Cleopatra [Blu-ray] [1963] [Region Free]

Good price and delivered on time!

Taylor and Burton at their best with great supporting cast.

a wonderful film with great actors and sets.

Classic, just a tad too long

A classic

This restored version - the 4-hour release that was immediately rejected by theatres as impossible to screen 2x per night, forcing more than an hour to be cut - is an absolute delight for the eyes. From the first minutes when Caesar appears, I was utterly riveted by the splashy spectacle, the evocation of a vastly different time, and acting that can only be called first rate. The only thing that threw me off, as a Roman history nut, was the ridiculous historical inaccuracies that could only be made by an ignoramus.On the positive side, the drama is a complete success: Cleopatra, the last Ptolemaic queen of Egypt, uses her feminine attributes and fine mind to advance a dream of staying in power and perhaps even create a new empire based on Roman power. To do so, she seduces first Julius Caesar, who restores her to power in a civil war with her brother-husband, and bears him a son. Once Julius dies, she then seduces his lieutenant, Marc Anthony, eventually losing to the wily Octavian, Caesar's adopted son. In the process, she genuinely falls in love with Anthony, perhaps for the first time in her life. They die together by their own hand. Surely, this is one of the greatest dramas of power and love in the history of mankind and it is the basis of this film, executed to perfection.The costumes, sets, and images of sex and power are wonderfully vivid, which the bluray version (I have the British one that is available for $10 in Europe) brings with the sharpest of clarity. Beyond the actors (whose salaries were the highest ever paid), these props are the reason for the cost of the film. In my opinion, they were worth every penny as there are few film experiences that could compete.Finally, there is the acting. Taylor, just after her 1950s prime, is at her best as a politically savvy seductress, aging and scrambling to maintain her nation and heir in their positions of prominence. I found her convincing, astonishingly beautiful, and realistically shrewd. In my view, Rex Harrison believably projects the universal genius of Julius Caesar, whose calm in the face of overwhelming odds and ever-changing political calculus are implacable and unpredictable. McDowall is also a good Octavian, who he plays as a sleazy, effeminate conniver, ultimately perhaps the smartest of all. The only principle I feel does not give a subtle and interesting performance is Burton, whose Anthony, while flawed as a love-starved drunk, is blandly formulaic. The supporting characters, such as Agrippa, are not all that distinguished, with the exception of the courtier Hugh Cronin.On the negative side, the script really needed a scholar as consultant. Given that Mankiewicz was re-writing the script while directing, this was perhaps impossible. It is a pity, because while most of the blooper inaccuracies do not detract seriously from the storyline, they were constant irritants kind of like a buzzing mosquito at night. For example, Agrippa appears as a middle-aged lieutenant of Julius Caesar, when the person with whom he rose to prominence was Octavian, his coeval. But there are bigger problems as well. Just prior to his assassination, Julius is shown as demanding that he be named King by the Senate, which he was far too subtle ever to do in life. This fundamentally distorts his character, making him more of a simple tyrant than a master manipulator whose end game, if he had one, will never be known due to his premature death. Finally, there are many political complexities that are left uncovered, such as Anthony's massive and unprecedented failure to conquer Parthia. Anthony also had many implacable enemies, such as Cicero, whose right hand he had nailed to the Senate doorway during the civil war that followed Caesar's assassination. I know I sound like a pedant, but given the lavishness of the production, why not have made it more accurate?With all of its flaws, I still recommend this warmly. The extras are also excellent, such as the documentary of the chaos of its production.

As I said with BEN HUR the DVD didn't have subtitles in Greek and really I didn't enjoy it

Set in the period when Rome conquered Egypt through to the assassination of Julius Caesar that opened the door for the supremacy of Mark Anthony, this breathtaking epic classic film features three of the finest actors that ever walked upon the planet – Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra); Richard Burton as Mark Anthony; and Rex Harrison as a brilliant Julius Caesar.This is a film of epic proportions, told in ‘two halves’. Filmed in the amazing Todao super-high definition cinematic format that knocks Cinemascope into a cocked hat, everything looks unbelievably ‘real’ – and the incredible resolution of the camera lenses reveals everything in minute detail – from the grain and texture of the marble right down to the blemishes and wrinkles on people’s skin. The cinematic realism gives one the feeling that you are right there walking around in the sumptuousness and splendour of ancient Egypt and ancient Rome as an observer of all that takes place as the amazing luxurious ‘true-life’ story unfolds – with the ever-present threat of death on the doorstep of those that rule. Talk about how ‘the other half’ live.There are many many sub-plots of historical significance to follow – all of which require the time and space to present them all a condensed cinematic format so as to fully grasp what goes wrong and WHY.To aid this process, the director tells the story over two significant periods – Julius Caesar’s arrival in Egypt and his power struggle and love affair with Queen Cleopatra that ultimately leads to Caesar’s assassination; and the ‘reign’ of Mark Anthony and the treachery that takes place following the murder of Caesar.The restoration is amazing, however, sadly, the original six-hour ‘directors cut’ has been lost due to poor storage, fire, and ‘disappearance’ of much of the original camera masters so short narrations have been deployed to keep us informed of what takes place where footage is missing or unusable so as to maintain continuity and intrigue to keep us on the edge of our seats. Whilst this loss is masterfully handled by the restorers and the loss does not detract us from the plotline in any way, what we do not fully experience and enjoy is the full power and majesty of the dialogue - which was constructed from the diaries of Cicero and the scribes of Cleopatra - and recited by three of the word’s finest orators of the English tongue.What remains are four-and-a-half hours of one of the finest historical epics ever made.This is a film you will watch many times. Watch it with a box of tissues near by – a handkerchief does not cut it.Five starsSTAY SAFE

Well it took an extra effort but it finally arrived and I watched it immediately GREAT MOVIE.

Uno dei più bei film di sempre!Due miti assoluti!Scene e costumi memorabili!

Un film come se ne facevano una volta; cast di livello assoluto, fotografia a livelli stratosferici, colonna sonora da brividi. La storia ovviamente è romanzata, ma è pur sempre un film.Trasferimento su Blu Ray strepitoso; opera su Cleopatra come non l'abbiamo mai vista.Generosi extra per una edizione di riferimento.

豪華絢爛、大作、本当に色彩豊か❗昔のハリウッド映画は、良かった。長い作品なので、時間がある時しか観れませんが、大画面で見ると、圧倒されます。けれど、エリザベステーラーさんて、未だに好みのお顔ではありません。

Megafilm, einfach spitze