Daughter of Cleopatra (1960) User Reviews

Italian epic pharaoh yarn

[ma-cortes · 5/10 · 5 July 2004]

The film talks about Keops , alias Nemorat . Keops was the second pharaoh of four dynasty from ancient Egyptian empire , and he made the great pyramid of Gyze that bears his name . He is succeeded by Kefren who built the sphinx Gyze and the pyramid of the same name . After goes on pharaoh Micerinos. Three pharaohs have pyramids on Gyze : Keops, Kefren and Micerinos.

The movie centers upon scheming Kefren ( Erno Crisa ) and his dark schemes to inherit Egyptian empire . Nemorat ( Conrado Pani )is poisoned , and his wife ( Debra Paget ) is doomed to die with him into the pyramid . Her lover ( Ettore Manni ) designs a plot to free her by means of a potion. Before he will have to face a lot of dangers and risks until obtain his objective . The film blends drama , adventures , love and hokey historical events . Direction by Fernando Cerchio is professionally made , he directed many ¨ sword and sandals¨ and epic films . Cinematography is well realized and Giovanni Fusco's musical score is good . Set design and Egyptian time production design are spectacular . Debra Paget is wonderful , support cast is nice , there are American actors as Robert Alda ,though mostly are Italian players as Andrea Bosic , Rosalba Neri..among others . Rating: 5,5/10 average but entertaining .

Average Egyptian Epic Worth Seeking Out for Genre Buffs

[marcin_kukuczka · 5/10 · 17 August 2008]

The 1950s and 1960s were probably the times in the cinema history that for long will be associated with sword and sandal epics, not only those made by Hollywood studios but also by the Italian producers whose careers did not spread worldwide. Since the famous Cinecitta Studios near Rome grew popular for colossal American epics, such directors like Carlo Ludovico Bragaglia or Fernando Cerchio also took a chance to make movies of the genre with an attempt to depict historical periods in their own way, sometimes more original, sometimes more influenced. And in this way, we had movies like ANNIBALE, ERODE IL GRANDE, GIUSEPPE VENDUTO DAI FRATELLI, and many others. IL SEPOLCHRO DEI RE, sometimes misleadingly translated as CLEOPATRA'S DAUGHTER, is perhaps the least popular of them but appears to convey something rare. To make my comment clear, let me introduce short headlines before each paragraph.

WHAT IS SO RARE ABOUT "CLEOPATRA'S DAUGHTER?"

Let me say one significant thing: this movie builds a strong bridge between Hollywood epics and Italian ones, like ANNIBALE did. This time, the link is not the well built male star, a pioneering actor of the genre, Victor Mature, but beautiful, subtle actress who must have made this epic a vehicle to be seen in 1960, Debra Paget. The beautiful Lucia from DEMETRIUS AND THE GLADIATORS and the unhappy Lilia from THE TEN COMMANDMENTS plays the main role here, the role of exotic Shila from a faraway kingdom of Assyria. And the effect is sheer delight. She is absolutely brilliant in the role of the Assyrian princess - Egyptian hostage who becomes the wife of Pharaoh but is soon, due to jealousy and sick ambition, accused of assassination and sentenced to cruel fate... SPOILER: But as long as there is romance, there is hope of survival, there is room for justice, for punishing the wicked and for a happy end...

WILL THE LEADING ACTRESS MAKE YOUR DAY?

It is true that the film was and still is worth seeing due to Debra Paget who makes the story interesting and the whole film pretty enjoyable to watch. The rest of the cast have their moments, but moments of strength and weakness as well. Among better ones, I would mention the famous Italian actor of that time, Ettore Manni. However, generally these are average performances. It is only Debra Paget who will make your day.

TOO MUCH HAUNTED BY MORE COLOSSAL EPICS?

If you expect this movie to stun you like some American movies of the time, I once again refer to what I have already said: it is more ANNIBALE than THE TEN COMMANDMENTS. Due to low budget, this film can mostly offer interior sets, some are clearly fake, the costumes mix the dynasties ruling in Egypt throughout centuries. The same can be said about historical accuracy. The movie is rather an adventure than history. Moreover, its content is built upon previous American films. Resi (Ettore Manni), the surgeon, for instance, reminds me much of Sinuhe, particularly in the scene when Pharaoh accuses him of healing the poor. Ambitious Kefren is pretty much like Rameses from DeMille's film, the only difference being the fact he is not the Pharaoh's son.

