Cleopatra (1912 film)
| Cleopatra | |
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| Directed by | Charles L. Gaskill |
| Produced by | Helen Gardner |
| Based on |
Cléopâtre by Victorien Sardou |
| Starring | Helen Gardner |
| Cinematography | Lucien Tainguy |
| Edited by | Helen Gardner (uncredited) |
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Production
company |
The Helen Gardner Picture Players
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| Distributed by | United States Film Co. (1912) Cleopatra Film Co. (1918 re-release) |
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Release date
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Running time
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88 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Budget | $45,000 |
Cleopatra is a 1912 American silent historical drama starring Helen Gardner in the title role and directed by Charles L. Gaskill. It is the first film to be produced by Gardner's production company, The Helen Gardner Picture Players. The film was based on a play written by Victorien Sardou.
Cleopatra is one of the first six-reel feature films produced in the United States. Promoted 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 already been a short film about Antony and Cleopatra earlier.
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 Helen Gardner's production company, The Helen Gardner Picture Players, located in Tappan, New York. Gardner created the company in 1910 after finding success in a series of Vitagraph shorts in the early 1900s.
The film's budget was $45,000 (approximately $1,200,000 today) and featured lavish sets and costumes (Gardner also served as the film's costume designer and editor). Gardner used the natural scenery in Tappan for outdoor shots in addition to sets.
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.
In 1918, Gardner filmed additional scenes and re-issued the film to compete with the 1917 adaptation released by Fox and starring Theda Bara.
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 had just left the embraces of the slave Pharon".
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