Cleopatra (1963)

The third Best Picture nominee from 1963 is Cleopatra, well known today for being a monumental flop and a prime example of Hollywood hubris. True, it did lose money, but it was also the number one movie at the box office in 1963, the only such film ever to earn that distinction. It's lasting legacy, though, is that it started one of Hollywood's longest soap operas, Liz and Dick.

Originally budgeted at 2 million, it ended up costing 44 million, and changed directors and casts (it ended up with Joseph Mankiewicz at the helm). At least most of the money is on screen--Elizabeth Taylor, in the title role, makes 65 costume changes, and her entrance into Rome, riding atop a replica Sphinx, is pretty amazing, even if she does look like the grand marshal of the Rose Parade.

The film is four hours long, so I watched it over two nights; I can't imagine having to endure it one sitting. It's not terrible. The first half is dominated by Cleopatra's relationship with Julius Caesar (Rex Harrison), the second by her relationship with Marc Antony (Richard Burton). Harrison, who was nominated for an Oscar, is quite enjoyable as Caesar, giving the character humor and pathos. Burton, who doesn't appear until about an hour into the film, takes a stranglehold on the picture toward the end, as he gets besotted by Cleopatra and makes some pretty bad moves in the name of love.

Historically, it's fairly accurate, including the fact that Cleopatra was in Rome when Caesar was assassinated in the Senate on the Ides of March, which isn't in Shakespeare, for example. The naval battle of Actium, in which Antony's navy is destroyed, is very impressively mounted by what looks like actual ships, not miniatures. At least the money was well spent, even if it did almost bankrupt Twentieth-Century Fox.

Taylor, who almost died during the filming (she had to have a tracheotomy), is fairly wooden in the role, but is spectacularly beautiful. It's kind of racy for 1963, as she is artfully posed in various forms of dishabille; her decolletage is remarkable. I wouldn't recommend the film to anyone except obsessives like me, though, unless you can get your hands on the abridged version.