|
In
this movie Cleopatra is quite a handful. Dishing out plagues
and other goodies.
Asterix and Cleopatra (French: Astérix et Cléopâtre) is a French comic book story, written by René Goscinny and illustrated by Albert Uderzo. It is the sixth story in the Asterix comic book series, and was originally published by Dargaud as a serial for Pilote magazine in 1963, before later being released as a comic album in 1965.
The story focuses on Asterix and Obelix accompanying their village's druid, Getafix, to Ancient Egypt, in order to help an architect friend of his complete a major construction project that will allow Cleopatra to win a bet against
Julius
Caesar.
The comic received two film adaptations - an animated film of the same name in 1968, and a live-action film, Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra, in 2002. An audiobook adaptation was also published by Hodder and Stoughton.
PLOT
SUMMARY
In Egypt, Julius Caesar belittles the Egyptians for being no longer a great civilisation compared to the Romans. Infuriated to hear this,
Cleopatra, queen of the Ptolemaic Kingdom, makes a wager with him that she can prove that they are still great by having a grand palace constructed in Alexandria within three months. Caesar naturally accepts the wager. To handle the construction project, Cleopatra assigns Edifis, a man who claims to be the best architect in her kingdom, to build the palace, promising to reward him greatly with gold, but warns he will be fed to the sacred crocodiles of the
Nile if he fails. Concerned with the task he has been given, Edifis decides to travel to Gaul, in order to request aid from his old friend Getafix, a druid who supplies his village with a magic potion that gives them superhuman strength to resist the Romans.
Getafix agrees to help, and travels back with Edifis to Egypt, accompanied by Asterix, Obelix, and Dogmatix - Obelix's new pet dog. As they begin to help with construction, Edifis flatly refuses the assistance of his rival, Artifis, over their work ethics. Angered by this, Artifis attempts to sabotage the palace's construction, but is thwarted by the Gauls. Infuriated by this, he assigns a henchman, Krukhut, to have Asterix and his friends trapped within a pyramid, only to be shocked when he learns they escaped - thanks to Dogmatix. To be rid of them, Artifis attempts to frame them by sending a poisoned cake to Cleopatra, who promptly accuses the Gauls of trying to kill her. Seeking to prove their innocence, Getafix makes out the cake is safe to eat - through the use of a potion the group secretly use - while claiming her food taster, who was poisoned by the cake, is suffering indigestion from the rich food he tastes.
After being released, the Gauls find Edifis missing from the construction site, and suspect Artifis of kidnapping him. Asterix and Obelix promptly raid his home, where his henchman panics and reveals the missing architect was imprisoned in the basement. As punishment for their actions, the Gauls make Artifis and his henchman help with construction, but without the aid of the magic potion. As construction nears completion, Caesar becomes suspicious over the Egyptian's speed and assigns an Egyptian spy, Mintjulep, to investigate. When he returns, Mintjulep explains about the presence of the Gauls and their magic potion, which prompts Caesar to order several of his legions to assault the construction site and capture them. Despite defending against the attack, Asterix and Dogmatix find themselves forced to deliver news of the attack to Cleopatra, when the
Romans use catapults to shell the building site.
Caesar finds himself shamed by Cleopatra, who calls him out for acting dishonourably with their wager, upon visiting the site in haste. To make amends with her, he promptly has his legions repair the damage they caused to the palace. Construction is eventually completed on time, much to Cleopatra's delight, allowing Edifis to be rewarded with gold; he and Artifis also reconcile their differences and agree to work together on future projects. Delighted that Caesar honoured the conditions of their wager, Cleopatra thanks the Gauls, gifting Getafix with several papyrus manuscripts from the Library of Alexandria. The group soon return home to Gaul, where Obelix attempts to give his menhirs an Egyptian obelisk look, only to be criticised by Chief Vitalstatistix for doing so.
CHARACTERS
- Asterix – Gaulish warrior, and the main protagonist of the story.
