Sure, art imitates life too much when you watch this movie knowing all about what went on between Liz and Dick off-camera but that still doesn't diminish the fact that as far as epics go, "Cleopatra", while not in the same class as "Ben Hur" is as good as or better than other quality epics like "Spartacus". Rex Harrison and Roddy McDowall are brilliant as Caesar and the future Caesar Augustus respectively, while Elizabeth Taylor comes off better than you'd be led to believe since she plays the Queen of the Nile less as a sexy vamp and more as a shrewd, calculating practitioner of realpolitik. While Claudette Colbert's take in the DeMille version is infinitely sexier, I have to agree with George MacDonald Fraser who said that Taylor's Cleopatra is probably closer to the real thing.
Less effective is Richard Burton, who seems preoccupied with other things (as we all know!) and gives a performance not as good as his centurion in "The Robe." Also jarring is to see Caroll O'Connor as Casca, one of Caesar's assassins. Granted, who knew at the time he would later become Archie Bunker, but still.....
Alex North contributes the best score never to be given a legitimate CD release, while the sets, costumes and backdrops are so exquisite that in the end you can't help but think that if ancient Rome and Egypt wasn't like this, it *ought* to have been. The makers of this film are to be commended for having overcome a lot of adversity and off-camera hijinks to still turn out what remains a very good film and worth a look at especially in the environment of home video where one doesn't need a single setting (But do try to find the widescreen laser disc or else it's not worth it).
Less effective is Richard Burton, who seems preoccupied with other things (as we all know!) and gives a performance not as good as his centurion in "The Robe." Also jarring is to see Caroll O'Connor as Casca, one of Caesar's assassins. Granted, who knew at the time he would later become Archie Bunker, but still.....
Alex North contributes the best score never to be given a legitimate CD release, while the sets, costumes and backdrops are so exquisite that in the end you can't help but think that if ancient Rome and Egypt wasn't like this, it *ought* to have been. The makers of this film are to be commended for having overcome a lot of adversity and off-camera hijinks to still turn out what remains a very good film and worth a look at especially in the environment of home video where one doesn't need a single setting (But do try to find the widescreen laser disc or else it's not worth it).