On late fifties and all sixties Italian filmmakers made a whole bunch of peplum & sandals pictures, Hercules, Maciste and relatives from Greek mythology also on Roma Empire as well, Cleopatra quite often is portraited due her strong influence over Julius Cesar and Mark Anthony's affairs, thus the Italian cinema always want capitalize on this profitable niche due Cleopatra was labeled as hoochie sexy woman, then Vittorio Cottafavi whose basically starts in this genre and being a expert was called to direct this project.
The famous story of Mark Anthony & Cleopatra were told many times by cinema industry whereof the audience knows it by heart, as Liz Taylor's Cleopatra, Fleming's Serpent of the Nile, Colbert's Cleopatra, then Cotafavi alludes a Cleopatra on double life, a daytime a Queen of Egypt and at night Berenice a tavern's dancer, actually a true sexy performance by Linda Cristal, falling in love with a stranger Curridius (Ettore Manni) in fact a roman soldier an old acquaintance of Mark Anthony (George Marchal) in Roman Legions.
Curridious drove at Alexandria disguised as civilian aiming for warning Mark Anthony concerning a truce with Cesar August already in Africa and he was ready to crush Mark Anthony's Roman Legions loyal to him, Corridius urges to Mark Anthony gives up of Cleopatra and make a peace of Cesar Augustus, well seemingly instead Cotafavi focuses on political issues, he turns on Curridious story on Egyptian ground, interacting on lowest lung of local society as the gladiators and saving a slave boy helping his teenager sister, also on secret Cleopatra's affair, it somehow leaves aside the political aspect on Mark Anthony, who sparsely appears.
Technically aspects of the picture is an average sets, ravish wardrobe and fabulous Egyptian garments mainly on Cleopatra's look, the battles aside the numerous armies is a slight unconvincing, Cottafavi also displayed some humor oriented on the mute midge and some sequences as well, in compliance with the Italian standard in this specific genre, no bad at all.
Thanks for reading
Resume:
First watch: 2023 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 6.
The famous story of Mark Anthony & Cleopatra were told many times by cinema industry whereof the audience knows it by heart, as Liz Taylor's Cleopatra, Fleming's Serpent of the Nile, Colbert's Cleopatra, then Cotafavi alludes a Cleopatra on double life, a daytime a Queen of Egypt and at night Berenice a tavern's dancer, actually a true sexy performance by Linda Cristal, falling in love with a stranger Curridius (Ettore Manni) in fact a roman soldier an old acquaintance of Mark Anthony (George Marchal) in Roman Legions.
Curridious drove at Alexandria disguised as civilian aiming for warning Mark Anthony concerning a truce with Cesar August already in Africa and he was ready to crush Mark Anthony's Roman Legions loyal to him, Corridius urges to Mark Anthony gives up of Cleopatra and make a peace of Cesar Augustus, well seemingly instead Cotafavi focuses on political issues, he turns on Curridious story on Egyptian ground, interacting on lowest lung of local society as the gladiators and saving a slave boy helping his teenager sister, also on secret Cleopatra's affair, it somehow leaves aside the political aspect on Mark Anthony, who sparsely appears.
Technically aspects of the picture is an average sets, ravish wardrobe and fabulous Egyptian garments mainly on Cleopatra's look, the battles aside the numerous armies is a slight unconvincing, Cottafavi also displayed some humor oriented on the mute midge and some sequences as well, in compliance with the Italian standard in this specific genre, no bad at all.
Thanks for reading
Resume:
First watch: 2023 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 6.