A Queen for Caesar

Pascale Petit did never become a big star in her native France although the late fifties provide her with her best part in Marcel Carné ' s" Les Tricheurs".

Her Cleopatra is more comic strip stuff than historical drama (although unfairly underrated ,Mankiewicz' s magnum opus has no contenders ) ,but as pure entertainment , not to be taken seriously , it's not worse than the average sword-and -sandal flick :muscle man Gordon Scott (later a secret agent) is completely miscast ,being too young (and Cesar was bald!),but as he only appears late in the movie ,it does not matter ;It's actually George Ardisson (himself a sword and sandal habitué ,later a secret agent too) who plays Cleo's attentive escort and whose character was invented from start to finish ).

The screenplay often verges on tongue in chick ,probably the best way to deal with such a far-fetched story.

I wonder if Elizabeth Taylor watched this before she took on the role played here by Pascale Petit one year later? I can't think she would have gained much from the rather wooden effort presented of this most enigmatic of women from history. Sharing the throne with her brother "Ptolemy" (an enthusiastic Corrado Pani) has proved just too awkward for all and so the scheming Theodotus (Ennio Balbo) plots a regime change. This forces our heroine and her protector Apollodorus (Franco Volpi) to take urgent action that sees her end up in the camp of Pompeii (Akim Tamiroff) who has some scheming of his own to do to outwit Caesar (Gordon Scott). Were the acting just a bit more natural and better, this wouldn't be half bad. Effort has been made on the look of the film. The sets and the costumes are effective and the combat scenes are pretty entertaining fayre. It's just that Petit and the even more static "Lucius" (Rik Battaglia) drive the fun and chemistry from the thing quickly and permanently. You don't expect Pulitzer prize writing but again, just a little more application with the typewriter could have made a big difference. Still, I did actually quite enjoy it and I like the genre. If you do, too, then it's certainly worth a gander.

There is a great deal of palace intrigue and skullduggery going on about Cleopatra and her arch-rival brother Ptolemy. Some excitement is generated when the queen is imprisoned and a devoted lovestruck soldier (Giorgio Ardisson) risks his life to free her. After several perilous shifts in the power struggle, the film ends at that entrancing legendary moment when she is smuggled into Caesar's presence rolled in a carpet. Julius (played by a much too young Gordon Scott in a brief cameo role) is bemused.

As a dedicated fan of dubbed 1960s European costume historical adventures, I went into A QUEEN FOR CAESAR with limited expectations, expecting strong performances from such a good cast, but not much else. Boy, was I thrown a curve! First of all, as the other review noted, the entire film takes place BEFORE Cleopatra's time with Caesar and Antony. We begin with Cleo and her nerdy, immature, arrogant brother Ptolameous, who sounds like he is being voiced (in the English dubbed version) by the fifteen year old Sal Mineo!! We also meet a Roman poet who helps Cleopatra; the military leader Pompeius (well-played by Akim Tamiroff), who lusts after Cleopatra and forces her to use her wiles against him to get what she wants; and her boyfriend Achillas, played by the reliable Georges/Giorgio Ardisson. Cleopatra is played by French actress Pascale Petit, who reminds me of a less buxom Jayne Mansfield and who does a wonderful job of being playful yet strong yet vulnerable, which is just what this character is at this point in her rise. As a Gordon Scott fan, I was anxious to see him as Caesar (by the way, I don't think he's too young for the role--he's in his late thirties at least, and he has a commanding presence, so he convinced ME that he could lead an empire and destroy his rivals!), but Caesar is only in the final third of the film, and Scott correctly received "guest star" billing at the end of the credits. I was not familiar with Cleopatra's history (assuming this film is historically accurate), so the final scene came out of the blue for me and was quite outrageous. My head was spinning for a while after a "THE END" credit came on the screen. On my copy of this film, the direction was credited solely to "V. Tourjansky"--Piero Pierotti was not mentioned. As 1960s historical dramas go, I must rate this as well above average. It may not have epic battles or grandiose court scenes, but I was never sure what direction it would go in, and each character was distinctive and full of little quirks that put the film well out of the realm of the average. It took me many years to find a copy of this, but I'm glad I did. I'll have to dig out some of the other films I have that star Pascale Petit--CODE NAME JAGUAR with Ray Danton, and FIND A PLACE TO DIE with Jeffrey Hunter. She is excellent and I can imagine her in a wide variety of roles. Recommended!!

While the long filming of the Hollywood epic CLEOPATRA with Elizabeth TAYLOR was still underway, the film UNA REGINA PER CESARE with Pascale PETIT as the Egyptian queen was being shot at CINECITTA. The German distribution title CLEOPATRA, THE NAKED QUEEN OF THE NILE is once again incredibly stupid. Pascale PETIT is not seen naked once in the film.

The backstory is told before Cleopatra and Gaius Julius Caesar (Gordon SCOTT) meet for the first time. That is why Hollywood star Gordon SCOTT, who has moved to CINECITTA, only has a small appearance at the end. Before that, Cleopatra has to fight with her brother Ptolemy for the succession to the throne. She gets help from a bodyguard (Giorgio ARDISSON), who also becomes her lover. The Italian actor Rik BATTAGLIA also gets involved as the scheming general Lucius. A few years later, BATTAGLIA played the villain in WINNETOU III (1965) who was responsible for the death of the Apache chief Winnetou from the Karl May novels, a character so popular in German-speaking countries. Before Cleopatra finally decides on Caesar, she also tries her luck with his adversary Pompey (Akim TAMIROFF, who received an OSCAR nomination for his role in FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS). We know how that ends from history lessons.

Filming with Elizabeth TAYLOR dragged on for three years, no lie. It's no wonder that the resourceful Italians were able to quickly bring this quite acceptable production to the cinemas. However, the major Hollywood studio 20TH CENTURY FOX didn't like that at all, so they made sure that the film disappeared into obscurity for the time being.