greek Slave and Fisherman: You may kill me, Queen, but the love in my soul for you will never perish!
Cleopatra - Queen of Egypt: If I let you live - and love me - ten days, will you swear then to destroy yourself?
- Crazy creditsCertain stage traditions originally founded in ignorance and preserved after they became traditions, have not been considered; the object of the Director has been to insure naturalness in an atmosphere of romance, the object of the Author to intimate the nobilities and grandeur of the woman who was devotedly loved by Julius Caesar. Perfect freedom has been exercised in the adaption.
- Alternate versionsA restored version, funded by Turner Classic Movies and in the George Eastman House Collection, was shown on Turner Classic Movies on 10 August 2000. It has an original music score by Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida and runs 88 minutes.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Fractured Flickers: Pat Carroll (1964)
Featured review
Watching Cleopatra was like watching a toddler learning to walk
I happened onto "Cleopatra" on Turner after it had begun, so I didn't know who made it or when. I figured it had to have been made early, as it appeared to be little more than a filmed stage play: tableaux shot by a static camera; moreover, there were absolutely no close-ups. And I gathered it was something of an early "indie," as the costumes were howlingly inauthentic, the sets amateurish and many of the actors "stagy."
I decided the film's date had to be early, around 1910, 1912. But because of the production's growing sophistication towards the end of the film the camera got more frisky and intimate it was like watching the vocabulary of cinema being developed before your eyes, like seeing a toddler, very unsteady at first, gaining better equilibrium and more assurance as we watch. While it never gets to the level of either art or storytelling mechanics that Griffith was employing contemporaneously, "Cleopatra" is a fascinating time capsule... It would be intriguing to see her movies in sequence (the presumption being each is better and more sophisticated). It's a shame that so many have disappeared forever.
I had never heard of Helen Gardner, an ambitious actress who opened her own studio. As Cleopatra, she was sort of an ur-vamp whose eye makeup, heft, extravagant gestures and bare feet were several years later appropriated by Theda Bara. She was obviously an important actress, auteur and entrepreneur who should be far more celebrated than she is.
One last point, which others have made but I would like to reiterate: the newly appended score was so annoying and obtrusive that I muted it. I used to accompany silent films when I was in college, so I have a fair idea of the appropriate musical vocabulary. I once saw a revival of "Wings" in New York, and the elderly accompanist simply played everything she remembered from the 1920s, regardless of the on-screen action. Biplanes strafed trenches and killed soldiers by the dozen to the strains of "I'll be down to get you in a taxi, honey." Many of the major silent movies had their own scores written by studio musicians and played either by orchestras or reduced to organ or piano arrangements. I doubt that Gardner's "Cleopatra" had its own score, but SURELY somebody could have produced something more consonant with the time and place of this movie, something that sounded like, well silent movie music.
Steffan Aletti
I decided the film's date had to be early, around 1910, 1912. But because of the production's growing sophistication towards the end of the film the camera got more frisky and intimate it was like watching the vocabulary of cinema being developed before your eyes, like seeing a toddler, very unsteady at first, gaining better equilibrium and more assurance as we watch. While it never gets to the level of either art or storytelling mechanics that Griffith was employing contemporaneously, "Cleopatra" is a fascinating time capsule... It would be intriguing to see her movies in sequence (the presumption being each is better and more sophisticated). It's a shame that so many have disappeared forever.
I had never heard of Helen Gardner, an ambitious actress who opened her own studio. As Cleopatra, she was sort of an ur-vamp whose eye makeup, heft, extravagant gestures and bare feet were several years later appropriated by Theda Bara. She was obviously an important actress, auteur and entrepreneur who should be far more celebrated than she is.
One last point, which others have made but I would like to reiterate: the newly appended score was so annoying and obtrusive that I muted it. I used to accompany silent films when I was in college, so I have a fair idea of the appropriate musical vocabulary. I once saw a revival of "Wings" in New York, and the elderly accompanist simply played everything she remembered from the 1920s, regardless of the on-screen action. Biplanes strafed trenches and killed soldiers by the dozen to the strains of "I'll be down to get you in a taxi, honey." Many of the major silent movies had their own scores written by studio musicians and played either by orchestras or reduced to organ or piano arrangements. I doubt that Gardner's "Cleopatra" had its own score, but SURELY somebody could have produced something more consonant with the time and place of this movie, something that sounded like, well silent movie music.
Steffan Aletti
helpful•103
- sbaletti
- Sep 8, 2008
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Languages
- Also known as
- Helen Gardner in Cleopatra
- Filming locations
- Production company
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $45,000 (estimated)
- Runtime1 hour 40 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 1.33 : 1
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content