| Cleopatra | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Charles L. Gaskill |
| Screenplay by | Charles L. Gaskill (uncredited) |
| Based on | Cléopâtre 1890 play by Victorien Sardou |
| Produced by | Helen Gardner |
| Starring | Helen Gardner |
| Cinematography | Lucien Tainguy |
| Edited by | Helen Gardner (uncredited) |
Production company | The Helen Gardner Picture Players |
| Distributed by | United States Film Co. |
Release date |
|
Running time | 87 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $45,000 ($1,411,636 today) |
Cleopatra is a 1912 American silent historical drama film starring Helen Gardner in the title role and directed by Charles L. Gaskill, based on the 1890 play written by Victorien Sardou.[1] It ws the first film to be produced by The Helen Gardner Picture Players.
Cleopatra is one of the early six-reel feature films produced in the United States.[2] Promoted as "The most beautiful motion picture ever made", it was the first to offer a feature-length depiction of Cleopatra,[3] although there had been a short film about Antony and Cleopatra two years earlier.[4]
In a series of elaborately staged tableaux, it depicts Cleopatra and her love affairs, first with handsome fisherman-slave Pharon, then with Mark Antony.
Cleopatra was the first film produced by The Helen Gardner Picture Players, Helen Gardner's production company, located in Tappan, New York.[5] Gardner created the company in 1910 after finding success in a series of early 1900s Vitagraph shorts.[2]
The film's budget was $45,000 (approximately $1,472,000 today) and featured lavish sets and costumes (Gardner also served as the film's costume designer and editor). Gardner used the natural Tappan scenery for outdoor shots in addition to sets.[2][3]
Upon its release, Cleopatra played in opera houses and theatres. The film was also featured in a theatrical roadshow accompanied by a publicist, manager and a lecturer/projectionist.[6]
In 1918, Gardner filmed additional scenes and re-issued the film to compete with the 1917 adaptation released by Fox starring Theda Bara.[6]
Film critic Dennis Schwartz described it as "energetic", giving it a B− rating.[7]
Like many American films of the time, Cleopatra was subject to cuts by city and state film censorship boards. For the 1918 release, the Chicago Board of Censors required a cut of the two intertitles "If I let you live and love me ten days, will you then destroy yourself?" and "Suppose Anthony were told that she [Cleopatra] had just left the embraces of the slave Pharon".[8]
The 1912 version of Cleopatra still exists in its entirety. In 2000, Turner Classic Movies had the print restored, using an earlier 1960s restoration, and commissioned a new musical score from the husband and wife team of Chantal Kreviazuk and Raine Maida.[9] The restored version, complete with color tinting, first aired on TCM in August 2000.[2]
