When I think of the image of a Golden Age Hollywood director, I think of Cecil B. DeMille in "Sunset Boulevard," orchestrating one of his Bible epics, and acting as a gatekeeper of moviemaking dreams. DeMille was one of the most popular directors of the silent era, and a good chunk of the early sound era, specializing in epics. Adjusting for inflation, he's still the most commercially successful director of all time. I suspect that he's a big reason why epic films are considered their own genre in some circles. It didn't especially matter, for some of his productions, whether the plot or the acting was any good, because the sheer spectacle was so well realized.
However, when he got the right actor in the right role, playing a larger than life figure out of history or myth, DeMille could give them the spotlight like no one else. My favorite screen Cleopatra has always been Claudette Colbert in DeMille's 1934 "Cleopatra" film. I've suffered through several underwhelming films about the life of Cleopatra, and was initially nervous about seeing one from the man who had made the 220 minute "Ten Commandments." DeMille's "Cleopatra," however, only runs 100 minutes. And it's absolutely crammed full of gorgeous production design, ornate costuming, and sumptuous decadence of every kind - with the best cinematography to show it all off. Colbert had previously appeared in DeMille's "The Sign of the Cross," playing a femme fatale who was shown bathing in milk in a memorable scene. She made an impression, not just because she was beautiful, but because she had such a strength of personality.
"Cleopatra" was made right when the Production Code was starting to take effect, and Hollywood started cracking down on more licentious content. DeMille, however, had enough clout that he could largely ignore these restrictions. He could put mostly naked women onscreen, right in the title sequence. He could imply that Cleopatra was getting up to all kinds of antics with Caesar and Marc Antony. Colbert's Cleopatra is as sexy as any screen siren who ever appeared in a movie. I don't remember any other performance in "Cleopatra," because Colbert so dominates every moment that she's onscreen, and DeMille ensures that you can't take your eyes off her. Unlike some of the other screen Cleopatras, Colbert rarely plays her as a tragic, Shakespearian figure. This Cleopatra is bright and vivacious and enjoys being a seductress. Sure, she pulls off looking regal when the occasion demands it, but she doesn't ever become dwarfed by the scenery the way some of DeMille's lesser actors have.
As a product of the 1930s, there is no attempt to be historically accurate whatsoever. The movie is more of an Egyptian themed Art Deco phantasmagoria, with scene after scene of Colbert putting on amazing outfits, Hans Dreier's giant sets, and a cast of thousands. It makes so much sense now, that the 1963 "Cleopatra" bankrupted 20th Century Fox trying to outdo Cecil B. DeMille. There's one particular shot that I think is a good encapsulation of the movie's scale. Cleopatra's seduction of Mark Antony takes place on her luxurious barge. As Antony gives in to her advances, servants pull curtains into place to give them their privacy, and the camera pulls back. And it keeps pulling back, past all the attendants holding fans and flowers, past the rowing galley slaves, until we see the full length of the ship and the opulence of its interior.
By the time DeMille directed "Cleopatra," he had made some of the biggest hits of the 1920s, mostly westerns and Biblical and historical epics. His list of accomplishments is considerable, including being one of the first celebrity directors - almost certainly the prototype of the tyrannical perfectionist shouting at crowds of extras through a megaphone - and contributing to the formation of the motion picture industry in Hollywood. The critics never liked him much, but audiences loved him, from his earliest silent films, through his transition to the sound era, all the way to his final film - the one with Charlton Heston that still airs on network television every year for Easter. And since I could never be accused of not loving populist films, I'm happy to make a place for him on this list.
What I've Seen - Cecil B. DeMille
Don't Change Your Husband (1919)
Male and Female (1919)
The Ten Commandments (1923)
The King of Kings (1927)
The Sign of the Cross (1932)
Cleopatra (1934)
Union Pacific (1939)
Unconquered (1947)
Samson and Delilah (1949)
The Greatest Show on Earth (1952)
The Ten Commandments (1956)
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