Cleopatra
The 1917 lost film
It was once an expensive screen spectacle. Today, only fragments and photographs remain.
Quick facts
- Existence state
- Officially Gone
- Peak stage
- general availability
- Research confidence
- high
- Last verified
What it was
A lavish silent historical drama starring Theda Bara and produced by Fox Film Corporation.
Cleopatra was designed as spectacle: extravagant sets, costumes and a major star at the centre of a feature-length production. It opened normally and circulated as a real commercial film.
Existence timeline
Fox mounts an unusually expensive production around its biggest star.
Cleopatra opens in cinemas and enters commercial distribution.
Prints continue to exist while Bara’s Cleopatra becomes a defining screen image.
Studios increasingly treat older nitrate holdings as having little commercial value.
No full copy is found in studio, archive or private holdings.
Tiny pieces of footage and a rich photographic record preserve only part of the work.
Why it ended
No complete print is known to survive. Like most American silent features, its copies disappeared through deterioration, disposal and the vulnerability of nitrate film.
Last confirmed trace
Brief moving fragments, publicity stills and production photographs are all that remain of the complete performance.
What it left behind
Its loss has made Theda Bara’s most famous screen image better known through still photographs than through the film that created it.
How we classified it
The feature had a normal public release, but only fragments and stills are known to survive.
A theatrical release reached the 100-point general-availability stage.
Sources & verification
Last reviewed 2026-08-01. Sources are linked so readers can inspect the evidence directly.