JUST A FEW WORDS AT THE END...

Not to make my comment too wordy because it is not one of those movies that can be analyzed in more details, I'll put this in a nutshell: IL SEPOLCHRO DEI RE is a film for epic buffs, for people who already have some knowledge of the genre. Then, this may be understood in the right way being seen as one among many others. Otherwise, the movie will be an average adventure for you that you will see and will soon forget. Unless, we take into consideration one more aspect that everyone will find impressive: Debra Paget. 5/10

Absolutely Historical Nonsense!!!

[bcarruthers-76500 · 6/10 · 21 March 2019]

This is supposed to be the story of Cleopatra's daughter Shila, as she's called in this movie. The problem is that Cleopatra's real daughter Selene II lived between the years of 49- 6 BC. Her supposedly husband Nemorat/Khufu, as he's called if you look at the IMDb or the Wikipedia cast listings, lived between the years of 2589 and 2566 BC. This movie is supposed to be set during the reign of Khufu so somebody, somewhere, obviously made a mistake somehow or perhaps they chose Khufu because it was a royal name. The other problem there is that there was only one King Khufu ever listed. From a viewing point of view the only good thing about this movie was Debra Paget, the beautiful American actress who played Shila. On the other hand, the hypochondriac, idiotic Pharoah Nemorat/Khufu, who's mother told him women were dirty, and was forever complaining about bees and wasps getting into his ears to eat his brain, that's if they could find it, was beyond a joke. If Khufu was supposed to be the "real pharoah", you're talking about the same guy who commissioned the building of the Great Pyramid of Giza, one of the seven wonders of the world, which actually still stands in Egypt today. I'll give Peplum Studios something though, for an early movie of theirs, at least they chose to be in Egypt for a change. At the end of the movie, as Resi (Ettore Mani), and Slila (Debra Paget) ride off into the sunset, you're wondering, (from a historical point of view), what the he** the movie was all about. bcarruthers-76500

On the Cutting Out of Tongues

[Steve_Nyland · 4/10 · 17 November 2017]

Meanwhile back at the sarcophagus, Italian filmmakers go to great lengths to create an effectively atmospheric Peplum set during the time of the Ancient Egyptian empires. Or there abouts, depends on which language version you encounter. The sets are elegant, the costumes right out of a high school textbook and the film delivers the goods if you like talky period-type drama mixed in with your Swords & Sandals. Lots of intrigue involving royal courts, family lineage, duplicitous religious leaders, and Debra Paget decked out in a Pharaonic babe-getup that is very easy on the eyes. She can lounge around eating grapes over at my place anytime and the dialog is surprisingly fluid for Italian translated to English.

All of which is routine. The film will stand out in my mind as the one where the threat of having one's tongue cut out is repeated sufficient times to prove curious. The first time was cool. The second time was odd. The third time had me wondering if the dubbing was on right, and the fourth time made me laugh. Maybe there's a drinking game to be had here. Nothing else about the film's story made much of an impression though I do not regret the time invested (wasted?), no, consumed by watching it. A mummy subplot could have been cool, or maybe more slave chicks. At least a giant cyclops or something, Guys.

Which is perhaps why having a female lead with a respectable pedigree in such a production will ultimately work against the film's appeal beyond the boundaries of genre viewers. Since Ms. Paget is the intended focus of our ardor the fate of random half naked slave chicks hurled to their doom for the entertainment of some slavering despot becomes less pressing to the needs of the plot, and sadly the filmmakers took the easy way out. Court intrigue or giant a cyclops devouring centurions? If choosing the former, bingo.

