When Cecil B. Demille's Cleopatra from 1934 came up on my list, I shuddered a little bit as I was wary that I'd be getting a stilted and dated historical retread. Instead, I was more then pleasantly surprised to realize that this film was as alive and full-blooded as most of the historical epics that I'd seen. This story tells Cleopatra's exile from Egypt, her romances with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony, and when war was declared on her by Rome. Claudette Colbert makes an excellent and seductive Cleopatra and the sets, costumes and battle scenes are extremely well done, which should be no surprise since DeMille was at the helm.
***1/2
