Customer Reviews

Antony & Cleopatra: Literary Masterpieces [VHS]

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a brilliant performance of Antony and Cleopatra..... and I say this as a reader/viewer who normally likes to read but not watch Shakespeare. Janet Suzman as Cleopatra is at least as fine a Cleopatra as Liz Taylor (and infinitely superior to Leonor Varela's embarrassingly adolescent portrayal), but Richard Johnson as Antony is so marvelous that you can only think of Richard Burton as an unappealing weakling after watching Johnson. What a marvelous Antony - FINALLY you can begin to understand why Cleopatra loved him! And don't miss a younger Patrick Stewart as a very dramatically effective and engaging Enobarbus. This is a film that bears repeated watching; I've watched it three times in one week and will undoubtedly view it far more than most videos on my shelf. The staging and sets aren't noteworthy but you don't even need them because the acting (filmed very closeup) is so superb. This deserves to be a classic. Don't miss it.

I've seen this play on film and on stage, but this British television version is by far the best version I've seen. Richard Johnson seems to be EXACTLY the embodiment of Marc Antony that Shakespeare must have envisioned - pure poetry and agony. And Janet Suzman channels Cleopatra in a way that is almost spooky (Cleo lives!). I also personally love the set design, which is solely used to create the mood of the characters and plot. This is like a stage play, in that it allows the viewer to focus on the characters, not on locations (I'll leave that to the deeply inferior movie version that plays the story out like an over-produced historical document). Trevor Nunn proves that one doesn't need lavish productions in order to recreate great Shakespeare. Just get some great actors on an open set and let the magic happen!

I'm not sure what the above reviewers were looking for, but I have had an English bootleg of this production for years, and have never seen a better one. Janet Suzman and Richard Johnson wowed all of the English critics when this RSC production was onstage. And Patrick Stewart won every supporting actor award that season. And, it's directed by the great Trevor Nunn. Nuff said! I'm glad to get a new DVD copy of this production. Any classical theater fan or Roman history buff needs to have this one in their collection.

Shakespeare's plays are essentially theatrical, and difficult to bring off on screen. This production succeeds admirably in many respects. It doesn't go for visual spectacle: quite apart from anything else, it couldn't hope to compare on that score with the Hollywood Burton/Taylor extravaganza. Instead, with a minimum of props or sets, it focuses on the actors' faces, and on the verse. And when Patrick Stewart, as Enobarbus, describes Cleopatra's first meeting with Antony ("the barge she sat in, like a burnished throne..")the viewer's mind may conjure up for itself spectacles far more impressive than anything Hollywood has to offer.

Shakespeare's Antony and Cleopatra are both middle-aged, looking back on past glories and haunted with the awareness of failing powers. They are among Shakespeare's greatest creations, and Johnson and Suzman capture superbly their complexities. Corin Redgrave's Octavius, however, is more controversial. Certainly, Octavius is a calculating politician: but should he really be so ice cold, and devoid of emotion? This presentation seriously unbalances the play. The wonderful scene where he expresses grief on hearing of Antony's death here passes for nothing, for we simply cannot believe that Octavius - as presented here - is capable of feeling anything at all.

The other problem with this production is the text: most Shakespeare plays can stand a bit of judicious cutting, but the cuts here are so extensive, that the text is effectively mangled. Would another forty minutes or so really have over-taxed the viewer's attention span?

Directors of "Antony and Cleopatra" must decide what story to tell. Should it be the geopolitical conflict between East and West, the refined culture, hedonism and mysticism of Egypt versus the stern militarism and morality of Rome (and its Judeo-Christian legacy)? Or, should it be a tragi-comic near-melodramatic story of great lovers torn apart by war and their human frailty, but finally united in death? Or, should it be a chilling power struggle, stuffed with machiavellian deceit, betrayal and murder? Trevor Nunn's Royal Shakespeare Company production succeeds in telling all three stories, remains faithful to Shakespeare, and provides entertainment that is easy for contemporary audiences to enjoy. Given Nunn's success with this play and others, why are so few RSC productions of Shakespeare available in the United States?

Nunn elegantly portrays the difference between Rome and Alexandria. Rome is presented as if in a bare, large, air-conditioned, brightly lit room. The background is pure white. Caesar and the Romans look clear eyed and freshly showered, shaved, with hair cut short and neatly combed, wearing pure white robes, so unwrinkled they might have been starched. Everything is simple and transparent, there is right and wrong, good and evil, truth and falsehood, and one's duty is to do right. That is, one's duty is to faithfully serve Octavius Caesar.

In Egypt nothing is pure or simple. The air feels thick and objects appear hazy, as if seen through a fine gauze. Intimate rooms glow warmly with gold, silken-satin colored fabrics, richly embroidered tapestries, and immense luxuriously upholstered cushions. Ancient flutes and harps provide music, the moody food of love. The shimmering heat of the desert is a palpable reminder of strong emotions, and Cleopatra's palace is a mirage.

