Cleopatra (1912)

By CinemaSerf

I think this was quite a clever topic for Charles Gaskill to pick. It has all the ingredients for a sumptuous photoplay with costumes, grand sets and most importantly - a story that everyone is already going to be familiar with. The helps enormously as the rest of this all but 110 year old film is truly experimental. From any critical perspective, no - it's not very good. Helen Gardner in the title role lacks any sort of passion in her delivery, her eyes rarely engage with the camera and her gestures frequently reminded me of something almost pantomime in their nature. The camerawork is almost totally static - no panning or tracking, close ups - indeed anything to visualise the emotions that this story can engender. Sadly, that performance renders it at times quite tedious. It is ambitious, however - and the techniques used demonstrate creative attempts by cinematographer Lucien Tainguy to try to innovate - just not very successfully on this occasion. Anyone interested in the development of cinema ought to watch this - it is fine example of basic lighting and editing methods with decently spaced inter-titles, that I think you'll appreciate for what it is.... very, very young!