Robbing Cleopatra's Tomb Explained

Cléopâtre
Director:Georges Méliès
Producer:Georges Méliès
Starring:Georges Méliès
Jeanne d'Alcy
Cinematography:Georges Méliès
Runtime:2 minutes
Country:France
Language:Silent film

Robbing Cleopatra's Tomb (French: Cléopâtre, literally Cleopatra) is an 1899 silent trick film directed by Georges Méliès. One of the earliest horror films ever made, it is about resurrecting the mummy of Cleopatra. In it, a man chops the mummy of Cleopatra into pieces, and then "produces a woman from a smoking brazier."[1]

While today director Méliès is more known for his iconic film A Trip to the Moon, it was this film which caught the attention of producer Charles Urban, who released the film in the United States (under the title Robbing Cleopatra's Tomb; its British release was simply titled Cleopatra's Tomb) and subsequently distributed many of Méliès other films.[1] It's numbered 175–176 in the catalogue.

This is a lost film. A print was reported to have been discovered in France on 22 September 2005,[2] but it turned out to be a different film involving tomb robbery.[3]

Notes and References

  1. Book: Guran, Paula . Joshi . S. T. . Icons of Horror and the Supernatural: An Encyclopedia of Our Worst Nightmares (Volume 1) . Greenwood Press . 2007 . 389 . Chapter 13: The Mummy . 978-0313337802.
  2. Web site: Lost 106-Year-Old Movie Discovered . . 22 September 2005 . 28 December 2013 . 30 December 2013 . https://web.archive.org/web/20131230234637/http://www.movieweb.com/news/studio-briefing-september-22nd-2005 . dead .
  3. Web site: Trivia for Cleopatra's Tomb (1899). . 29 September 2014 . 29 September 2014.