Recently I've been hinting at an Epic I planned to watch, as part of a larger plan that I think I announced at the end of last year, to try and catch up on some of the Hollywood Spectaculars from the 50s and 60s that were produced when 70mm and widescreen projection technology came into being. I may also have listed a few of the ones I'd never seen, such as "Dr. Zhivago", "Far from the Madding Crowd" and "The Lion in Winter". Or even the classic "Lawrence of Arabia", which I was taken to see as a child but was too young to appreciate. Yes, it was time to explore the Great Epics from the end of the Studio Era, and tonight I began with the one I've been meaning to see for several months now (and it fact it jump started my entire quest) : the Epic to End All Epics, the much-maligned "Cleopatra"(1963), all 4 hours 8 minutes of it, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Rex Harrison. Yes, I watched it all the way through in one sitting, and........
Oh my goodness, where should I start? Well, lets go back to it's release date, which was June 12, 1963 (thanks, Google). One of my earliest memories is hearing my Dad comment on "Cleopatra" as it was being made. My recollection is hazy, the long-gone snapshot of a three-year old, but when you're small, your world revolves around your parents, and at the time Dad was Vice President of Deluxe Laboratories, one of the Big Three film developing plants in Hollywood (the other two being Technicolor and Metrocolor). In truth, Technicolor was "Coke" to Deluxe's "Pepsi" (and Metro didn't come into their own until the 70s, when they emerged in a big way), but many cinephiles thought Deluxe colors were more subtle and varied than the saturated hues of Technicolor. The early 60s was Deluxe's heyday, when they had perfected a full color palette with pastel tinges. They didn't call it "Color by Deluxe" for nothing, and no other laboratory had such a slogan.
As the Veep, Dad would've been tasked with being on the spot where "Cleopatra" was concerned, to dailies coming in, to the color timing of the film, negatives being cut, prints going out, coordination with the director, the producers, the studio, etc. He would've been the liaison between the lab and the studio, and at the time 20th Century was the parent company of Deluxe. And I remember him talking about "Cleopatra" a lot, as it was in production. It was probably on his mind because, at the time, it was the most expensive motion picture ever made. Indeed, Elizabeth Taylor became the first woman to wrest a one million dollar contract from the clutches of Hollywood, for her starring role as the legendary Egyptian Queen. In other words, the pressure was on the studio to produce big time results, because of the dollars involved, and that pressure - after it passed by the filmmakers themselves - ended up at Deluxe. The film lab is the final frontier on any movie, because the color must be perfect and the prints must get out by the release date, no matter how many delays are incurred on the set. And on "Cleopatra", there were delays galore. Some even made it to the gossip columns, such as the torrid romance between Liz & Dick, and Burton's heavy drinking.
The budget was also a story, because it was far and away the most money ever spent on a film.
So what I remember is that Dad and Mom went to the premier, where the audience would have included everyone associated with the movie as well as a lot of critics. And I remember my folks came home that night, and Dad simply hated "Cleopatra". Keep in mind that it was over four hours long (trimmed down from six hours!), which is a very long time to ask an audience to sit. Also remember the dollars forked over by the studio, and that a lot of executives would have been watching simply to see if they got their money's worth. Having seen it now myself, I can't imagine any of them being disappointed on that score. But for Dad, and - as it turned out - for many film critics as well - "Cleopatra" was a disaster, largely due to Elizabeth Taylor's performance. And all of this added up to form one of my earliest memories, or set of memories, that you could call "The Cleopatra Debacle". Even though it went on to be the #1 movie at the box office for 1963, it still didn't earn it's money back, and the cost nearly bankrupted 20th Century Fox. As the years went on, "Cleopatra" became synonymous with "box office bomb", and would hold that dubious distinction until "Heaven's Gate" was released in 1980.
I write all of this as a preface to my review, because watching "Cleopatra" would not have occurred to me for the above reasons. All these years I just assumed it was a terrible, bloated movie. But then about six months ago (and I may have mentioned this), one night at Pearl's I saw a few scenes on TCM. And I was stopped dead in my tracks, because I'd never seen a movie that looked remotely like it. What is this flick? Is it what I think it is? OMG.
