1950s due  to disappointing box office returns of some major releases. Orders  were given to search the Fox script library for a proven property  that could be remade. The project chosen was  _Cleopatra (1917)_ (qv), a Theda Bara (qv) film that had been a  smash hit for the studio. What the studio needed was a producer  willing to handle the project. At about the same time, veteran  producer Walter Wanger (qv) approached Fox with an idea for a  project he had been planning for several years: the story of  Cleopatra. In the words of David Brown (I) (qv), "We fell on him."