What better place to celebrate the art (and commerce!) of Cecil B. DeMille than the Egyptian Theater on Hollywood Boulevard?
An under appreciated director who mined the nexus of the lofty and the lusty, DeMille fits well with the Egyptian Theater’s ornate aesthetic. His influence was ingrained in mainstream American culture by the time Sid Grauman built Hollywood’s house-of-hieroglyphics in 1922.
This coming September 22, following a screening of DeMille’s naughty Claudette Colbert vehicle, “Cleopatra,” (1934), Leonard Maltin will interview author Scott Eyman, author of the new biography, “Emperor of Dreams: The Epic Life of Cecil B. DeMille.”
Film information here.
The dance scene on Cleo’s barge in this version always rocks MY barge. It is so sensuous and makes the Liz Taylor version look like a Monogram film: Liz’s barge sequence – as we all know that “Entrance into Rome” has the entire population of Italy in it. Although LeRoy Prinz is credited, it is Agnes de Mille in her “beginnings” creating the build up: girls, incense, curtains, drums. Marc Anthony does not have a chance in that dream landscape.