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as Caesar, but is best known for his role the following year as Professor
Henry Higgins in My Fair Lady (1964), his Oscar-winning reprise of the
part he created on Broadway.
When Caesar arrives in Egypt, the scenes in Alexandria characterize
him as a man of practicality and cleverness, as he defeats the expectations
of the jaded Egyptians. Rather than bully his way through the crowd at the
harbor, Caesar demonstrates his smiling, self-assured virility and a popular
touch, in stark contrast to the sulking boy king, enthroned and surrounded
by his bizarre retinue of eunuchs. Ptolemy strokes a cat on his
lap, in a visual trope that becomes the universal symbol of the movie
tyrant, such as Ernst Blofeld, the villain of several James Bond films, including
You Only Live Twice (1967), or comic versions like Dr. Evil in the
spy parody Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (1997), or Dr.
Claw in Inspector Gadget (1999). In Cleopatra, the unstable history of the
Ptolemaic rulers is described early on in one of Caesar’s passionate arguments
with the young queen, as he reproaches her: “You, the descendant
of generations of inbred, incestuous mental defectives, how dare you call
anyone barbarian? . . . Daughter of an idiotic, flute-playing drunkard who
bribed his way to the throne of Egypt – I’ve had my fill with the smug
condescension of you worn-out pretenders, parading on the ruins of your
past glories.” She replies firmly: “It is the future that concerns me.”
Cleopatra follows the tradition of earlier epic films by constructing an
opposition in which Rome represents one pole, and here the other is
Egypt (Fitzgerald, 24). This conflict is figured around the sexual tug-ofwar
between Caesar and Cleopatra. At first, Caesar is arrogant and in
control, and Cleopatra icily rejects his initial amorous advances: “I promise
you will not enjoy me like this.” Only when she discovers the secret
of Caesar’s epilepsy do her emotions for him begin to soften (Elley, 94).
Her protective urges are aroused by his honesty and vulnerability: “One
day . . . the mob will laugh and tear me to pieces.” The film suggests what
began as a shrewd political seduction turns into genuine love, and offers
a positive model of an alliance where masculine Rome is nurtured by
feminine, maternal Egypt. Cleopatra highlights this association in the
sultry promise she gives Caesar in bed, identifying herself with the fertile
Nile River and vowing to give him sons. The likeness persists when Caesar
later asks the Roman senators: “Have any of you here seen the Nile? Spare
yourselves the journey – she carries it within her eyes.” The Egyptian
queen embodies Caesar’s desire to establish a personal legacy of lasting
imperial authority.
144 CLEOPATRA (1963)