FILM: Cleopatra (1963)

Description

Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz USA/1963/248 minutes/Color No movie in the history of Hollywood has as infamous a reputation as 20th Century Fox's Cleopatra. Known as the film that bankrupted the studio, this elaborate epic was a true spectacle ?�î both on-screen and off ?�î due to its staggering salary pay-out to star Elizabeth Taylor, its mismanaged production budget and resultant spiraling costs, its endless and troubled shooting schedule, its near-destruction of gifted but overtaxed director/screenwriter Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and the swirl of worldwide publicity surrounding the intriguing Richard Burton/Taylor affair. After an initial cut to just over five hours for the film's Parisian debut, Zanuck enforced further slimming for its N.Y. premiere, and then another trim to three hours and 15 minutes following the mixed reviews there. Ironically, Cleopatra was meant to be longer and might have fared better critically, if not commercially, as the two-part, six-hour pairing that Mankiewicz originally intended. The writer/director, who took over from a fired Rouben Mamoulian after a year of production delays, foresaw each of Cleopatra's loves occupying a different film: one with Caesar and one with Antony, following the thematic concepts, respectively, of G.B. Shaw and William Shakespeare. But 20th Century Fox head Darryl F. Zanuck wanted to take advantage of the "Liz and Dick" intrigue and get Antony and Cleo on-screen as soon as possible. With a final budget of $44 million, Cleopatra was the most expensive film ever made. Free admission. Before and after the screening, view an exhibit of movie posters from around the world for the 1963 production of Cleopatra, part of a film ephemera collection by Kendall Natvig.