Cleopatra (1963)

2 Stars (out of four)

50 years ago, 20th Century Fox made the sensational flop, Cleopatra with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.  Much has been made of the making of this movie, that even though it was the highest grossing film of 1963, it ran at a loss since it did not make up its cost.  It was the most expensive movie ever made (adjusted for inflation), very diva-ish behavior from Liz Taylor, and most notoriously, that Liz Taylor and Richard Burton started a sexual relationship on the set, even though they were married.  It is one of the movies that suffered from toxic press, which many assumed had a huge effect on box office.  But the critical element that I never knew was whether the movie was any good.  So I set out to see if the movie was any good, and I have to say...sort of.

To start with, the movie is like a Doors song.  I think that The Doors never made a 3-minute song that they could perfectly do in 7 minutes.  This movie is way too long.  At FOUR hours, eleven minutes running time, this is the butt buster of butt busters.  It is almost as if they tried to use every piece of footage shot in the film.  There are so many superfluous scenes which draw it out way much longer than it needs to be.  Antony and her death scenes are almost fifteen minutes alone.  The other problem I have with the movie is something that dates the film.  It was obviously made in 1963.  It was taking a very puritanical look of the Cleopatra story.  It shows some very unpleasant material, but because of the morals of the day, they could not show graphic violence or sex, yet they insinuate a lot of it.  There are some almost nude scenes with Liz, probably very shocking in its day.  HBO's superior Rome miniseries is so much better as it delved into the backstory so much more deeply than this movie did.  This is the most dynamic and interesting period in Roman history, and the story is very dramatic.  This particular movie is obviously a showpiece to flatter its stars, and because of that, there are long, lingering scenes that could have been easily truncated.  However, there are some good aspects as well.  The acting is top notch by Taylor, Burton and Rex Harrison.  There really aren't too many duds in the cast.  The production design is also fantastic.  The costuming and sets are beautiful and lush.  It easy to see where most of the money went.  Every scene is beautiful.  There are even some exciting battle scenes.  So all told, the goods offset the bads, so that's why I gave it essentially a 50%.  It is not great, it is not horrible.  The incredibly long running time and drawn out scenes make it a tad boring.  It is worth at least one watch.