CLEOPATRA (Fox, 1963) D: Joseph L. Mankiewicz, w/ Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton. Rating: NNN Blu-ray package: NNNNN Rating: NNN
Cleopatra isn’t as bad as its reputation, and to this day, it’s unbeaten for lavish spectacle. Cleopatra’s triumphant entry into Rome is worth the rental price alone, and throughout there are thousands of extras, gigantic, richly detailed sets and beautiful costumes. Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra gets a new outfit for every scene, plus new eye makeup.
In 48 BC, Cleopatra, politically astute and ambitious, persuades Julius Caesar (Rex Harrison), the most powerful man on earth, to join in her world domination plan, but Caesar is assassinated. Cleopatra tries again with his friend Marc Antony (Richard Burton). Disaster ensues.
The tale is strong, but the telling is weak. Cleopatra was made from a first-draft script being written by director Joseph Mankiewicz as shooting progressed. The dialogue is stiff, and as a result so are the actors. It was also conceived as two three-hour movies but cut back to one four-hour flick, so great chunks of necessary character development and subplots are missing.
The production was chaos. In an era when extravaganzas cost $8 million, Cleopatra came in at around $44 million. Taylor and Burton, both married, began their much-publicized affair and scandalized the world. These and many more disasters are richly detailed in an extras package that includes a two-hour making-of doc, publicists’ personal letters and a commentary that features Martin Landau and two of Mankiewicz’s sons.
EXTRAS Commentary, two making-of docs, letters, more. English, French, Spanish audio and subtitles.