- Obelix – Gaulish menhir delivery man and warrior, and a close friend of
Asterix.
- Dogmatix – Obelix's pet dog, who is loyal to him and Asterix.
- Getafix – Gaulish druid, responsible for the superhuman magic potion his village uses.
- Julius Caesar – Leader of the Roman Empire (based upon the historical version of the real-life Roman figure).
- Cleopatra – Queen of the Egyptians of the Ptolemaic Kingdom (based upon the historical version of the real-life Ancient Egyptian queen).
- Edifis – An Egyptian architect and close friend of Getafix, who constructs buildings in which some still remain standing.
- Artifis – An Egyptian architect, formerly a friend of Edifis who is now his rival, due to his work ethics with labourers.
- Mintjulep – An Egyptian spy who serves the Romans.
- The Pirates – A group of pirates led by Captain Redbeard, who often suffer bad luck with the Gauls.
1968 MOVIE
Asterix and Cleopatra (French: Astérix et Cléopâtre) is a 1968 Belgian–French animated comedy film; it is the second Asterix adventure to be made into a feature film. Overseen by Asterix creators Goscinny and Uderzo (who had no involvement in the production of the first film, Asterix the Gaul and in their director debuts), the film is noticeably more well-produced than its predecessor, featuring far more detailed animation and a more polished soundtrack.
Asterix and Cleopatra is practically a musical, featuring three individual song sequences and a more varied score than the earlier film. Elements of satire and surreal humour (such as Cleopatra's singing lion and the engraving of
Santa Claus on the
pyramid wall) are prominent throughout.
PLOT
After a heated argument with Julius Caesar over his lack of faith in the Egyptian people,
Queen Cleopatra enters into a bet claiming that she can have a magnificent palace constructed for him in
Alexandria within three months. She gives this enormous task to her best architect Numerobis (despite his shortcomings), informing him that he will be covered with gold if he succeeds or thrown to the crocodiles if he fails. Daunted and distraught, believing the task to be insurmountable without some sort of magic, Numerobis travels to Gaul to seek help from the famous druid Panoramix.
Panoramix agrees to return to Egypt with Numerobis, while Asterix and Obelix insist on accompanying them. Obelix further insists that Idefix be allowed to join the voyage and smuggles him along despite objections from Asterix. En route to
Egypt, Numerobis' ship is met by a gang of pirates. Poetic justice rules the day as the pirate ship is boarded by Asterix and Obelix, who scuttle it after a largely one-sided fight. Upon reaching Egypt, it becomes clear that Numerobis is not a particularly gifted architect; in Cleopatra's words his buildings are "the laughing stock of those who don't live in them". His scheming rival Amonbofis proposes that they collaborate in order to build Caesar's palace on time and divide the reward between them; the catch being that Numerobis alone be thrown to the crocodiles should they fail. Numerobis refuses and Amonbofis swears vengeance, angered further by the injuries he sustains while negotiating Numerobis' house (which later collapses altogether).