Janet Suzman is a sensual alluring Cleopatra, a woman who used her sexuality to manipulate Julius Caesar, then Pompey the Great, and now Mark Antony. Little wonder that the Romans mistrust her, the serpent of old Nile. Her constantly and violently shifting moods keep Antony off-balance and intrigued. Her sighs and tears are like forces of nature, great winds and rains, and as loyal Enobarbus assures Antony, she is a great piece of work, not to be missed if you happen to be in Egypt. And yet, Antony makes a marriage of political convenience with Octavia, a holy, cold and chaste Roman matron, very much the opposite of Cleopatra, not a good match for a man who has cultivated the pleasures of the East. Eventually, Octavia, who was to have bound Antony and Octavius in peace, provides the pretext for open warfare when she returns to Rome and Antony is drawn back to his Egyptian lover. The ill-starred marriage is the critical point at which Antony's fate finally tips toward his tragic, inevitable defeat.

Richard Johnson, a lusty masculine Antony, is the one-time valorous soldier, now lost in the pleasures of his relationship with Cleopatra and hard-partying with the Egyptians. Antony, although a Roman, wears a beautiful multi-colored robe with gold chains and jewelry. Once a war-hardened soldier, he is now ensnared by the hedonism of the East, shown by his rich, flowing speech, slightly unkempt beard and longish hair, and habitual feasting and drunkeness. Relaxing with drink in what appears to be a plush seraglio, with his trusty second in command Enobarbus, Antony reluctantly persuades himself to return to Rome. He is no longer the hero who revenged the assassination of Julius Caesar and bargained with Octavius to rule the world.

Corin Redgrave is Octavius, the clear-sighted, goal-driven Roman who prevails through superior organization, discipline, deceit and treachery. Young, efficient, and ruthless, Octavius would be at home today as a brilliant hedge-fund manager with an MBA from Harvard, reshaping the world by taking over old corporate empires and destroying them to build anew. His clean aryan appearance and fascist ethos provide a chilling subtext for the war against Cleopatra and Egypt. Antony may be a dissipated worn-out warrior, but he is honorable. Octavius is soulless power-broker who lets nothing get in his way, admired and feared but never trusted or loved.

The ambiguous atmosphere of Egypt conforms with ever changing views of reality - metamorphoses - counterpoint to the Roman illusion of certainty. Antony says, "let Rome in Tiber melt." Cleopatra on hearing of Antony's marriage to Octavia threatens to melt gold and pour it down a messenger's throat, and let "Egypt melt into NIle." Having lost a key battle Antony feels "authority melt from me," and he compares his life to the shifting clouds in the sky that first appear one way, and then another. When Antony dies, Cleopatra grieves that "the crown o' the earth doth melt." Octavius wins, but Antony and Cleopatra elude him in a suicide pact. Even in defeat, as the final curtain comes down on the stage, the East, one feels, will go its own way. There are no simple answers in this play and Trevor Nunn, graciously, does not try to provide them.

"Antony and Cleopatra" is one of Shakespeare's greatest plays where Marc Antony and Cleopatra, both with glorious pasts, have to cope with their dwindling fortunes. Janet Suzman plays Cleopatra and Richard Johnson plays Marc Antony and both handle their roles very well, faithfully potraying their respective characters.

The director, Jon Scoffield did a good job of producing a good film particularly in view of the fact that Shakespeare's plays are essentially theatrical and are a challenge to bring on film. However, he managed to produce a good film on a low budget by focusing on the characters and verse rather than producing a spectacle.

In summary, a good movie well worth viewing.

If you enjoy good acting you will like this version of Antony and Cleopatra. It doesn't have much technology and the sets are very simple, but it has much to offer in characters who deliver their lines with great eloquence. The actors playing Antony and Cleopatra are quite convincing in their powerful emotions as they perform their roles as Shakespeare intended. Although there are too many closeups of the actors' faces, that doesn't detract much from the theatrical experience of this TV production. However, it would have been more visually appealing if better sets had been available. Providing us with more background instead of having us look at people's faces most of the time would have made this program more watchable. Still, this is probably one of the most accurate versions of the play with the characters holding your interest instead of exterior spectacle.

It was filmed for TV and is a bit lacking in visual quality but very much worth seeing for the performances - I enjoyed seeing a young Ben Kingsley in a minor role - also Patrick Stewart was very good - sad and funny. The cuts to the play were not very deep for me - it does run 2 hours, 40 min.

The acting is beyond superb. Ms. Suzman IS Cleopata. My only complaint is the directing. This DVD consists of 90% talking heads. The close up lens for the camera was obviously the only one available. The play is done on a stage, but it is almost never seen. Way too too much facial.

Being a TV version of a famous RSC production, this is indeed (mainly) an excellent version of the play, with the actors well into their roles by means of stage experience. However, there's a major flaw: presumably to render the length palatable for TV audiences in the late '60s, the performance cuts out the important Sextus Pompey subplot. If this role (and that of his pirate allies) is excised, we lose some crucial political, military and historical detail which enrich the play and the characters of both Antony and Octavius. Check out the text for details, and you will see what I mean. So, loss of a star (and I nearly made it two) for such thoughtless interference! My first choice must be with the BBC Shakespeare version, beautifully and thoughtfully directed by Jonathan Miller, with Jane Lapotaire and Colin Blakely both first-class. The RSC version remains a wonderful -if irritatingly incomplete- second choice.