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Rating:  - Good movie, bad extra features disc
I have seen this movie several times and purchased it to obtain the disc with extra features. The disc would not play due to something being on it that I was unable to remove. I would like to know if there is a way to obtain the extras disc without flaws.
Thank you.
Rating:  - ok movie - try netflix instead
OK film, but use Netflix to rent movies. Netflix response time is phenomenal. You don't have to buy DVDs anymore.
Rating:  - If You Really Want To See A Hot Marc and Cleo...!
If you really want to know what went on between these two rent or buy HBO's excellent "Rome" series.
Their rendition of Cleo is a short,plain, 32A-cup, homely little drug addict with a realllly bad haircut! That she captures the lust of both Caesar and Marc even though no one might look at her even once on the street is testimony to how "hot" she must be in bed.
Contrast this to Liz Taylor who is as white as snow, aging and fairly fat (OK voluptuous to those in the same weight catagory.) Not only was the obvious display of cleavage distracting but I couldn't get over the eye makeup! Must have taken hours...for one eye...and just think how comfortable it would be if some of that glitter fell in her eyes! Inthe Rome series, their little Cleo gets by without any makeup until she duds herself up to march in and reclaim her throne from her fat little juvenile delinquent brother. Now THAT series had drama!
My hat is off to those who want the original 6(?) hour movie to be made available. I don't think I could stay awake if it was cut to 2 hours. A real snoozer, but could be a hilarious party movie if you were to get drunk.
Go with the "Rome" series!
Rating:  - Campy Cleopatra
"Cleopatra" was the overhyped spectacle of the early '60s that nearly brought 20th Century FOX to its knees. There was the offscreen love affair between Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton (both married to other people) that overshadowed the movie. It's got cheesy dialogue, it indulges in camp spectacle... making it a classic. I used to watch "Cleopatra" all the time, and it's got staying power.
"Cleopatra" doesn't exactly aim for historical accuracy. It's about Liz Taylor and her numerous costume changes. She goes all out like a drag queen- she's the drama queen of ancient Egypt. Cleopatra is flirty with Julius Caesar (Rex Harrison,who looks ill at ease),who treats her like a daughter. She bears him a son---and gets a grand entrance that RuPaul would envy. She's Cleopatra, Queen of the Desert! The procession seems to go on forever. After Julius is offed on the Ides of March, she romances Mark Antony (Richard Burton), complete with dancing girls and milk baths. As an odd aside, the Vatican condemned "Cleopatra." But why? Bad taste? It's filled with campy lines such as Cleopatra praising her thighs and her bosom,for they "are known to bear children."
"Cleopatra" isn't meant to be take seriously. It's the Cleopatra Aux Folles. Like Priscilla, Cleopatra reigns as Queen of the Desert. She's fabulous!
Rating: - Superb Superb Superb! Ancient Rome Brought to Life
For Roman history enthusiasts this is one of the best films to recreate the nearly-vanished glory and grandeur that was Rome.
It brings to life the story of Julius Caesar and fall of the Republic followed by the rise of Augustus. This is familiar to everyone so I'll not repeat it here.
For Roman history enthusiasts there are other films that bring Rome to life but none that do as grandly.
Spartacus comes closest. Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire gives a good look at the later Roman Empire during the time of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus. Gladiator had some high points, especially the opening battle scene. Quo Vadis is not bad but extant prints are of low quality.
The recent HBO/BBC miniseries Rome was very good but suffered from some unnecessary dull storylines (proto-Mafiosi in the Aventine,? what nonsense) added to pad the running time. The 1980's Last Days of Pompeii TV mini-series with Ned Beatty is unwatchably poor (unavailable except on TCM AFAIK). Ben Hur was a grand spectacle but the focus was less on Rome than on the Christian aspect of the story.
The grandeur of Cleopatra's entrance to Forum alone is worth the price of admission. The included making-of documentary explains that the set designer thought the real Rome forum (which still exists as a ruin in downtown Rome) was thought too small. The filmakers recreated it a Cinecitta larger-than-life.
Elizabeth Taylor acting has been criticized but the movie was conceived as a star vehicle for her. She was an enormous star at the time; the movie would not have been made without her. The documentary details an aborted early attempt at filming on soundstages in London. After spending huge sums on sets and months in pre-production, Taylor fell ill and nearly died. An emergency tracheostomy was needed to save her life. Filming stopped for months. When it resumed in Rome with a new director, all the previously shot footage was scrapped. New Director Mankiewicz shot so much new footage shot that he entertained thoughts of having two 3-4 hour films. The first would have been Caesar and Cleopatra and the second was to be , Antony and Cleopatra. This idea was scrapped when Twentieth Century Fox was nearly bankrupted by production cost over-runs. The extra footage has been lost (for now).
Richard Burton had become a middling star after a few moderately successful film role but it was his role as King Arthur in Camelot on Broadway that rocketed him to the top. Oddly enough, it was this Broadway musical that made Burton the biggest star in Hollywood.
The pairing of the two stars inevitably led to their relationship. Great pains were taken to keep the secret but was the romance was eventually revealed. There is a famous first photo of the two of them together lounging on a boat at a beach near Rome. There was great fear of a public backlash as both stars were married. Clergy in the US denounced the relationship and called for the film to be boycott.
I'm a fan of Burtons but I can see some of the shortcomings of his performance. If he intended it to be over-the-top, he succeeded.
Rex Harrison is superb as Caesar. Some of Caesar's lines are tinged with inappropriate humour. In this the filmakers got it wrong While Caesar was famous for rousing speeches intended to fire up the legions before battle, he was not a stand-up comedian.
Roddy McDowall is quite good as a young Ovtavian and actually does resemble the famous Augustus of Prima Porta found at Livia's villa near Rome. His role is harmed by editing that makes him inexplicably pop up at the end of film. Almost no context is given for his having been chosen Caesar's heir. In fact Octavian had endeared himself to Caesar for his (minor) actions as aide-de-camp during the Civil Wars. Octavian was also Caesar's great-nephew. After Caesar's assassination he is adopted as Caesar's son according to his will and begins to refer to Caesar as his father. Among the Romans, this adoption of one man by another via a will was unheard of. Octavian's referring to himself as the son of Caesar thereafter would have been considered wholly appropriate. Octavian's rivalry with Antony was poorly explained. Fourteen years passed beween the death of Caesar and the defeat of Antony and Cleopatra during which time the realtions between them varied from friendship to war. After the defeat of Cleopatra, her son (by Caesar)Caesarion was killed. The film does not dwell on this fact.
The Battle of Actium was poorly realized but I can't hold that against the rest of the film.
Some of the supporting characters are a bit jarring. Archie Bunker as Casca and Rollin Hand as Rufio play their roles acceptably well but you can't help but associate them with their TV characters.
I give this my highest recommmedation; it is arguably the best film about ancient Rome ever made.
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