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Cleopatra

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Cleopatra (1963)

45%
60%
83%
N/A
N/A
N/A
45 %
Reviews Counted: 20 Fresh: 9  Rotten:11 Average Rating: 5.4/10

How does the Tomatometer work?

The Tomatometer measures the percentage of positive reviews from Approved Tomatometer Critics for a certain movie.[-]

Runtime: 4 hrs 8 mins

Synopsis: This epic, spectacular love story of Egyptian queen Cleopatra and the Roman leaders Julius Caesar and Marc Antony has dazzled audiences with its elaborate sets, daring costumes, and thrilling sea battle since its release, but these can't compare with Elizabeth Taylor as the mesmerizing... This epic, spectacular love story of Egyptian queen Cleopatra and the Roman leaders Julius Caesar and Marc Antony has dazzled audiences with its elaborate sets, daring costumes, and thrilling sea battle since its release, but these can't compare with Elizabeth Taylor as the mesmerizing Cleopatra, struggling to save her Egyptian empire. When this film was released, it was known as much for its opulent filmmaking as it was for its huge budget overruns--it took two years to film because of Taylor's various ailments and a major script rewrite by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, moving the shooting studio from England to Italy, and replacing the original director and the actors to play the Roman leaders--as well as the very public and tempestuous offscreen affair between costars Taylor and Richard Burton, who duplicated their romance on the silver screen as the doomed Cleopatra and her true love, Marc Antony. Despite all the hubbub surrounding the film, audiences realized that its spectacular story could not be denied, and it has remained a classic ever since. The triple-star power of Taylor, Burton, and Rex Harrison (playing Julius Caesar) radiates throughout this lengthy production, and Mankiewicz, a consummate magician at depicting the shadings of human emotion, directed this threesome in one of the most famous and gloriously powerful love triangles ever to be captured on film. [More]

Genre: Dramas

Starring: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Roddy McDowall, Pamela Brown

Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz
Screenwriter: Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Ranald MacDougall, Sidney Buchman
Producer: Walter Wanger
Composer: Alex North

DVD Info

Release:

Jul 2, 2006

[DVD Details]

DVD Features:

  • 2-Disc Set

Audio:

  • (unspecified) - English

Reviews

 
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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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Ratings Image
2/5

For four hours this moody, glossy pantomime leadenly plods on, saying much more about the hubris and excess of old-time Hollywood thinking than the burnished glories of an ancient world.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/05/08
Ian Nathan
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic
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3/5

A giant of a movie that is sometimes lumbering, but ever watchable thanks to its uninhibited ambition, size and glamour.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/05/08
Billy Mowbray
Channel 4 Film
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N/A

Harrison, doing his waspish don act as Caesar, alone rises above mediocrity.

Full Review | comment Comment
02/09/06
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
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N/A

[A] general muddle.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/05/08
Dave Kehr
Chicago Reader
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2.5/4

This is not a film -- it's a deal, decorated with extensive publicity, but weighed down by listless direction and lots of nasal talk, talk, talk.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/05/08
TV Guide's Movie Guide
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N/A

Cleopatra is not only a supercolossal eye-filler (the unprecedented budget shows in the physical opulence throughout), but it is also a remarkably literate cinematic recreation of an historic epoch.

Full Review | comment Comment
09/05/07
Variety Staff
Variety
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3/5

No review available.

comment Comment
06/18/05
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com
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4/5

It is a surpassing entertainment, one of the great epic films of our day.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/09/05
Bosley Crowther
New York Times
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2/5

No review available.

comment Comment
06/29/04
Jules Brenner
Cinema Signals
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N/A

Taylor, Burton, and Harrison are sublime in this sweeping epic of love and nations.

Full Review | comment Comment
03/10/03
Marjorie Baumgarten
Austin Chronicle
Ratings Image
43/100

The movie is also dotted with some battle sequences of nearly epic proportions, but they can’t make up for Cleopatra’s shortcomings in plot and acting.

Full Review | comment Comment
01/20/03
Mike DeWolfe
Apollo Guide
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5/5

No review available.

comment Comment
10/25/02
Tony Toscano
Talking Pictures (U.S.)
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3/5

Better than I thought it would be.

comment Comment
08/09/02
Staci Layne Wilson
Fantastica Daily
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2/5

opulent and empty, it dares you not to take a nap

comment Comment
07/29/02
James Sanford
Kalamazoo Gazette
Ratings Image
5/10

A stunning achievement compared to its present day counterparts.

Full Review | comment Comment
11/26/01
Dragan Antulov
rec.arts.movies.reviews
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60/100

A giant white elephant of a movie, a bloated monument to hubris and excess.

Full Review | comment Comment
05/16/01
Dan Jardine
Apollo Guide
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D

amazing that 20th Century Fox survived this train wreck long enough to produce Star Wars some 14 years later

Full Review | comment Comment
04/26/01
John A. Nesbit
Old School Reviews
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2.5/5

It's asp-tastic.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/22/01
Christopher Null
Filmcritic.com
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3/4

A moderately successful, generally entertaining, but overly ambitious movie.

Full Review | comment Comment
04/11/01
James Kendrick
Q Network Film Desk
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5/10

...not required viewing by any means, nor is it the bomb it is sometimes made out to be...

Full Review | comment Comment
03/21/01
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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