In
1963, this colossal and opulent $60 million spectacular was epic in every
sense of the word — an epic investment, an epic in the annals of Hollywood
gossip, and, ultimately, an epic flop that nearly dragged 20th Century Fox
down the Nile along with Cleopatra's barge. Handsomely mounted by Joseph L.
Mankiewicz, who replaced Rouben Mamoulian as director after six days of
shooting), the drama follows the eighteen tumultuous years that led to the
founding of the Roman Empire. Cleopatra (Elizabeth Taylor) meets up with
Julius Caesar (Rex Harrison) and plans to lure Caesar to her boudoir in
order to forge an alliance with Rome so that she may hold on to her Egyptian
empire. When Caesar is stabbed to death in the Roman Senate, Cleopatra is
left without an ally, and Egypt is up for grabs. When Roman general Mark
Antony (Richard Burton) comes along, she seduces him in order to make him
over into her new protector. But, under the charms of Cleopatra, Mark Antony
is reduced from a an awesome and dominating general to a sniveling, drunken
wimp. At the Battle of Actium, Mark Antony is defeated and Cleopatra
withdraws her troops, dooming Mark Antony and his army. With Egypt in peril,
Antony and Cleopatra, the doomed lovers, meet each other for the last time,
as the enemy forces close in. | Elizabeth Taylor | Cleopatra |
| Richard Burton | Marc Antony |
| Rex Harrison | Julius Caesar |
| Pamela Brown | High Priestess |
| Roddy McDowall | Octavian |
| George Cole | Flavius |
| Martin Landau | Rufio |
| Hume Cronyn | Sosigenes |
| Kenneth Haigh | Brutus |
| Andrew Keir | Agrippa |
| Robert Stephens | Germanicus |
| Francesca Annis | Eiras |
| Gregoire Aslan | Pothinos |
| Martin Benson | Ramos |
| Herbert Berghof | Theodotus |
| Jacqui Chan | Lotos |
| Isabelle Cooley | Charmian |
| John Doucette | Achillas |
| Andrew Faulds | Canidius |
| Michael Gwynn | Cimber |
| John Hoyt | Cassius |
| Marne Maitland | Euphranor |
| Carroll O'Connor | Casca |
| Richard O'Sullivan | Ptolemy |
| Gwen Watford | Calpurnia |
| Douglas Wilmer | Decimus |
| Marina Berti | Queen at Tarsus |
| John Karlsen | High priest |
| Loris Loddi | Caesarion, at age four |
| Jean Marsh | Octavia |
| Gin Mart | Marcellus |
| Furio Meniconi | Mithridates |
| Kenneth Nash | Caesarion, at age twelve |
| Del Russell | Caesarion, at age seven |
| John Valva | Valvus |
| John Alderton | 1st Officer |
| Michele Bally | |
| Michael Hordern | Cicero |
| Jeremy Kemp | |
| Marie Devereaux | |
| Peter Forster | 2nd Officer |
| John Cairney | Phoebus |
| Finlay Currie | Titus |
| Cesare Danova | Apollodorus |
| Laurence Naismith | Archesilaus |
Genre/Type - Epic, Historical Film, Historical Epic, Romantic Epic, Biography
[feature]
Produced by - 20th Century Fox / Walter Wanger
Released by - 20th Century Fox
Running time - 246 min.
Spartacus (1960, Stanley Kubrick)
Quo Vadis (2002, Jerzy Kawalerowicz)
Esther and the King (1960, Raoul Walsh)
Julius Caesar (1970, Stuart Burge)
The Fall of the Roman Empire (1964, Anthony Mann)
The Legend of Suriyothai (2002, Chatrichalerm Yukol)
La Regina di Saba (1951, Pietro Francisci)
Gladiator (2000, Ridley Scott)