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My Favourite Epic: Cleopatra
A splashy, messy movie that I adore
There is a sort of half memory I have from when I was very young. I have walked into the sitting room and my sister is watching a movie on TV. There is a gorgeous woman in a stunning gown having what seems to be a serious discussion with two men. Suddenly a scream pierces the air, and they rush into a garden where a nurse is carrying a child to safety. They find a body face down in the face, and rolling it over, they reveal a bloodied and torn torso. This image stuck with me for years, reappearing in my dreams and lingering like an unwanted guest. It scared me, but I wanted to see more. When I had walked in, I asked my sister what she was watching, and she said: “I’m watching Elizabeth Taylor playing Cleopatra.” I didn’t know then that I would get to know this movie and its magnetic star very well.
Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator of the Ptolemaic dynasty, the last active ruler of what is now known as Ancient Egypt, has a long and varied history in the cinema. One of these film appearances was in the allegedly spectacular 1917 film starring silent film vamp, Theda Bara, now sadly lost. I mention this because it is this film which paved the way for my favourite epic.
Bara’s Cleopatra had been a massive success for 20th Century Fox — then known as the Fox Film Corporation — so when the…
