Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra.

The Elizabeth Taylor version of Cleopatra is quite possibly the most extravagant spectacle Hollywood has ever produced. For one thing it nearly bankrupt 20th Century Fox and turned the retreat of the studio era into a rout. The problems during its more than two years in production are legendary, including the near fatal illness of its star. Taylor made headlines around the world when she became the first movie star in history to be paid one million dollars by a studio for a single motion picture. No expense was spared. 26,000 original costumes were made and 79 separate sets designed and built. The greatest of these was a recreation of Alexandria that remains to this day the largest set ever constructed for a movie. Has there ever been a scene more gloriously over-the-top than Cleopatra's entrance into Rome?

Unfortunately no amount of money spent on visual opulence can make up for a plot that crawls along at a tedious pace. Compared to most Historical Epics this one has relatively little action. Instead we get pages of dialogue. Sure there are a few battle scenes but the movie's heart is never in them. The focus is never allowed to be off of Cleopatra long enough for that. Taylor has the necessary charisma to play the most famous woman in history but at a rather mature 30 she is a bit too old for the role. Still she looks great in the many stunning outfits she wears and she chews up the scenery in a few scenes. My favorite line is when she tells Marc Antony to kneel before her and he refuses. She imperiously commands, "I asked it of Julius Caesar. I demand it of you!"

The movie takes place in two long acts. The first act shows Cleopatra's relationship with Caesar, how she gets pregnant and eventually arrives in Rome with her son ready to be made Queen. Of course things turn out a bit differently when Caesar is assassinated. So Cleopatra does what any good diva would under the circumstances. She falls in love with Caesar's best friend and righthand man. Act II tells of this alliance with Marc Antony that leads to both of their downfalls. Cut. Print. The End. (after 4 hours)

Rex Harrison plays Julius Caesar to the hilt. What a ham. By contrast Richard Burton is a positively subdued Marc Antony. But maybe he just didn't want to upstage the woman he had fallen in love with. The woman that he would spend the the next fifteen years having the most famous tumultuous love affair of the Twentieth Century with.

If nothing else Cleopatra provided the perfect template for how NOT to make a movie. Not that Hollywood has always heeded the example. Heaven's Gate, Ishtar and Waterworld are all latter day Cleopatra's. Still the infamy and grandeur of this early sixties behemoth has yet to be topped.

Did you enjoy Patrick's review? +10 -5