''Robbing Cleopatra's Tomb'' (, literally ''Cleopatra'') is an 1899 silent trick film directed by

Georges Méliès Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès ( , ; 8 December 1861 – 21 January 1938) was a French magic (illusion), magician, toymaker, actor, and filmmaker. He led many technical and narrative developments in the early days of film, cinema, primarily in th ...

. One of the earliest

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit physical or psychological fear in its viewers. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with Transgressive art, transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements of the genre include Mo ...

s ever made, it is about resurrecting the

mummy A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and Organ (biology), organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to Chemical substance, chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the ...

Cleopatra Cleopatra VII Thea Philopator (; The name Cleopatra is pronounced , or sometimes in both British and American English, see and respectively. Her name was pronounced in the Greek dialect of Egypt (see Koine Greek phonology). She was ...

. 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, who released the film in the United States (under the title ''Robbing Cleopatra's Tomb''; its British release was simply titled ''Cleopatra's Tomb'') and subsequently distributed many of Méliès other films. It's numbered 175–176 in the catalogue. This is a

lost film A lost film is a feature film, feature or short film in which the original negative or copies are not known to exist in any studio archive, private collection, or public archive. Films can be wholly or partially lost for a number of reasons. ...

. 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 1890s lost films 1899 short films Silent French horror films 1890s French films Resurrection in film Trick films Lost short films Lost silent films {{1890s-France-film-stub