Cleopatra

Synopsis

Feature film directed by Charles L. Gaskill with Helen Gardner as Cleopatra.

Country

United States

Medium

Film

Technical information

Black-and-white / Sound

Year of release

1912

Duration

c66; c6000 feet

Credits

Director

Charles L. Gaskill

Writer

Charles L. Gaskill

Cast

Helen Gardner

Cleopatra

Additional Details

Production type

Fiction Films

Historical period

Ancient Rome

Plays

Antony and Cleopatra

Subjects

Drama

Keywords

Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)

Notes

General

The cast names are cited as Helen Gardner (Cleopatra), Mr Sindelar (Mark Antony), Miss Sinclair (Iras), Harley Knowles (Kephren), Mr Waite (Ventidius), Mr Howard (Pharon), Miss Winter (Charmian), Mr Osborne (Diomedes) and Robert Gaillard.

Textual information

Ball believes that the adapter and director, Charles L. Gaskill freely adapted the play by Victorian Sardou, added a good deal of his own, and used Shakespeare only for a few incidents and the names of some characters.

Reviews

Ball, Robert Hamilton. Shakespeare on Silent Film: A Strange Eventful History. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1968 (pp147-49, 151, 253, 339). Ball writes - ‘The cast of the Gardner film were relatively unknown and since their first names were not given, are largely unidentifiable; the settings, though there a few natural backgrounds, were largely built on a somewhat confined area; the effects are stagy and obvious; and Helen Gardner, to modern eyes, a well upholstered pantomimist but without the ‘infinite variety’ of Cleopatra’.

Production Company

Name

Helen Gardner Picture Players

Archive

Name

George Eastman House

Email

filmstudycenter@geh.org

Web

http://www,eastmanhouse.org External site opens in new window

Phone

1-585 272 3361

Fax

1-585 272 3970

Address

Motion Picture Department
900 East Avenue
Rochester
NY 14607

Name

Museum of Modern Art

Email

fsc@moma.org

Web

http://www.moma.org External site opens in new window

Phone

9212) 708-9613

Address

Celeste Bartos International Film Study Center
11 West 53 Street
New York, New York 10019-5497