Boring first half leads to a great extended climax

[Leofwine_draca · 5/10 · 26 February 2016]

By all rights I wasn't expecting to enjoy this stodgy historical drama at all: devoid of much action, it seemed talky and dull, like HEROD THE GREAT or HEAD OF A TYRANT. The obvious paucity of the budget meant that, aside from a dodgy superimposed building in the background of a scene at the beginning of the film, we aren't in for any real Egyptian locations: even though pyramids are present in the plot, we never get to see any of them. In addition, the acting is nothing to write home about: Debra Paget (THE HAUNTED PALACE) is nothing more than wooden in the titular role, and the various plotters at the court are never evil enough to make much of an impact (where's Edmund Purdom when you need him?). In fact, aside from reliable character actor Ettore Manni in a good turn as the heroic court physician and the chap playing the beleaguered architect – who I think is Robert Alda, Alan's dad, nobody in the cast really stands out. I was looking out for Rosalba Neri in a minor part but couldn't spot her.

However, about halfway through the film, things pick up and start getting interesting. There's a poisoning plot straight out of Shakespeare and some murky goings-on in sinister tombs replete with bodies and sarcophagi, and a brilliant fight scene in which Manni fends off a crazed knife-wielding embalmer. Then Paget gets buried alive (shades of THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER here) and suddenly the film gets quite good. We join a band of grave-robbers as they break into the tomb, only to encounter all manner of deadly traps and double-crosses in the sweaty confines. We get a decently-done cave-in and then a classic (and surprisingly bloody) death for the villain, who's shot to death with about a dozen arrows. Sure, this film can never be watched more than once, even by history buffs, but it's short and, for once, has more adventure than stodge. And that is a definite plus.

Cleopatterer had a daughter?

[bkoganbing · 2/10 · 30 November 2010]

After her role as Lilia opposite John Derek in Cecil B. DeMille's The Ten Commandments, roles started getting scarce on the big screen for Debra Paget who as I write this review is the last living of the major players left from that classic. Look at her credits, she did a lot of television after that and like so many of her contemporaries, mostly male though, went to Italy for big screen sand and sandal epics. But Cleopatra's Daughter is in no way like the Elizabeth Taylor classic that came out three years later.

For if you remember in that fairly historically accurate film, Cleopatra had no daughter with Julius Caesar or anyone else. She had a son who disappeared after her overthrow, but no daughter. Assyria as a kingdom was no more by Cleopatra's time and there were no more Pharoahs ruling Egypt. Other than all this, Cleopatra's Daughter is a film of great veracity, NOT.

Cleo's kid played by Paget goes to live with the Assyrian royal house who bring her up like their own, but now the new ruling house of Egypt, presumably the one left there by Augustus has conquered Assyria and to cement their usurping dynasty, the Queen Mother who really runs things wants Debra to marry her idiot Pharoah son who is a real Mama's boy.

Paget's got eyes for the royal physician Ettore Manni, but there's folks with designs on the throne. She's implicated in the poisoning of the Pharoah and sentenced to be put to death and buried in the great tomb of Cheops which he has constructed (another historical anomaly). Manni in a bit lifted from Romeo and Juliet gives Paget a potion that will fake death and his task is to get her out of the tomb once it's sealed up. Breaking in isn't easy and Manni gets some grave robbing professionals to help him do it.

If you think this is all ridiculous enough, it gets even worse, but I won't reveal any more. I think that most Hollywood performers who went to Italy to revive their sagging careers did their worst work there. Only Clint Eastwood made a career from spaghetti westerns, no one did it from gladiator films.

All that was needed was for June Allyson to come on doing a chorus of the Cleopatterer song that she did in Till The Clouds Roll By.

Alleged historical claptrap that seems more like an "Aida" rip-off.

[mark.waltz · 3/10 · 23 July 2013]

Looking much as she did in "The Ten Commandments", Debra Paget points out here that movie costume designers didn't think that fashion had changed between the days of Moses and post Cleopatra days a thousand years apart. The ridiculous story has Cleopatra with an alleged daughter Shila given up to the Assyrians to raise who becomes against her will the new Pharaoh's wife and is accused of his poisoning after refusing to make love to him. The fact that not only is this Pharaoh (Corrado Pani) totally insane but possibly gay makes the film even more ridiculous with his overly possessive mother (Yvette Lebon) standing over everything he does while it is obvious all the time who was responsible. Throw in the doctor (Ettore Manni) who must save Shila from being buried alive with the dead Pharaoh's rotting corpse and you have one laughably macabre plot.

