Cleopatra (1963)

Regisseur:

Joseph L. Mankiewicz

Drehbuchautoren:

Joseph L. Mankiewicz (screenplay) and
Ranald MacDougall (screenplay) ...

Premierendatum:

31. Juli 1963 (UK)

Genre:

Biographie | Drama | Historienfilm | Romanze

Werbezeile:

The motion picture the world has been waiting for!

Plot:

Historical epic. The triumphs and tragedy of the Egyptian queen, Cleopatra.

Plot Keywords:

Stabbing | Ptolemaic Dynasty | Last Will | Egypt | One Word Title

Filmpreise:

Won 4 Oscars. Another 3 wins & 11 nominations

Nutzerkommentare:

A piece of history presented with a flair commensurate with the abilities of Joseph Mankiewicz.

Besetzung

Elizabeth Taylor	...	Cleopatra
Richard Burton	...	Antony
Rex Harrison	...	Caesar
Pamela Brown	...	High Priestess
George Cole	...	Flavius
Hume Cronyn	...	Sosigenes
Cesare Danova	...	Apollodorus
Kenneth Haigh	...	Brutus
Andrew Keir	...	Agrippa
Martin Landau	...	Rufio
Roddy McDowall	...	Octavian - Caesar Augustus
Robert Stephens	...	Germanicus
Francesca Annis	...	Eiras, Cleopatra's handmaiden
Grégoire Aslan	...	Pothinus (as Gregoire Aslan)
Martin Benson	...	Ramos

Länge:

192 Min | Argentina:233 Min | 243 Min (roadshow version) | Germany:233 Min (TV version) | Sweden:232 Min | USA:320 Min (director's cut)

Produktionsland:

UK | USA | Switzerland

Sprache:

Englisch

Farbe:

Farbe

Seitenverhältnis:

2.20 : 1

Tonverfahren:

Stereo (Westrex Recording System) | 4-Track Stereo (35 mm prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Altersfreigabe:

USA:Approved (certificate #19756) (original rating) | Canada:G (video rating) | Iceland:L | Argentina:Atp | Canada:G (Quebec) | Canada:PG (Manitoba) | Canada:A (Nova Scotia) | USA:Unrated (video rating) | Brazil:Livre | Peru:PT | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:PG | USA:G (1971 re-release) | West Germany:12

Drehorte:

Almería, Andalucía, Spain

Firma:

Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation

Dies und das:

Elizabeth Taylor's contract gave her director approval. When Rouben Mamoulian resigned from the production, Taylor would only approve two men as possible replacements: George Stevens and Joseph L. Mankiewicz. Stevens was already at work on The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965).

Pannen:

Fehler, die von Charakteren gemacht werden (möglicherweise Absicht der Filmemacher): Although we learn that Cleopatra is supposed to be the incarnation of the Egyptian goddess Isis, Taylor keeps pronouncing it "Ises."

Dialogzitate:

Marc Antony: This son of Caesar, does it upset you?
Caesar Augustus: No.
Marc Antony: You were so shut at the mouth just now one would think your words were are precious to you as your gold.
Caesar Augustus: Like my gold, I used them where they are worth most.
Marc Antony: Ah! And your virtue?
[Leans over to him]
Marc Antony: My friend has a friend.
Caesar Augustus: That too.

Bezüge zu anderen Titeln:

Verweis/Anspielung/Erwähnung in 'Kingdom of Heaven': Interactive Production Grid (2005) (V)

A piece of history presented with a flair commensurate with the abilities of Joseph Mankiewicz.

Historically, Cleopatra takes the viewer into one of the most powerful governments on Earth. George Bernard Shaw weaves facts and imagination into concrete visuals.

Actors chosen for various roles portray the looks, personality, and philosophy of their respective characters to a 'T'. Elizabeth Taylor shares Cleopatra's passion. Beautiful, sensuous, intelligent, desirous of bringing her beloved Egypt into the forefront of world power and politics.

Rex Harrison portrays Julius Caesar's elegance, loyalty to Rome, and the hardness required of a good general and leader, but mixed with kindness and mercy. Mr. Harrison showed well what brought down Julius. Julius Caesar's need for warmth and love and his desire for a son made him fair game for Cleopatra, a powerful ruler also in need of passionate love and desire to please her man but secondary to her love for Egypt.

Whatever description history and historians have given to Rome's leaders, Cleopatra's actors

give outstanding performances and thereby present viewers with the flavor, the looks, and even the taste of Roman Empire power and leadership.

Joseph Mankiewicz takes us onto the streets and and into the estates of Rome; the horrors of battlefields, and shows the idiosyncrasies of Egypt's Pharaohs, and how death battled life for ultimate power.

One item lacking in the VHS version of Cleopatra is the elimination of the beginning commentary by a gentleman standing by Egypt's great Sphinx. His comments on Egypt, Cleopatra, and George Bernard Shaw provided an excellent set-up for this epic film.

All in all - worth a 10.