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LOVES AND INTRIGUES OF A GREAT AND FASCINATING WOMAN As soon as he has contracted for the services of two outstanding male stars to play Julius Caesar and Marc Antony opposite Elizabeth Taylor (above), producer Walter Wanger will be ready to start film- ing of “Cleopatra” in CinemaScope with De Luxe Color. This is not only the most important production that veteran producer has undertaken to film, but also one of the major ventures of this company. Actually, Wanger has been making preparations for “Cleopatra” for more than a year. Elizabeth Taylor, whose latest personal triumph is in “Suddenly Last Summer”, will play the title role in “Cleopatra”, an assignment perfectly tailored to her talents and beauty. Wanger’s “Cleopatra” will not be the story of a strumpet as presented in Shakespeare’s “Anthony And Cleopatra”, nor as the naive and silly teen- ager she is characterized in George Bernard Shaw’s play. This version dramatizes the true Cleopatra, based on a bibliography of the writings of Plutarch, Suetonius, Cicero and other new sources. This pro- duction presents her as a great and fascinating woman of continuous intrigue and passion. It is based largely on the sources used by Carlo Maria Franzero in his book, “The Life And Times Of Cleopatra”. Wanger’s “Cleopatra” is largely high romance. The three principal characters—Cleopatra, Caesar and Antony—gamble for the rulership and control of the world. At no time during the unfolding of the story is that objective forgotten, even in the sequences of passion, by any of the three principals, especially not Cleopatra. Driven by a burning ambition to retain the inde- pendence of ancient Egypt and become Empress of the world, Cleopatra becomes first the mistress of Caesar, married dictator of the Roman Empire, then the wife of the young, handsome and virile general, Antony when the latter succeeds Caesar. Rouben Mamoulian will direct “Cleopatra”. Con- cededly one of the topnotch directors, he was a celebrated director of Broadway plays before enter- ing the motion picture field. He staged such plays as the Theatre Guild’s original production of “Porgy”, “Marco’s Millions”, “Farewell To Arms”, “Okla- homa!”, “Sadie Thompson” and “Carousel”. For the screen he has directed such vehicles as “Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde”, “Love Me Tonight”, “Song Of Songs”, “Golden Boy”, “Mark Of Zorro”, “Becky Sharpe”, “Blood And Sand”, “Rings On Her Fingers”, “Summer Holiday” and “Silk Stockings”. In discussing his treatment of “Cleopatra”, the erudite producer Wanger, points out that the screen- play will cover her life from the time she was 19 until her 39th year. “In our research and in our presentation of the true Cleopatra”, he informed Dynamo, “she is a brilliant queen and a great administrator who gave Egypt, whom she was trying to remove from the strangle-hold the Romans had on that country, its greatest economic period. She spoke seven lan- guages. “Ours is the intimate story of a woman, not a pompous production aimed at impressing audiences mainly with scenery or costumes . ” 25