Stream it now Cleopatra 1963

 

An epic production that is one of the most expensive films ever made, the behemoth that is Cleopatra is one to enjoy in two or more sittings. The lavish sets and stars complement the famous story of the most famous Ancient Egyptian queen.

This movie is long. 4 hours and 3 minutes to be exact. But if you're looking for an example of a classic 60's 20th Century Fox big budget film, this is it. It has all the pageantry of classic film making, with its elaborate sets and costumes (both of which it won Oscars for along with cinematography and effects). That, along with it's star studded cast (including Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton) make it worth the 4 hours. However, I think it's one of those movies where once is enough.

In the tradition of great hollywood epics of the time, such as Spartacus and Ben Hur comes a film often quoted as the most expensive film ever made (according to imdb.com: "Its budget of $44 million is equivalent to 297 million 2007 dollars"). It might be one of the grandest disasters ever filmed. Director Joseph Mankiewicz created an ode to hubris that has never been duplicated. Apart from Rex Harrison, who gives an admirable performance as Julius Caesar, the lead actors all display gross indulgences in over-acting; dramatic whispers suddenly upturned by great thunderous bellowing. Roddy McDowall ("Octavian") gives a particularly ham-fisted performance, and there's some unintended humor in his delivery. Granted, many of these performers were originally from the stage, but really, subtlety is nowhere to be found in this film. The dialogue is pseudo-shakespearean, only melodramatic rather than poetic. This film is the early 60s equivalent of a Brad Pitt/Angelina Jolie period piece production, and hollywood actors take note: when put something out with the sole intention of making a great spectacle for great profit, it will probaby age just as poorly as Cleopatra.

A little too long, other than that, a great movie.

Blimey this just goes on & on till the point where a whole day has vanished into thin air never to be reclaimed.

Well, you have to admit you can see where the money went. I mean, leaving aside insane production delays and the seven million dollars for Elizabeth Taylor, this is a very lush movie. I mean, okay, it also has to do with rebuilding sets in Italy after screwing things up in London, but you can actually see the money on the screen, too. In one of the most glorious moments pretty much ever committed to film, Elizabeth Taylor is actually wearing a gold dress. Real gold. 24-karat, allegedly, though I'm not sure I'm buying that. It doesn't seem practical. But even leaving out the alloy or not of her dress, she's standing in what must be one of the most elaborate sets ever built, with probably literally thousands of extras, lush costumes for all, including young Caesarion (Loris Loddi), also in gold. But probably not pure gold; he was four.

Cleopatra (Taylor) is, once her brother Ptolemy XIII (Richard O'Sullivan) is taken down, the ruler of all Egypt. The person instrumental in assuring such a thing is Julius Caesar (Rex Harrison), who immediately becomes enamoured with the powerful, beautiful, intelligent queen. He has a wife, Calpurnia (Gwen Watford), at home, but Cleopatra can give him what Calpurnia cannot--a son. He embroils himself in Roman politics, and Cleopatra urges him on, urges him to take as much power as he can until he is the ruler of all the Roman Empire. As history as shown us, that didn't so much work for him. Marc Antony (Richard Burton) then turns his attention to avenging Caesar's death by killing the traitors. Octavian, later Caesar Agustus (Roddy McDowall), is not so happy with his triumphs, the less so when Antony gets caught up in Egyptian power--especially because Caesarion should be Caesar's heir instead. Antony and Cleopatra, despite her undying affection for Caesar, become one of those couples destined to be remembered for one another throughout history.

One of the things I found most interesting was one of the things I'm not sure most people even noticed. In many places, Cleopatra is wearing dresses ornamented with snakes. (I also noticed that Elizabeth Taylor pronounced "Isis" wrong, which bothered me. But anyway.) One of her wigs has a small golden snake sinuously lying atop her head, its tongue nearly touching her forehead. It's foreshadowing, of course, and not as clumsily done as it could have been. It's a rare subtle touch in this film of excesses. She set a record for number of costume changes in a single film with this, with the gold dress being just the most ostentatious--I'm pretty sure the most elaborate, too, but only pretty sure. The men are running around in itty-bitty skirts most of the time. The women are wearing more but it's gauzier. (And under some of that is Francesca Annis--Lady Jessica Atreides--as faithful-to-the-end Eiras, with Isabel Cooley as her companion Charmian.) Elizabeth Taylor has dozens of wigs, dozens of dresses, enough jewelry to sink a small ship. And, here and there, golden snakes.

This film also features one of the most painful moments in history--the burning of the Library at Alexandria. It is one of the things that makes me like Cleopatra the woman in this. She is herself anguished at the loss. She bursts in on Caesar, begging and cajoling and commanding him to put it out, and there is such utter despair in her when he refuses. She knows the loss as much as we have come to. In those days, ships putting into Alexandria could be searched for new books, which would not be allowed back onto those ships until the Alexandrian scribes copied them. The library was actually burned a few times, tragically, and this was but the first. However, I must admire director/"writer" (apparently, there was never in so many words an actual shooting script) Joseph L. Mankiewicz for his efforts in this. He clearly knows what a pivotal moment in history was, even if it really wasn't in the lives of the characters.

Okay. The dialogue--hard to really call it "writing"--is a little, or more a lot, overblown. The acting is melodramatic. The history is questionable at best. And, oddly, I don't really see any of the known chemistry between Taylor and Burton on the screen. The story of their relationship during and after the making of this movie is at least half of why I chose to watch it--that and the budget, really; in 2006 dollars, it's the single most expensive film ever made. I expected to find their relationship as sizzling, albeit in a different way, as in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf. But when she tells him that there was no life without him, that she could only go home to Egypt and her son to die, I frankly wasn't buying it. Shame, really.

I've never seen so many White Africans in my life. Who knew Cleopatra was so pale?

.....

Classic overblown Hollywood. The film just feels like a mess and choppy. THere are some truely amazing scenes but they come rarely.

:fresh: Cleopatra is a heavy film that lenghts a little more than 4 hours but these hours of entertainment are full of sublime costumes and stages. The characters were, I think well chosen and although certainly it is not the best Liz Taylor's performance I think she did it decently, she was a thousand times more beautiful than the original Cleopatra and that is something that the Queen of the Nile should be thankful with.

The film has just one big trouble: it is clear that was very expensive and has some scenes that seems obvious were bad edited because some situations are not clear or the screenplay also seems incomplete. Anyway it is hard to find nowadays a film with the same spectacle and luxury; I liked it and recommend it for a very special DVD.