Cinema (1963)

CLEOPATRA' SEDUCTION OF ROME Caesar had come to Egypt, enthroned the seventeen year old Cleopatra as Egypt’s queen and fathered a son by that queen ; then he sailed for Rome to resume control of the ancient world leaving Cleopatra to her own devices. To rule Egypt was to rule Alexandria, the center of culture in the Roman World, a bursting international brothel of the arts, races and religions which had cultivated a sublime, libertine sophistication. Riches were there for Greek, Jew or Egyptian if he would submit his economics, trade or art to an artfully applied depravity, but that was not enough for Cleopatra. ..she sought the world. The world was Caesar’s, so she must have Caesar. While he had been in Egypt, near her, she had controlled him, but he had left her knowing that the Roman people had granted him his power and he must be in Rome to placate them. Caesar could master the mob, but she knew that the mob and Caesar would never accept a queen — the very word was cursed. Her one solution was to present herself as the Goddess Isis, which she was, and have Caesar proclaimed a God. She would ride into Rome cradled in the arms of a great black sphinx dressed as Isis, with her son Caesarion by her side, dressed as Horus, offspring of Isis. In doing this she could as easily be stoned by the mob as worshipped. Before her entrance, she would have to dazzle and tempt the crowd by presenting a show unlike any they had ever seen. To capture Caesar, she must capture the mob. For the past year, director Joseph L. Mankiewicz has been concerned with solving Cleopatra’s problem for the already famous movie version of her life. And as early as May 1959, Nino Novarese began his costume sketches for the performers who would take part in the spectacle. The questions before them were the same ones Cleopatra asked... What can surprise the Romans? How could she seduce them? Surprising and seducing the Romans would indeed have been a problem. When Caesar was Consul, there were 132 holidays a year and the trend was upward ; by the time of Claudius there were 159. Couple this with the fact that after the noon hour the Patrician’s time was spent at the bath, the theatre or the circus. Romans were satiated with entertainment, but also insatiate. The theatre itself was more a festival of the senses than a feast of reason. Roman drama was realistic in the actual sense. The Roman mob preferred the sight of captive kings led forth in chains to the recreation of the lives of mythical heroes, the bloodied face to the dramatic mask, the howls of passion to metaphors on the earth moving and waves crashing. If a fable called for the death of the hero at its climax, the Roman demanded that he should die in actual fact in as public and spectacular a manner as possible. Captives and criminals were always at hand for this type of pastime. Roman religion also had its shows, but the gods were not guardians of morality and aesthetics; they demanded instead periodical orgies of drunkeness and sexual promiscuity. In short, Rome was a tough audience. Cleopatra’s attempt was to present a personal goddess — the beneficent queen of nature who would disclose the voluptuous mysteries of the East and provide a religious cloak for men and women inclined towards loose life. It was an old trick, but she had at her command traditions of ritual and imagery reaching back into man’s primeval state, where his basic fear was incarnate woman. With this in mind, Mr. Novarese designed the costumes for the procession with original Egyptian frescoes and reliefs as his inspiration. He also emphasized the decadent sophistication of Alexandria and contrasted it in design and color with the primitive vulgarities of the Romans. His costumes were designed to achieve Cleopatra’s main objectives... to provoke mystical pleasures of the sensual rather than the muscular, to tempt Rome with the subtle deviations of an oriental religion, 'and to present the goddess Isis with her son Horus ... to present Cleopatra with her son Caesarion by the God Caesar. Cleopatra’s entrance to Rome provided many Alexandrian girls an opportunity for exposure of their talent; so will the movie version. Upon completion of Mr. Novarese’s costumes, casting began for the dancers, archers and physical “ornaments” of the vast procession. While the streets of Rome today are almost as full of female players as they were in ant ique times, most of the dancers were imported from England, members of the famed Blue-Bells organization. Many walk-ons and “ornaments” were Italian starlets, but the imported English dancers had the height and physiques necessary for their roles in portraying their thespian ancestors. Some also came from France and the United States. A group of girls declined roles because of the brevity of the costumes, a question that would not have occurred to the original performers. Woman had not been defined as a “temple built over a sewer” as yet. Beauty was more likely to be exposed and ugliness covered. The freedom of Roman women in dress was a minor advantage; their legal and social positions were not to be envied. Restrictions were levelled particularly against women who were classed as prostitutes, and t hey could not contract legal marriages with patricians or engage in any trade other than that to which their birth had condemned them. Still many sought out the various theatres and dance troupes of Rome, hoping to gain their niche just as girls do today. And, as always, their market value depended upon their ability to manage and display their own developments. Riches and luxury could come to these actress-courtesans much as it did to the dancer Cytheris, who was adored and pampered by Mark Antony. While Cleopatra was performing for a kingdom, they were performing for an opportunity to be discovered by the Roman audience, the critics of the ancient world, just as today’s girls seek discovery on the screen. Some of the temptations Mr. Novarese and Hermes Pan, the choreographer, have put together are 50 archers, whose costumes are from a wall painting of a Pharaoh riding in a chariot accompanied by an archer. When their arrows are shot towards the sky a thin veil unravels from their quivers, displaying the colors of the sunrise and foretelling the coming of the sun (Horus) and his mother (Isis). Then there are 26 snake dancers (female and fair) who emerge from one giant cobra as the symbol of the sacred snake of Egypt... and 38 girls with gold wings and headdresses on a pyramid dressed as the sacred vulture which Novarese found in an Egyptian sculpture. A total of 5,833 persons will be employed in addition to 110 animals. The rest of the procession list, as detailed by Mankiewicz is as follows: 36 trumpeters on 36 white horses; 8 charioteers with 16 black horses; 8 bowmen in chariots; a 20-piece Egyptian band; 28 pole dancers (also female and fair) ; 1 old hag; 1 beautiful girl; 3 oxenmen from Pharos with 6 white oxen; 16 dwarfs on 16 zebras ; 7 acrobats (male) ; 4 acrobats (2 male, 2 female) on 2 elephants; 4 girls with gifts on 2 elephants; 4 mahouts; 12 green-smoke dancers (male and dark) ; 14 snake dancers (male and fair) ; 12 musicians (female and fair) ; 8 butterfly-fan dancers (male and dark) ; 12 yellow-smoke dancers (male and dark) ; 18 dancers (male and dark, 4 of them with drums) ; 12 dancers (female and dark) ; 10 red witch dancers (male and dark) ; 8 pole vaulters (male and fair) ; 7 gold tree porters (male and fair) ; 16 gold fan bearers (male and fair) ; 30 elite honor guard on 30 sorrel horses; 12 slaves for the pyramid ; 8 marble men to carry Cleopatra (dark) ; 300 slaves for the Sphinx. Crowd: 3,000 men; 1,500 women; 20 children; 6 Egyptian dignitaries; 6 Egyptian slaves; 30 Roman senators’ wives; 20 Roman court ladies; 150 Roman senators; 24 lictors; 350 Praetorians and 12 Roman trumpeters. The objects of Cleopatra’s temptation were the aging but still dominant Caesar (Rex Harrison); the burly, sensuous, playboy general Mark Antony (Richard Burton) and the subtle and intelligent Octavian (Roddy McDowall). Her success with Caesar was cut short two years following her triumph, on the Ides of March. She succeeded again with Mark Antony by giving him a wild party on a barge at Tarsus. Again she was cut short of total conquest at Actium. She had another chance to parade in Rome at Octavian’s triumph, but this time in chains. She chose to expose her breast to the asp rather than to the mob again. The girls of Alexandria were not as finicky, their chances being the same with or without Cleopatra,