A hockey and extravagant retelling of the infamous Queen Cleopatra who becomes infatuated with a Roman centurion , while going on her love for Marc Anthony . Medium budget version of the famous Queen of Egypt and Roman lovers, as her lust for Marc Anthony after Caesar's death . Set 44 BC later Julius Caesar's murder by Brutus and Casius , governing the second triumvirate formed by Lepido who governs Africa , Octavius Augustus ruling over Hispania and Marc Anthony over Egypt and Orient. Then the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra (Linda Cristal) rules Egypt along with Caesar's possible successor , Marc Anthony (Georges Marchal) , but things do not turn out as well . Along the way , Octavian Augustus (Alfredo Mayo) intends to regain his empire by landing his army at Alexandria, besieging the city and attempting to capture Cleopatra and Marcus Antonius . Then Octavius sends a young centurion (Ettore Manni) to deal with Cleopatra into surrendering peacefully, and , of course , they fall in love. As there starts a tragic love story with fateful consequences . Later on , Octavian forms a huge army that's bigger than Cleopatra's forces , getting some allies from various Egyptian tribes who can come to her aid . Both sides prepare for a final showdown in the sunny desert . And Augustus eventually defeat them in Actium . Her Passion Ruled Rome! A Columbia Hit !. Cleopatra and the Emperor. He came her conqueror - He became her slave! The Loves of Cleopatra !
This "sword-and-sandal" epic concerning the known history about the famous Queen , the popular Egypt temptress who pins her hopes on rash Marc Anthony , resulting to be an extravaganza in budget enough , financed by Robert de Nesle and Italo Zingarelli , the latter a producer expert in making Peplums and Spaghetti Westerns . It is a multi-colored sleeping tablet with historical characters giving plain and simple recreation . It contains abundant matte painting , carton/stone settings , well-staged battles , some opulent grotesque interiors and a few actors hopelessly wooden . Passable starring quartet : Linda Cristal , Ettore Manni , Georges Marchal and Conrado San Martín. They are accompanied by an acceptable support cast , being an European co-production , here appears actors from various countries such as , Spain : María Mahor , Alfredo Mayo , Mary Carrillo ,Rafael Durán , Rafael Luis Calvo , Tomás Blanco ; Italy : Andrea Aureli ,Daniela Rocca Mino Doro, Salvatore Furnari and France : Jany Clair .
Enjoyable Sword and sandals flick , being professionally directed by Vittorio Cottafavi (1914-1998) ; he was a complete artist , painter and Peplum expert , as he directed : ¨Conquest of Atlántida¨, ¨Goliath and the Dragon¨(1961) with Mark Forest , Broderick Crawford , Bruce Cabot , ¨Hércules and the captive woman¨(1963) with Reg Park and the ordinary Ettore Manni , ¨Legions of Cleopatra¨, ¨Mesallina¨ and this ¨rebellion of gladiators¨. Vittorio began his professional career in the film industry as a clapper boy . After progressing to write motion picture screenplays and working as assistant director under Alessandro Blasetti and Vittorio De Sica, he became a director in his own right in 1943. Many of his films have been lavishly-produced, sometimes tongue-in-cheek, "sword-and sandal" or ¨Muscleman¨ epics, dealing with mythological subjects involving the Roman Empire or Ancient Egypt . From the mid-60's, Cottafavi concentrated exclusively on directing TV series and mini-series, under contract to RAI , many of them dealing with historic events or known characters , such as Oliver Cromwell , Don Giovanni , Napoleone a Sant'Elena , Vita Di Dante and Cristóbal Colon .
Others films concerning this historic figure Cleopatra are as follows : Silent version¨Cleopatra¨ (1917) by Gordon Edwards with Theda Bara. ¨Cleopatra¨ (1934) by Cecil B. DeMille with Claudette Colbert, Henry Wilconson, Warren William, C Aubrey Smith. ¨Serpent of the Nile¨ (1953) by William Castle with Rhonda Fleming , William Lundigan, Raymond Burr , Michael Ansara . ¨Two nights with Cleopatra¨ (1954) by Mario Mattioli with Sofia Loren, Alberto Sordi, Paul Muller. ¨Cleopatra's legions¨ (1959) by Vittorio Cottafavi with Linda Cristal, Ettore Manni, Georges Marchal, Conrado San Martin. ¨A Queen for Caesar¨ (1962) by Piero Pierotti with Pascale Petit, George Ardisson, Akin Tamiroff, Gordon Scott, Corrado Pani . The mamouth version is ¨Cleopatra¨ (1963) by Joseph L Mankiewicz with Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Martin Landau, Roddy McDowall, Hume Cronyn, Andrew Keir, being produced by 20th Century-Fox that bought Le legioni di Cleopatra (1959) for $1 million and shelved it so it wouldn't draw potential customers away from its own upcoming Elizabeth Taylor rendition. And ¨Cleopatra miniseries¨ (1999) by Franc Roddan with Leonor Varela, Timothy Dalton, Billy Zane, Rupert Graves.
