Thursday, May 20, 2021

By the Gods!

Marco Antonio (Luis Sandrini) and Cleopatra (Maria Antonieta Pons) in THE INTIMATE LIFE OF MARK ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA (1947)

Yesterday I posted a clip from this movie. It's often overlooked even though it's quite opulent. There are dozens of matte paintings, big sets, costumes, etc. It was made before SAMSON AND DELILAH (1949) and FABIOLA (1949). It was probably green lighted after the more opulent CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA (1945) was release, and this comedy was inspired by it. There were few PEPLUM movies of the 1940s and this one is certainly one of the tops one of that decade. The story starts in the present and slowly moves to the past. The intro is tedious but once it's entirely set in Ancient Rome, it's fun and colourful. I'm not familiar with any of the actors in this Mexican production (it's not Italian). I have two copies of this, one with English subtitles and one without. Both prints are murky in quality. 

1 comment:

Henry Plantagenet said...

Yes, I suppose this is kind of a parody of DeMille's Cleopatra following a rerelease. Mexico, unexpected, right? Although... there is a Brazilian parody of Samson & Delilah!