Four hours lo-o-ong (Cleopatra (Special Edition, 3 DVDs))

Member Name: Sue Ellen

Product:	Cleopatra (Special Edition, 3 DVDs)
Date:	08/11/00 (63 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: The subject itself, Rex Harrison as Julius Caesar

Disadvantages: The rest?

I’m not a fan of old films, generally, and without wanting to upset any other members, I do consider films made in 1963 to be ‘old’. However, after reading a fantastic book about Cleopatra and having learned oodles of fascinating history in the process, I was interested to see how this famous film portrayed the amazing life of this extraordinary ruler.

My hopes were not high, and it was just as well. If I had not just read a book about the same subject, I would have found the film very hard to follow. The film is four hours long, but so much is covered in it that I felt that events were being rushed through too quickly, without giving enough time for the viewer to absorb the importance and impact of said events.

Scene changes were very confusing too. Sometimes, we left Antony and Cleopatra in Alexandria, happy and in love; next scene, a messenger is telling Cleopatra that Antony has married Octavian back in Rome. Eh? The events are very briefly explained a few scenes later on, but that still left me a few minutes of puzzlement, which in turn detracted from the following scenes as I struggled to make sense of it all.

Would you believe I had never seen either Elizabeth Taylor or Richard Burton in a film before? Maybe their reputations as all-time Hollywood giants meant I was expecting to be blown away by their breathtaking performances – sadly, I failed to discover that special spark that I was looking for. I was expecting more passion between their characters; to be honest, when Antony died (oh sorry, just given away the ending), Cleopatra seemed to take it too much in her stride for my liking. This could, of course, be due to the evolution of acting styles over the years; the symbolic or over-dramatic performances that were in favour back then have been replaced by a more true-to-life method – and I, for one, am not sorry about it.

By far the most outstanding performance was Rex Harrison as Julius C
aesar. His convincing portrayal of the lovestruck conqueror was very enjoyable to watch, and was by far the strong point of the film. It was very inconsiderate of Caesar to go and die halfway through!

The most moving part of the film for me was the moment when Octavian’s army was approaching Alexandria, and Antony had finally recovered from his depression and rejoined his legions. Antony suspects some of his soldiers will desert to Octavian’s camp during the night, so he asks Rufio to wake him before dawn, in case the guards that would normally do it should have gone. Antony wakes up himself just after dawn and rushes outside, only to see a completely deserted camp, and to find loyal Rufio dead from his own sword. The image of Antony standing there all alone in the middle of a huge camp of empty tents and barely-smouldering fires brought a lump to my throat.

“Cleopatra” is by no means the worst film I have ever seen. But film production has come a long way since then, and a good thing that is too. If there is any lesson to be learned, I would say that it is that millions of dollars spent on elaborate sets, thousands of extras and big names are not enough to ensure a box office smash. Oh Mr. Fox, half a pound of hindsight with that Egyptian headdress, please, to go.

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