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Cleopatra - SOUNDTRACK
Alex North
Better Than the Original LP,
Alex North is one of the truly great Hollywood composers and his
score for the Elizabeth Taylor/Richard Burton production is a cinematic masterpiece--it
also reveals a lot about the flaws in the original film production. North wrote
his score for what was supposed to be a 2-part, 8-hour rendition of the story
of Cleopatra. The producers didn't think audiences would go for that, so the
original concept was scaled down to a single film when originally released.
Taylor denounced the film, claiming that the most pivotal scenes were scrapped
leaving the plotline simply to focus on Cleopatra, the last of the great
pharaohs of Egypt, as being little more than a sexpot. Richard Burton, always
something of a ham actor, was so overdone this time you could stick a fork in
him--and still managed to turn in a lackluster, weak portrayal of the volatile
Marc Antony. Nonetheless, the costumes and scenery were splendid--as was Alex
North's composition, an innovative musical statement that the film woefully
failed to project. North contrasts the subtle, mystical, Asiatic use of
cymbals, sistrums (an instrument dedicated to the Egyptian goddesses Hathor and
Isis) and flutes--with the loud, barbaric brash sounds of Rome's warlike drums
and horns. Perhaps North's most notable theme is Cleopatra's Barge that
testifies to the power of a queen who, perhaps not physically as beautiful as
we have been led to believe, was more intelligent than most the men who
surrounded her, and remained deeply connected to the history of Ancient
Egypt--and who firmly believed herself to be the embodiment of its most beloved
deity Isis.
Who's
Afraid of Virginia Woolf
Review: JEFarrow
Updated 11/07