Right then and there I told myself, "you have got to see the whole thing", and now I have. I could actually write a dissertation on what I think of it, so varied are it's aspects, but because we'd be here all day, I'm just gonna run through some talking points (but if you ever do wanna have a day-long conversation about "Cleopatra", just let me know.....).
First off, let's get one thing straight. As noted in the first paragraph, from purely a production standpoint it's the Epic to end All Epics, the Most Spectacular Film Ever Made. Nothing will ever top it, in sets, in color, nor in storytelling (including romance, and especially history). It is far and away the most monumental production in Hollywood history. This was in an era before CGI, and the sets and color schemes must be seen to be believed.
Now to Elizabeth Taylor's performance : I think it helps to watch her with 60 years worth of hindsight, because in 1963 she was the biggest female star in the world and also one of the biggest celebrities, with all the baggage those things connote. And in Taylor's case, the baggage was heavy. She was always more noted for her beauty and her love affairs than she was for her acting ability, so at the time it was probably easy to hate her. But with 60 years gone past? From that perspective, I was able to view her performance dispassionately, and I accepted it for what it was. She's Elizabeth Taylor playing "Cleopatra". Both women were larger than life. And while Taylor has limited range (she basically gives a variation on the same performance whether she's playing Virginia Woolf or The Queen of the Nile), without her, the movie wouldn't work. Substitute a classically trained actress for Taylor, and the film would lose much of it's magnitude. So you have to forgive her occasional lapses in accent (sometimes her vowels sound American), and her sometimes wooden line readings. Given that she carries the movie, however, and that she's in at least 3/4s of the scenes, she's actually not bad overall, and in some scenes very good. The bottom line is that she is Cleopatra.
No Taylor, no Spectacle. It's as simple as that.
Richard Burton as "Mark Antony" is very good but not Oscar caliber, which you would expect in such a movie. He seems to be either on fire or subdued. When he's hot, he's shouting and running his lines together, and when he's cold all the steam goes out of him. He was reportedly drunk during part of the filming, and you can see it in a scene or two. Still, he's quite good overall, as is Rex Harrison as "Julius Caesar", though he can't help but slip into "Sexy Rexy" mode here and there. Two of the best performances are by Martin Landau as Antony's loyal lieutenant "Rufio", and Roddy McDowall as "Octavian", the sullen heir to Caesar's throne. He despises Mark Antony, a hate that will culminate in a final, historic showdown.
As also mentioned, this is an incredible script, involving so much history that you'll learn things you never knew, such as that Cleopatra had a child with Caesar. I don't wanna tell you too much because You Have To See This Movie, it's the Must Watch Of All Must Watches. Oh, here's something I can tell ya, that I found really cool. There's a brief battle scene in which the Phalanx fighting formation is demonstrated. I recently read about it in "The History of Warfare" and it was fascinating to see it in the movie. This is such a Saga that it's like you are living inside it, with so many scene changes and set after monumental set, color schemes upon color schemes, that you'll feel you're in an alternate reality, in real time Ancient Egypt as interpreted by Hollywood circa 1963. And once again, because it has to be stressed : as far as the production design of this film is concerned, they should just create a "Cleopatra Award" for all future aspirants, because the bar has been set so high it can never be topped.
Some scenes work better than others, but there are so many you'd have to choose favorites for yourself. Watching it was one of the great Motion Picture Experiences of my life, and I can only imagine how amazing it would be to see it on a gigantic theater screen, say at "The Egyptian" in Hollywood (wink wink, nudge nudge).
Even if you strip away everything, it still works as a drama, and quite effectively. I could go on and on about this film, because it represents a form of filmmaking that doesn't exist anymore, and only did exist for about 20 years, not counting the Silent Spectaculars of D.W. Griffith and Cecil B. Demille.
Without a freaking doubt, "Cleopatra" is on your list of Films You Must See Before You Die. I know I haven't given you much of the plot, but it would take far too long. Though it does have it's faults, it's a great film, one that earns Two Gigantic Thumbs Up, my highest recommendation. You've quite simply never seen anything like it. ////
That's all for the moment. Have an awesome day. Tons of love as always! xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo :):)
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