Amonbofis raises tensions amongst the construction workers by convincing them that they are being exploited by Numerobis and encourages them to strike. To win them over and enhance their productivity, Panoramix gives the workers his magic potion which enables them to continue effortlessly with the construction of the palace. Panoramix refuses to give any to Obelix, much to his disgruntlement. Building progress becomes so rapid that the labourers exhaust their supplies of stone; Amonbofis has bribed the supplier to dump the subsequent shipment into the Nile and the Gauls are forced to escort a fleet of ships to fetch more. Sightseeing en route, the trio visit the Pyramids at Giza. In his attempt to scale the
Sphinx, Obelix provides an outlandish hypothesis as to how the monument came to be without a nose. The Gauls are intercepted by Amonbofis' sidekick Krukhut, who poses as a guide with the intention of getting the Gauls lost during a tour of the Great Pyramid. Trapped deep within the pyramid, Panoramix gives Obelix his first taste of magic potion, presumably to give him the strength to break them out. The Gauls fail to negotiate the maze, but eventually escape after being heroically tracked by Idefix. Undeterred, Amonbofis and Krukhut make a further attempt to prevent the stone reaching its destination by hiring the same gang of pirates seen earlier in the film to attack the fleet on its return to Alexandria. A short second encounter with the pirates alleviates Obelix's boredom, despite their cowardly attempt at retreat. In a final effort to stop the three Gauls, Amonbofis frames them for an attempt to poison Cleopatra with the gift of a cake made from such ingredients as arsenic, strychnine and vitriol. Asterix, Obelix and Panoramix are thrown into the dungeon after the Queen's taster becomes ill from eating the cake. Panoramix carries an antidote that enables them to eat the remainder of the cake (giving the impression that it was in fact harmless) as well as curing the taster after claiming he has indigestion. The Gauls are pardoned and catch Amonbofis and Krukhut despite their attempt to hide inside Sarcophogi; their punishment is to work for Numerobis as labourers.
Cleopatra gloats over the likelihood of winning her bet to Caesar, who fears he will lose face with her should she get the better of him and instructs his spy to infiltrate the building site. Learning that the Gauls and their magic potion are involved, Caesar orders his three mercenaries, brothers, to kidnap Panoramix and knock over the cauldron for which they will receive a bag of gold. However, the oldest brother tells the other two to capture Panoramix while he knocks over the potion. While they tie up and gag Panoramix the mercenary drinks the potion and knocks over the cauldron, before overpowering his brothers and taking Panoramix to Caesar. The two mercenaries are caught by Asterix and Obelix, who learn of what has happened to Panoramix. The Mercenary returns to Caesar and is given the
gold while Panoramix is imprisoned. However, he is then caught by Asterix and Obelix who learn where Panoramix is. The Mercenary is thrown away and his brothers take him away to have 'a word' with him. Asterix and Obelix promptly free Panoramix. In desperation, Caesar holds the construction site under siege and bombards the unfinished palace with boulders. Cleopatra intervenes after Asterix brings a message to her, forcing Caesar to lift the siege and despite the damage, the palace is completed on schedule. Numerobis is honoured and the Gauls are escorted home aboard Cleopatra's luxury ship, much to the displeasure of the sacred
crocodiles.
Character Original Dub English Dub
Asterix Roger Carel Lee Payant
Obelix Jacques Morel Hal Brav
Getafix Lucien Raimbourg John Primm
Julius Caesar Jean Parédès Anthony Stuart
Edifis Pierre Tornade George Birt
Vitalstatistix Yves Brainville
Pirate Captain Pierre Trabaud Arch Taylor
Centurion Operachorus Edward Marcus
Cleopatra Micheline Dax Ginger Hall
ADDITIONAL VOICES
Original: Roger Carel (Dogmatix, Caesar's Spy), Maurice Chevit, Gérard Darrieu, Claude Dasset, Pierre Garin, Olivier Hussenot, Jacques Balutin (Krukhut), Bernard Lavalette (Artifis, Narrator), Jacques Bodoin (Lion), Jacques Jouanneau (Cacofonix), Rodolphe Marcilly, Joël Noël, Alfred Personne, Eddy Rasimi, Pierre Tornade (Mercenary), Pierre Trabaud (Egyptian captain)
English: Alexandre Klimenko, Bruce Johansen, Colin Drake, Derry Hall, François Valorbe, George Keros, James Shuman, Jean Fontaine, John Rounds, Lyle Joyce, Mezz Mezzrow, Michael Brown, Patrick O'Hara, Paula D'Alba, Steve Waring.
RECEPTION
In the United Kingdom, the film was watched by 600,000 viewers on television in 2004, making it the year's second most-watched European-language film on
television.
REFERENCE
https://
Superb
art, great use of colour, direction and perspective.
|