This DVD looks like a great one. The DVD includes a new anamorphic widescreen transfer, audio commentary (participants TBA), the all new documentary "Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood," the original featurette "The Fourth Star Of Cleopatra," rare archival footage of the Hollywood premieres, trailers, a historical timeline and a collectible booklet. In all the promo flyer promises over 7 hours of extras, and there are more special features to be announced. Hmmm . . . Where are all the deleted scenes that Cleo and Liz fans want? For those of you who don't know, let me give you some background info. idea Mankiewicz's original idea for Cleopatra was for it to be released in two parts -- Ceaser & Cleopatra and Antony & Cleopatra, each three hours in legnth. They scrapped that idea, and decided to make it a long six hour film. Mankiewicz considered it to be his and Taylor's best work, before the studio cut it down to four hours for the primere.

There is still hope that Fox will release this too, because as of January 28, 2001 there is still more features to be announced.


Too bad Rex Harrison disappears after one hour...   July 5, 2000
 24 out of 44 found this review helpful

First, the good news about the '63 version of "Cleopatra:" Rex Harrison is in the first 90 minutes. The bad news is that Richard Burton takes over thereafter. Burton's performance as Marc Anthony is overbown, overly dramatic and slightly silly. He was seldom sober during the making of this turgid film and it clearly shows.

Liz is beautiful, as always, and the sets are absolutely dazzling. For those who thought the Roman city scenes in the recent "Gladiator" were good, they need to see genuinely awesome sets and this film delivers.

Unfortunately, the film is in desperate need of a an editor, as it scarcely holds ones interest for 4 and half hours, especially once Rex bites the dust.

Of course the riveting "behind the scenes story" is the Burton-Taylor love affair which ignited during the making of this film in 1962. Poor Eddie Fisher and Sybil Burton back then... and poor us nowadays watching this limping dinosaur. The 1934 Claudette Colbert "Cleopatra" is superior to this bloated turkey, buy that one instead.


Cleopatra: An Intimate Spectacle   April 5, 2001
 23 out of 24 found this review helpful

Despite the legendary excesses and scandals that went on during the making of this unjustly maligned movie, it has three of the most critical foundation stones any work of this scope needs to succeed:

1). A unified vision or point of view, extending from the development of plot and characters to the physical look of the production itself.

2). A literate and compelling script that could play irrespective of the opulence of its surroundings.

3). Four leading actors who instinctively understand how to work their material, making the seams between performer and character invisbile to the spectator.

#s 1 & 2 were supplied by director / screenwriter Joseph L. Mankiewicz, #3 by Taylor, Burton, Harrison, and McDowell.

This is a film that easily bears repeated viewings, and, again, thanks to Mankiewicz and his actors, functions simultaneously on a variety of levels. For example, there are the love stories:

Caesar & Cleopatra / Antony & Cleopatra.

The tender scenes are written and played almost poetically, but there are also political manouverings going on as each uses the other to attain or augment their power. This is made even more fascinating in that these are obviously intelligent, witty, charming, beautiful, ruthless, and influential people whose calculations shape nations and Empires.

Given all of the above, the movie also looks like the enormous sum it cost, has a brilliant score by Alex North, an accomplished supporting cast (in particular, Martin Landau, Pamela Brown, Hume Cronan, Cesare Danova), and spectacular "set pieces" that though fully integrated into the plot, almost play as "movies within the movie" - Cleopatra's Entry into Rome, Cleopatra's Barge & Banquet, the Battle of Actium.

In sum, Mankiewicz and cast succeed in bringing off the big "world stage" themes critical to this genre of historical film. Their greatest achievement however lies in making an audience understand that these ancient archetypes were human beings trying to bear the weight of both history and their emotions.