Monday, February 24, 2020

By the Gods!

Julie Newmar in SERPENT OF THE NILE (1953)

This sorta 'outlandish' scene is many things: First, it's not very Egyptian looking. Second, the gold makeup makes the young Julie Newmar look much older than she was. And third, this is a dance sequence where Julie, an excellent dancer in her own right, dances at the start of this scene but for the most part is made to stand there like a statue.

It's a quirky scene. It wants to be grand and dazzling but ends up being cute and kitschy. And very anachronistic.

Julie is credited as Julie Newmeyer.

Directed by William Castle, this is one of a couple low budget PEPLUM movies released by COLUMBIA PICTURES in the early to mid-1950s. Many people dislike them but I find them fun or interesting. Granted, it's nothing like the 1963 version of CLEOPATRA (1963) but it's fun enough. The screengrabs are taken from a HD version shown on Italian TV. The image is pretty good.

Mark Antony (Raymond Burr), Cleopatra (Rhonda Fleming) and Lucilius (William Lundigan) are the captive spectators. Cleopatra offers the gold to Mark Antony.

4 comments:

  1. Scott OchiltreeFebruary 24, 2020 at 9:18 PM


    I find Julie's dance sequence very sexy. Accordingly I really enjoy it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousFebruary 25, 2020 at 5:48 AM

    William Castle was king of the shlockmeisters.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AnonymousFebruary 26, 2020 at 4:57 PM

    Serpent of the Nile and Slaves of Babylon were Columbia producer Sam Katzman's entries in the epic cycle of the early 1950's. Both were directed on a shoestring budget by William Castle, who the above poster
    rightly calls King of the Shlockmeisters.

    ReplyDelete
  4. AnonymousMay 2, 2024 at 2:49 PM

    Julie Newmeyer, as credited, is Ms. Newmar's real name.

    ReplyDelete