Click on
image to order
Cleopatra
A Gutted Queen Still Shimmers, April 23, 2007
CLEOPATRA was originally planned as a 2 part separate release. The
1st part was to be "Caesar & Cleopatra" and the second
"Antony & Cleopatra." Each was to run appx. 4 hrs. The problems
on the set (and off) are well known. Elizabeth Taylor only agreed to do the
role for a then staggering one million $$$. That was just the beginning of a
financial nightmare for the studio. The film was drastically cut to fit into a
single release. It's reported that Taylor ran out of the first screening in
tears, denouncing the film, claiming that the most pivotal scenes that
delineated the depth of Cleopatra's character had been deleted. What was left
was a superficial interpretation of a formidable woman & leader. At times
Taylor's Cleopatra comes off more as a petulant sex kitten than the last great
Pharaoh of Egypt. Richard Burton's tendency for ham acting & bloated
appearance didn't help.
So why see the film?
Well, there's Elizabeth Taylor's famous beauty--and it dazzles in
this movie. Her make-up and hairstyles set new trends in the fashion industry.
Edith Head's costume design is absolutely gorgeous. Alex North's fantastic
soundtrack is one of the very best. The set design is oddly abstract at times,
but it works. The "spectacle" scenes are great. Cleopatra's entrance
into Rome is a real jaw-dropper, a delicious display of creative opulence,
replete with half-naked native girls dancing to wild African music,
multicolored incense smoke scattered into the spectators by exotic medicine
men, whirling dervishes and a pyramid containing doves released in front of the
assembled Roman Senators & their rather annoyed & envious wives (it's
very funny.) This way beyond ostentatious display of art & power concludes
with Taylor seated on a gold throne atop a gigantic golden sphinx (we're
talking the equivalent of 3-5 stories tall), wearing a gown of pure gold
feathers, with a solid gold crown three feet high stately adorning Taylor's
coal black curls. (Claudette Colbert, eat your heart out!)
Unfortunately the spectacle ends with Cleopatra's golden barge sailing into a
harbor in such splendor that the superstitious townsfolk think it is Aphrodite
herself come to meet Bacchus in the form of Marc Antony. This scene was
originally meant to be the beginning of the next sequel, but as it stands it is
strangely brief and seems almost out of synch. This last half of the now
truncated film fizzles out (until the famous asp scene at the end.)
All this being said, if you've never seen the movie--you've got to. It
represents the end of the spectacle film era--it's just too darn expensive.
CLEOPATRA also represents a real event in 1960's culture.
Review: JEFarrow
Updated 08/08