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.
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.