William Castle in antiquity

Rhonda Fleming was honored in TCM's Summer Under the Stars last August. TCM ran a couple of sword-and-sandal type movies with her as the female lead. I already did a post on Revolt of the Slaves; another one they aired was Serpent of the Nile.

The movie doesn't start out with Fleming. Instead, we get some opening narration about the assasination of Julius Caesar in Rome in 44 BC. This led to infighting among the various members of the cabal that got rid of Caesar, with Brutus and Cassius on one side, and Marc Anthony (Raymond Burr) and Octavian (Michael Fox) on the other. Now, we know that Octavian would later become Emperor Augustine. But first, he and Marc Anthony have to defeat Brutus and Cassius. General Lucilius (William Lundigan) has been serving Brutus, but he realizes the cause is hopeless, so he tries to come up with a way to get Octavian and Marc Anthony to accept his turning to their side.

While Octavian goes back to Rome, Lucilius gets captured by Antony's men. Antony already has a woman by his side, but it's not Cleopatra (that's Rhonda Fleming when we finally get to her) yet. He accepts Lucilius' pledge of loyalty to Rome, claiming that they're two of the same kind. And to make Rome truly peaceful, they're going to have to go to Egypt to pacify Cleopatra. She's been a canny politician, playing Brutus off of Octavian and Anthony in order to keep her dynasty going even if Egypt has to be a vassal of Rome.

Although, to be honest, Cleopatra has always been one to try to get more power for herself. That's why, before Julius Caesar got bumped off, she had been maneuvering to get herself married to Julius so that the two of them could be co-rulers of Roman dominions. Lucilius was with Julius back in those days, so he knows just how clever and beguiling Cleopatra can be. He tries to warn Antony that Cleopatra could be quite dangerous to him, as she was in many ways to Julius.

But as we know, Antony wasn't thinking with his big head, and he eventually falls for Cleopatra and her beauty and lavish displays of opulence. Lucilius sees it coming from a mile away and this makes him a danger to Cleopatra, who has him put under house arrest. But this Antony begins to realize that perhaps Cleopatra really is a danger like Lucilius had been warning him.

Serpent of the Nile was distributed by Columbia under the direction of William Castle and producer Sam Katzman, a couple of names I've mentioned, more briefly in the case of Katzman. Both of them were known for producing as much spectacle as they could get with a very low budget, and that colors this version of the Cleopatra story. Fleming's Cleopatra is really out for herself, not so much looking to be co-ruler of Rome and not as much in love with Antony as other versions. Cleopatra's attempted seduction of Antony includes women with whips and Julie Newmar painted in gold, and that's just the first time.

The casting also makes Serpent of the Nile a bit of a hoot, as Raymond Burr is almost as badly cast playing Marc Antony as many of the casting decisions in The Story of Mankind a few years later. It doesn't help that the dialogue doesn't serve any of them well.

It's easy to see why Serpent of the Nile isn't very highly rated. But it's one of those movies where you know how it's finally going to end being based on famous histoty. It's how it gets there that makes it fun to watch.