''Robbing Cleopatra's Tomb'' (french: Cléopâtre, literally ''Cleopatra'') was an 1899 short

silent film A silent film is a film with no synchronized Sound recording and reproduction, recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) ...

directed by Georges Méliès. One of the earliest horror films ever made, it is about resurrecting the

mummy A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay fu ...

of Cleopatra. In it, a man chops the mummy of Cleopatra into pieces, and then "produces a woman from a smoking brazier." While today director Méliès is more known for his iconic film '' A Trip to the Moon'', it was this film which caught the attention of producer

Charles Urban Charles Urban (April 15, 1867 – August 29, 1942) was an Anglo-American film producer and distributor, and one of the most significant figures in British cinema before the First World War. He was a pioneer of the documentary, educational, propa ...

, who released the film in America (under the title ''Robbing Cleopatra's Tomb''; its English release was simply titled ''Cleopatra's Tomb'') and subsequently distributed many of Méliès other films. This is a

lost film A lost film is a feature Feature may refer to: Computing * Feature (CAD), could be a hole, pocket, or notch * Feature (computer vision), could be an edge, corner or blob * Feature (software design) is an intentional distinguishing char ...

. A print was reported to have been discovered in France on 22 September 2005, but it turned out to be a different film involving tomb robbery.

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* 1899 films 1899 horror films French black-and-white films French silent short films Films directed by Georges Méliès Depictions of Cleopatra on film Mummy films Lost horror films Lost French films French horror films 1890s lost films 1899 short films Silent horror films 1890s French films Resurrection in film {{1890s-France-film-stub