Poorly photographed and dubbed into English, this film does at least try to make itself look like it attempted to give a true ancient Egyptian feel to the proceedings. While historically speaking the film is utter tripe, at least the film doesn't utilize phony British accents as Hollywood did to dub the performers, and some of the props momentarily had me convinced that there was a slight semblance of authenticity to what they were trying to dramatize.

Not so Good

[artpf · 5/10 · 17 November 2013]

Cleopatra, after the civil war that followed the assassination of Caesar, met with Marc Antony in Assyria where they planned the defense of Egypt against the Romans.

Before leaving, Cleopatra entrusted her young daughter, Shila, to the rulers of Assyria to be brought up as their own.

After Marc Antony's defeat and Cleopatra's death, Egypt, for the next twenty years, was torn apart and ruled by a youthful Pharaoh, Nemorat, with his despot Queen Mother, Tegi, who desired to unite both kingdoms and strengthen her son's rule by conquering Assyria and making Shila, now a beautiful woman, his queen.

Sounds intriguing, right?

Not sure what the budget was for this period piece, but it's tedious

The Romance of Resi and Shila

[Rainey-Dawn · 4/10 · 19 January 2017]

After Julius Caesar's death, Marc Antony and Cleopatra met in Assyria for political purposes. While there, Cleopatra left her daughter Shila with the Assyrians rulers. Shila was raised by and as one of the Assyrian royals. In the years following the death of Marc Antony and Cleopatra, Egypt is in turmoil from their evil and mentally ill Pharaoh Nemorat. Nemorat's Queen Mother, Tegi, wanted her son Pharaoh Nemorat and the Princess Shila to marry in order to unite Egypt and Assyria. Shila rejected Nemorat and he took some poison then died. Now the Queen Mother Tegi has Shila imprisoned for the death of her son. The royal physician, Resi, is in love with Shila and wants to help her. Tegi's younger son, Kefren, is now next in line for the throne. Now Resi and Shila must risk all for their love of one another. Resi has a plan to get the Princess Shila out of prison before she is put to death by order of the Egyptian Queen Mother Tegi.

This is a fairly good "B" historical drama. It's not great but it did hold my interest fairly well, I was surprised by how pleasant it was. The first half of the film I did find boring but it picked up about 1/2 through it.

4.5/10

Minor epic succeeds in adventurous entertainment

[ccmiller1492 · 8/10 · 24 February 2004]

The beautiful young Sushila (Debra Paget) is forced into a political marriage with young Pharaoh Nemorat in order to consolidate power. However, the young Pharaoh is beset with mental illness and the marriage becomes dangerous, all the while the chief advisor Kefren (a menacing Erno Crisa) and his scheming mistress plot to destroy the unstable pair. The girl is framed for an attempt on the vulnerable king's life and sentenced to death. Meanwhile, her sympathetic would-be lover, the handsome physician Resi (Ettore Manni in one of his best roles)concocts a scheme to save her by drugging her to appear dead and reviving her later when they can escape. However, she is sealed into her former young husband's tomb with the air supply rapidly running out. The action plot proceeds at a brisk pace and holds viewers interest which is increased by well-acted parts with attractive players, great costumes and sets.

New Kingdom as opposed to Ptolemaic Egypt

[clearwoodlouis · 9/10 · 27 June 2007]

I remember this film being on TV as a movie, which my mother didn't like, so I never got a chance to see it for over 40 years until now. I notice that this Italian movie is probably not about Cleopatra's Daughter at all. Debra Paget somewhat fresh from "The Ten Commandments" again revisits ancient Egpyt in this classic. The title of the Italian original is "Sepolchro dei re," "Sepulchre of the King" shows that this film could be about a New Kingdom pharaoh (16th to the 11th centuries B.C.) rather than about a Ptolemaic one (4th to the 1st centuries B.C.). I liked the film, and I was glad to be finally able to see it. A famous reviewer says that the film is sadistic.