Cleopatra details
| Formats: | PG DVD, Blu-ray |
|---|---|
| Starring: | Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Pamela Brown, Richard O'Sullivan, George Cole, Andrew Keir, Martin Landau |
| Director: | Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
| Genres: | Action/Adventure - War, Drama - War, Romance |
| Studio: | 20TH CENTURY FOX HOME ENTERTAINMENT |
| Collections: | 100 Swords and Sandals Films |
| Name | Discs | |
|---|---|---|
Cleopatra - Disc 1 |
TBC Disc 1 | |
Cleopatra - Disc 2 |
TBC Disc 2 | |
Cleopatra - Disc 3 |
TBC Disc 3 |
DVD Information
| Run time: | 4 hours 8 minutes |
|---|---|
| Rental release: | 15 Apr 2002 |
| Main languages: | English |
| Subtitles: | Czech, Danish, English, Finnish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Icelandic, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Swedish |
| Hearing impaired subtitles: | English |
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Most helpful review
spectacular!
By a customer from Southampton, England , 19 Dec 2006[Highly rated reviewer]
Yes this film is 4 hours and 20 mins long but what a film! its important to remember that this was made pre-everything CGI so you can really appreciate the time and money that must have gone into making such elaborate costumes, ships and sets indeed apparently the most expensive movie ever made and i can fully understand why. the scene that did it for me without giving anything away is Cleopatra's entrance into rome in front of ceaser and his generals, seriously i have never seen anything so glorious in my life its a wish-i-was-there moment. as for the acting liz taylor is a legend all by herself right up until her last line. richard burton though i thought was a bit of a miscast because he isnt serious enough but such a tiny flaw in such an awesome film really doesnt matter. the story itself is very strong and well told, its alot like romeo and juliet but much more extravagant and emotional not forgetting its based on a true story involving more than two huge historically important characters. so if you only ever see one epic film in your life its got to be this one, you wont be disappointed.- Was this review helpful to you?
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(15)absolutely awesome
By denis007 (131 reviews) , 01 Jul 2012This first part of Cleopatra is absolutely gripping, engrossing and mind-boggling. A true classic! The costumes, the setting, the stage and the acting are worthy of the best actors of all time. Not to be missed! This movie reminds me of the two books written by Eileen Mccullough based on Caesar and Cleopatra.- Was this review helpful to you?
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An epic to end all epics
By Ferry41 (221 reviews) from Oxford , 01 Aug 2011They certainly did this big back then with hundreds and hundreds of extras in lavish battle scenes, processions, pageants etc. Hard to imagine that this was all pre-CGI. However this is all over four hours long, which becomes a long sit. Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton are good, but there isn't enough character development to leave us caring very much what happens to them at the end.- Was this review helpful to you?
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Hollywood extravagance at it's outrageous best
By a customer , 15 Jun 2011First up, don't get disc 3. It's just bonus stuff. All the film is on discs 1 and 2 (although you don't know that until the discs are in the player).
The film is stupendously lavish to the point of obscenity but well worth watching. Forget the clunky dialogue, historical innacuracies, Richard Burton in a mini-skirt and bum-numbing length. Watch it for the costumes, the sets, the beautiful photography and the ridiculous number of extras (all real people, no CGI here). This film is a time-capsule of Hollywood in the early 60s. Fantastic!- Was this review helpful to you?
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Nothing quite like it
By RJNeb2 (922 reviews) from London , 12 Mar 2010Some of this notorious debacle is quite engrossing - the extraordinary sets and costumes, the occasional semi-literate line or two, superb photography and one of Alex North's lushest scores - but not for 4 bum-numbing hours. It would help if there was anything close to onscreen chemistry between Taylor and Burton (they obviously saved that for after the cameras stopped rolling) but Burton is clearly very unhappy about running around in a short skirt and Taylor seems to be concentrating more on keeping her numerous headdresses on. Harrison is actually quite commanding as Julius Caesar and is much missed when he's gone and some of it is worth seeing just for an example of sheer Hollywood budget-busting excess. But not for 4 bum-numbing hours.- Was this review helpful to you?
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Cleo carries on..and on.. and on...
By rtb (131 reviews) from London , 21 Jun 2009Definitely an epic. Definitely one of the most gorgeous visual treats from start to finish. But definitely uneven and definitely very much a piece of its time.
Vast, sprawling and magnificent to look at, just like Egypt itself, this film is a hymn to the art of film-making as it used to be - not a CGI in sight. Spectacular scenery and amazing set pieces abound (Cleopatra's entry into Rome is jaw dropping) yet the pacing is extremely uneven and the story gets very bogged down in its own details during disc 2. When its not delivering enormous crowd scenes or great sea battles, the dialogue feels turgid and pedestrian.
Of the main performances, none are flawless. Rex Harrison plays Rex Harrison, much as he does in every film he ever made, but at least chews the scenery with some panache. Richard Burton seems extremely uncomfortable with the role of Mark Antony, seemingly giving way to Taylor's Cleopatra in every scene. Taylor is enigmatic, never really seeming to exert anything other than a mysterious fascination, and it has to be admitted that a good deal of fun is to be had looking at her increasingly bizarre wigs and costumes, as any shred of historical authenticity yields to the 50's aesthetic.
Vastly overblown, gloopily underscored and in a style becoming increasingly dated even at the time of its first release, its easy to see how 'Cleopatra' became the target of many merciless spoofs. Yet it still exerts a strange fascination in its melodramatic grandeur, glorious visuals and epic themes.
Certainly a film to watch once and enjoy with a certain amount of guilt (rather like eating an entire box of chocolates in one go) but not something you would, perhaps, ever wish to sit through more than once.- Was this review helpful to you?
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