Robbing Cleopatra's Tomb
| Cléopâtre | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Georges Méliès |
| Produced by | Georges Méliès |
| Written by | Georges Méliès |
| Starring |
Georges Méliès Jeanne d'Alcy |
| Cinematography | Georges Méliès |
Release date |
|
Running time | 2 minutes |
| Country | France |
| Language | Silent |
Robbing Cleopatra's Tomb (French: Cléopâtre, literally Cleopatra) was an 1899 short silent 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 America (under the title Robbing Cleopatra's Tomb; its English release was simply titled Cleopatra's Tomb) and subsequently distributed many of Méliès other films.[1]
This is a lost film. A print was once reported to have been discovered in France on 22 September 2005.[2] However, it later turned out that this was a different film (that happened to involve the robbing of an Egyptian-looking tomb as well).[3]
References
- 1 2 Guran, Paula (2007). "Chapter 13: The Mummy". In Joshi, S. T. Icons of Horror and the Supernatural: An Encyclopedia of Our Worst Nightmares (Volume 1). Greenwood Press. p. 389. ISBN 978-0313337802.
- ↑ "Lost 106-Year-Old Movie Discovered". MovieWeb. 22 September 2005. Retrieved 28 December 2013.
- ↑ "Trivia for Cleopatra (1899)". IMDB. 29 September 2014. Retrieved 29 September 2014.