Cleopatra is a film that is epic in scope, and one of the most (if not THE most) expensive movies ever made. This Blu-ray release is spread across two discs, with a running time of just over four hours (including the Overture, Intermission, Entr’acte and Exit Music interludes). The first half of the film chronicles Julius Caesar (Rex Harrison) as he heads to Egypt to help restore Cleopatra (Elizabeth Taylor) as its ruler after her brother Ptolomy had plotted to kill her and forced her to flee. While in Egypt, Caesar falls for Cleopatra, who offers to give him the son he could never have. But Casear soon grows power-hungry and his demands to be named emperor of Rome cause some of the Roman Senators to plot against him.

The second half of the film finds Rome with a new ruler, Octavian (Roddy McDowall). Mark Anthony (Richard Burton) is sent to seek assistance from Cleopatra, but the two fall in love. When internal strife once again arises among the Romans, Mark Anthony finds himself at odds with Octavian, and both men lead their armies into battle.

While the acting is top notch, sometimes the performances border on the overly-dramatic. The film itself just felt way too long—it is really two separate films and was originally written and shot with that purpose. Much of that first half is comprised of scenes consisting primarily of dialog, shot with wide shots on huge sets. It often felt like I was watching a stage play rather than a feature film. The second half of the film was far more entertaining as more of the film takes place outdoors, and brings a lot more action and battle sequences. Though it still suffers at times from this stage play feeling.

The film itself looks amazing and you can tell it had a huge budget. From the beautiful, expansive sets to the epic battle and crowd scenes, they seemingly spared no expense. The crowd and battle scenes are especially impressive considering this film was made prior to the dawn of digital effects—there was no concept of digitally creating a crowd or army, all of those are real extras. The explosions and fire used in the battle scenes also look completely real, and not like they have been superimposed via a green screen. To see the shear scope of this film one just needs to watch the impressive grand arrival of Cleopatra in Rome—it is a truly amazing spectacle.

The picture on this Blu-ray is crisp and clear and hardly shows any grain or defects. It doesn’t look like a film 25 years old, let alone 50! Despite the 5.1 audio track, it seemed like the surround channels were never really used. The dialogue, music and sound effects all seemed to only come from the center and side channels.

The extensive bonus materials provide a look at the off-camera drama that plagued the production. It is a fascinating tale that I found even more interesting than the film itself.

Cleopatra is a legend of cinematic history primarily because of the story-behind-the story. Fans of the film will definitely want to pick this up as the film has never looked so good. They may even want to pick up the special Digibook edition of the film which also includes additional printed bonus material. For others, it is at least worth a rental to see how beautiful the film looks and for the commentary and featurettes that talk about the fascinating story-behind-the-story.

What’s Included:

Film (251 min):

• 1080p / Widescreen 2.20:1
• Audio: English 5.1 DTS-HD MA, English DD 4.0, Spanish DD 5.1, French DTS 5.1, Castilian DTS 5.1, Portuguese DD 5.1
• English SDH, Spanish, Castilian, Danish, Dutch, Finnish, Norwegian, Portuguese, Swedish, Hebrew, Chinese, Icelandic French subtitles

Extras:

• Commentary With Chris Mankiewicz, Tom Mankiewicz, Martin Landau and Jack Brodsky
  Various folks provide an interesting tag-team behind-the-scenes commentary on the film. However, there are a few short gaps when no one is speaking. Actor Martin Landau (Rufio) starts things off and talks through most of the first half of the film. Then Tom Mankiewicz, the son of the writer/director of the film, takes over beginning with the final 30 minutes of the first half of the film, and his brother Chris Mankiewicz, one of the second directors on the film, picks up 15 minutes into the second half of the film. Landau returns 70 minutes into the second half of the film. Jack Brodsky, the publicist for the film, starts his commentary 12 minutes later, and Chris Mankiewicz returns for the final 20 minutes of the film.
• The Cleopatra Papers: A Private Correspondence
  Using the remote, step through the correspondence between 20th Century Fox publicists Jack Brodsky and Nathan Weiss as they detail the increasingly tense and messy behind-the-scenes drama of the production.
• Cleopatra Through The Ages: A Cultural History (7:51)
  UC Santa Barbara Professor/Chair of Anthropology Stuart Tyson Smith talks about the history of Cleopatra, and how this is portrayed in this and other films.
• Cleopatra’s Missing Footage (8:12)
  Film historians talk about the various versions of the film, including an 8-hour black and white workprint, an over five and a half hour color cut, as well as the three different theatrical versions of the film. They talk about hunt to restore the longest version of the film possible for this release.
• Fox Movie Channel Presents Fox Legacy with Tom Rothman (29:29)
  Really interesting featurette in which Tom Rothman—who was head of production on Titanic—talks about the off-camera drama of making Fox’s only other infamous runaway production, Cleopatra. This appears to have been filmed a few years ago to air before the film on the Fox Movie Channel.
• Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood (1:59:07)
  This feature-length documentary about the film’s off-camera drama was produced in 2001. It features behind-the-scenes footage, interviews with biographers and film historians, 2001 interviews with Hume Cronyn and Martin Landau, and 1995 interview footage with Roddy McDowall.
• The Fourth Star of Cleopatra (9:06)
  This 1964 featurette/promo piece talks about the fourth major star of the film—the production itself, giving a look at how the sets were created.
• Fox Movietone News (6:19)
  Black and white promotional pieces—select between Archival Footage Of The New York Premiere, and Archival Footage Of The Hollywood Premiere, or Play All.

Final Thoughts:

The epic film Cleopatra has been beautifully restored and looks amazing on this blu-ray. However, clocking in at over 4 hours, I felt it was just a bit too long and really should have been broken into two separate films. I found the second half of the film, which concentrates on Cleopatra and Mark Anthony to be far more entertaining and action-packed.

The Blu-ray contains several extras that go into the fascinating behind-the-scenes drama that occurred while making the film—which I found even more interesting than the film itself. Fans of the film will certainly be pleased with this release—and may even want to pick up the digibook version which includes even more printed bonus material. For others, a rental is at least recommended.