I was really chuffed to find these leather sandals, created following the hype over the 1963 film with Elizabeth Taylor. Furthermore, investigation into past Cleopatra films brought up some interesting finds, such as this article advertising the opportunity to win the shoes worn by Vivian Leigh in the 1945 film.
Do you know if they are 1963? The reason I ask is because the big Cleopatra trend in the U.S. was 1962, a year before the film was released. There was so much hype about the movie that retailers jumped on the Cleo fad too soon. It was the most expensive film made to date, there were well known fights between the stars, Liz Taylor almost died in England... so there was lots to bring attention to itself before the release.
I don't know for certainty no, I deduced that was the latest date they could be from the selection of films available. I would have put them earlier myself, as all the Dolcis footwear I've had from the early 60's are no longer 100% leather, but I suspect being made in Italy was the reason for this. Also the image most closely resembled Liz Taylor rather than any other Cleopatra. The film was in production for a long time so if you think they were producing memorabilia prior to the release they could well be earlier. Now that you say it - the filming began in London 1960 and was moved to Rome after 6 months, so presumably they were made between then and the release.
That would make sense - I bet they are a titch earlier when the hype about the movie was strong. The worst thing they ever did was release that film - it is so LOOOOOOOONG and BOOOOOOOOORing.
We will probably never get to see what the original film was intended to be, the directors studio cut was 6 hours long, he wanted it to be two films but this got rejected and it was then cut to 4 hours, then to 3:15 resulting in a lot of missing narrative and mysterious unseen deaths.
