Cleopatra (1963)

Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz & Rouben Mamoulian. Starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy McDowall, Hume Cronyn, Martin Landau, Andrew Keir, George Cole, Carroll O’Connor, Gwen Watford, Richard O’Sullivan, Robert Stephens, Kenneth Haigh, Cesare Danova, Pamela Brown, Grégoire Aslan.

One of the most expensive films of the 20th century (costing close to $300 million when adjusted for inflation) has no shortage of eye-filling spectacle, and nearly bankrupted a studio bringing it to the big screen, but whether viewed on a big screen or small, this inexcusably bloated epic is such a lumbering and idiotic extravaganza that it all gets suffocated by overkill. Starts reasonably well, with Harrison giving the only worthwhile performance in the film as Julius Caesar, but after an hour or so, all the intrigue and opulence starts wearing thin; an hour later and Caesar is dead and it looks like a good spot to wrap it up and roll the credits…but that’s just the intermission—there’s another two hours to go! The technical credits deserve acclaim (the sets, costumes, photography and visual effects all won Oscars), but the decadence is ill-served without restraint, and the intimate aspects of the characters and storylines are always distracted by the proverbial wallpaper. Taylor is lackluster in the title role, (a glaring case of miscasting; even ignoring the fact that she’s too old, she’s simply not right for the part), which is weakly written, focusing far too much on her seductive, power-hungry qualities rather than the far more intelligent and socially ambitious accomplishments of her life; she also barely even qualifies as the main character in her own story, with both halves of the film dominated by the two major men in her life. Instead, one walks (or limps) away from the movie only really remembering her for her sixty-plus costume changes; not much of a legacy in Hollywood’s hands. McDowall’s hammy performance as Octavian provides some camp value, but does anyone want to numb their backsides waiting to get to a few choice moments?

36/100