Cleopatra (1963)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Writers:

Joseph L. Mankiewicz (screenplay) and
Ranald MacDougall (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

31 July 1963 (UK)

Genre:

Biography | Drama | History | Romance

Tagline:

The motion picture the world has been waiting for!

Plot:

Historical epic. The triumphs and tragedy of the Egyptian queen, Cleopatra.

Plot Keywords:

Cleopatra | Egypt | Roman Empire | Epic | Marc Antony

Awards:

Won 4 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 11 nominations

Cast

Elizabeth Taylor	...	Cleopatra
Richard Burton	...	Antony
Rex Harrison	...	Caesar
Pamela Brown	...	High Priestess
George Cole	...	Flavius
Hume Cronyn	...	Sosigenes
Cesare Danova	...	Apollodorus
Kenneth Haigh	...	Brutus
Andrew Keir	...	Agrippa
Martin Landau	...	Rufio
Roddy McDowall	...	Octavian - Caesar Augustus
Robert Stephens	...	Germanicus
Francesca Annis	...	Eiras, Cleopatra's handmaiden
Grégoire Aslan	...	Pothinus (as Gregoire Aslan)
Martin Benson	...	Ramos

Runtime:

192 min | Germany:233 min (TV version) | Sweden:232 min | USA:320 min (director's cut) | 243 min (roadshow version) | Argentina:233 min

Country:

UK | USA | Switzerland

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) | 4-Track Stereo (35 mm prints) | Stereo (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

USA:Unrated (video rating) | Iceland:L | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Argentina:Atp | Peru:PT | USA:Approved (certificate #19756) (original rating) | Canada:G (video rating) | Brazil:Livre | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:G (1971 re-release) | West Germany:12

Filming Locations:

Almería, Andalucía, Spain

Company:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Trivia:

When Fox employees were searching for a successful Fox property that could be remade, they decided upon Cleopatra (1917), a silent epic starring Theda Bara. However, they could only made their judgment from an archived copy of the original script and some stills from the production. There were no prints surviving of the movie itself.

Goofs:

Continuity: During Cleopatra's big parade as she enters Rome there are tire tracks on the dirt road

Quotes:

Cleopatra: You come before me as a suppliant.
Antony: If you choose to regard me as such.
Cleopatra: You will therefore assume the position of a suppliant before this throne. You will kneel.
Antony: I will *what*?
Cleopatra: On-your-knees!
Antony: You dare ask the Proconsul of the Roman Empire?
Cleopatra: I *asked* it of Julius Caesar. I *demand* it of you!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "3satfestival: Rainald Grebe & Die Kapelle der Versöhnung - 1968 (#9.6)" (2008)

Much better than its reputation

I watched this movie over 3 nights on DVD, and was captivated through the whole 4 hours and 10 minutes or so it took.

Elizabeth Taylor did a pretty good job in the title role as perhaps the greatest seductress in history, and Richard Burton was superb as Antony, but for my money Rex Harrison (Julius Caeser) and Roddy McDowall (Octavian) stole the show.

For me the highlight of the film was the historical backdrop - Egypt vanished as a nation and Rome reached the peak of its power and started the descent into decadence - all in one movie, and as you watch this epic you gain some insight into the psychology and power politics that made the 4 major historical figures of the time. If Antony had been a little smarter, Cleopatra might have done it after all!

8/10