... because it looks so different from his modern Warner Brothers' precode look. But then, if they hadn't rearranged his hair a bit, I would think I'm looking right at the empathetic precode cad. Instead Warren William is playing Julius Caesar as the empathetic precode cad. This just goes to show that DeMille paid great attention to art and costume detail, because - unpopular opinion as it may be - he was overall quite lacking in making his characters come to life.
So DeMille's version of this tale has Julius Caesar as a user who really doesn't love Cleo but instead wants her for her ability to open up India for him, and Marc Anthony as someone who can be easily led about by the wily Cleopatra. Octavian, Caesar's nephew, is playing it more masculine in this version versus the1962 version by Fox. Strangely enough this version has King Herod (Joseph Schildkraut) show up at Cleopatra's court for ... a few laughs? That's better than what I first suspected - that DeMille was using this opportunity to get a few lines about the Christ child thrown in. And I wasn't even sure WHICH King Herod he was referring to.
Overall, the state of the art and science of cinematography is just not up to snuff for what DeMille is probably trying to go for. You can't just yet shoot the expansive scenes of battles and charging troops in 1934 that he would probably like to have had. Yes, 1931's CImarron did it in the land rush scene, but it took 47 cameras over 40 acres to do so. This is probably worthwhile viewing just because DeMille directed it. If someone named Earl Fischbind had been the director, with the exact same output product, I doubt it would still be remembered.
