Starring:
Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison
Directed
by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
USA/UK:
20th Century-Fox, 1963
If
'lavish' is the singular term to bestow upon the historical epics of
the Fifties and Sixties, Cleopatra exceeds the term in every
way, making it clear from the get-go of its four-hour running time
this, adjusted for inflation, is definitely one of the most excessive
and expensive movies of them all. 20th Century-Fox sure
wasn't thrilled by that fact at the time, as it nearly pushed the
studio into bankruptcy. Nevertheless, it persisted in the project
(since cancellation would have been its death sentence for sure) and
today it remains a testament to just how staggeringly detailed and
rich a movie can be made to look if enough money is thrown at it. In
many ways, Cleopatra is not one, but two movies: director
Joseph L. Mankiewicz always intended for it to be released in two
parts (a decision the home cinema release has honoured by splitting
the movie in half, spread over two discs). The first would have been
called Caesar and Cleopatra, its sequel Antony and
Cleopatra, as the movie conveniently cuts from one male
protagonist to the other around the middle of the film, with the
Queen of Egypt the constant that unites them both in a tale of
passion, decadence, lust and glory.
Grand
diva Elizabeth Taylor plays her most iconic role of all as the young
queen that finds herself in the middle of the plots and intrigue at
the Egyptian court of her brother who means to dispose of her, only
to be saved by the older Roman general Caesar (a thoughtful and
intelligent, but undeniably ruthless and pragmatic character
portrayed by Rex Harrison) who, compelled by her wit and charm,
instead forms an alliance with her and gets rid of her treacherous
sibling. Said union spawns a son, Caesarion, which gives her an
incentive to make a claim on the rule of Rome when his father is
murdered in the Senate. Enter his boorish, no-nonsense
second-in-command Mark Antony (the notorious Richard Burton) who has
his own notions on the matter, but swiftly is suckered into
Cleopatra's web of passion too, an affair destined to end in tragedy.
Ironically, Taylor and Burton couldn't keep their hands off each
other in reality as well, leading to one of the most scandalous and
infamous love affairs in Hollywood history that made Brangelina look
second rate. Keeping the affair in line as well as could be managed –
basically, not at all, thanks to Burton's loudmouth persona – to
avoid overly devastating public scrutiny, coupled with the ever
rising production problems and outrageous costs (driving a movie
originally budgeted at 2 million dollars to a whopping 44 million
dollars), drove many a Fox executive close to madness, but over the
years Cleopatra made a decent recuperation for the studio and
even turned a bit of a profit.
Audiences
sure got what they payed for: an outrageous epic-to-end-all-epics with a
scale and scope still unsurpassed, using some of the biggest sets
ever created, populated by thousands of extras and a diverse range of
wild beasts, all just as background material. And unlike the
digitally saturated present day, it was all there in the flesh,
making the sets look as spectacularly opulent in real life as they
appear on film. Of course the fabulously rich enviroments where
secondary only to Taylor's magnificent performance as the young
monarch, at first relying on her sensual beauty and ever
underestimated intelligence for her own basic survival, but soon
applying both to make her country and herself a top player in
Mediterranean politics by going head to head with the might of Rome
in a love affair with one of its most powerful men that is bound to
destroy an empire, and ultimately herself as tragedy ensues. Taylor
definitely dominates each scene and won't allow the bombastic sights
to take centre stage. She is aided by a grand cast which includes the
likes of Roddy McDowall and Martin Landau, only tools for her to play
off against as they can't compare with her majesty. Nevertheless,
because of the endless show of grandiose sets, sexual plotting and
Roman violence it cannot be denied Cleoptra feels like it's
dragging on too long, which convinces the audience cutting it into
two separate pieces would probably have been for the best. Even so,
Cleopatra remains one of the most sensational movies ever
produced, its history as wild and epic as the history that inspired
it.
