Customer Reviews

Cleopatra

5 star:		(111)
4 star:		(54)
3 star:		(20)
2 star:		(12)
1 star:		(8)

 

 

That a film as good as CLEOPATRA is was created at all under the madness and panic of it's legendary production is indeed an amazing feat. That CLEOPATRA has been given such loving care in it's restoration in this DVD of the "Road show" print and the attendant bonus materials is a wondrous gift to those who love this film.
The documentary, "Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood" is in on it's own an engrossing and informative two hour movie. For anyone who knows little of the history of CLEOPATRA, or who was not around at the time, this documentary will give them the feeling of what those last days of old Hollywood were like. And therein one can find the reasons why this intimate epic is indeed the wonder that it is. Much thanks must be given to the Mankiewicz family and the producers of the documentary.
The print and the sound of CLEOPATRA seems now to surpass what I recall it to be in its first presentation nearly forty years ago. The depth of the colors and the richness of the shadows are indeed splendid. In it's present form it is hard to believe this film is as old as it is. The commentary track is like finding the lost treasures of the long dead monarch. For there are wonderful recollections by Martin Landau, Tom and Chris Mankiewicz, and even Jack Brodsky gets to read sections from his book "The Cleopatra Papers". But I must give special mention to Landau's part. With his keen eye for the art direction of John DeCur one sees things in the background and along the edges of the scene that one never noticed before. Such lovingly detailed sets and interiors will never be seen again. The costs today are just too prohibitive. Also his insights into what was cut from the film, particularly his and Richard Burton's contributions in the second act give one the idea of what Mankiewicz was intending. Poor Richard suffered the unkindest cut of all. The presentation of the DVD menus are so clever and exotic and are to be commended in their art direction. At last we now know what is behind the massive 20th Century Fox logo!
The film itself remains what it has always been, a good film that might have been great if only Zanuck had but trusted Joe Mankiewicz' original vision. In the documentary it is stated that Fox is looking for the missing film, one can only hope that they succeed.
The performances range from excellent to good. Particular praise must go to Rex Harrison, Richard Burton, Martin Landau, Robert Stephens, Andrew Keir, and Roddy McDowall. Lastly in this department there remains Elizabeth Taylor's performance as Cleopatra. At the films release she got the brickbats and for reasons that had nothing to do with her performance. It is always hard to separate the history of the lady from her film roles. But here in this film is where she became the ELIZABETH TAYLOR she has remained in the mind of the world to this day. In this fact alone she is perfect in the role. She is at once regal and commanding, strong and tender, soft and hard. The contradictions that have always been at the heart of Cleopatra herself, the public enigma wrapped within a mystery. In her performance as written by Mankiewicz she is probably not too far off from the historical Cleopatra.
Ever since Judith Crist gave CLEOPATRA the needle in 1963 and in the act made her name, the public, for the most part, has viewed this film a failure. But today, stripped of the scandal, hype and hysteria of its release in June of '63 it is now possible to view CLEOPARTA as the wonderful film that it is. Historically this is an important DVD and I recommend it highly. CLEOPATRA remains as seductive, beautiful, and intelligent as it was in Walter Wanger's original conception.

When I first saw "Cleopatra" (1963) at the theater it was a big let down. I think the public was awaiting something completely "out of the mold" after being bombed by an aggressive publicity campaign. It's my feeling that this was the cause of "Cleopatra" being initially a big flop.

More than thirty years after its release I saw this movie again and was amazed: such a great epoch reconstruction, such historical accurateness, such great performances from the three main characters!

The story is well known. A young and beautiful Egyptian princess seduces and gets protection and support from the mighty Roman general Julius Caesar. A love affair emerges and a boy is born. Cleopatra seeks Caesar to be King of Rome and his son to be his heir. Unfortunately March Ides arrive and Caesar is murdered by his entourage.

Cleopatra flies to Egypt; there she awaits the development of political events. Finally Marc Antony arrives and starts a new love affair. There is a final confrontation among the Roman rivals and fate is again blind to Cleopatra's hopes.

Decoration and Costume both won, deservedly, Oscar Award. A full scale reproduction of Alexandria's port and marketplace is shown. The Egyptian palaces' reconstruction is amazing. The same may be said of Roman buildings and halls.

Cleopatra's costumes are gorgeous, she wore 65 different! The wardrobe of all the cast is impeccable!

Special mentions must be addressed to: Rex Harrison's performance as Julius Caesar, sober and realistic, no overacting or histrionics; Elisabeth Taylor at the apex of her career is just adorable; Richard Burton gives the audience a passionate and ruthless personification of Marc Antony.

A film to be admired and treasured!

Reviewed by Max Yofre.

Despite the legendary excesses and scandals that went on during the making of this unjustly maligned movie, it has three of the most critical foundation stones any work of this scope needs to succeed:

1). A unified vision or point of view, extending from the development of plot and characters to the physical look of the production itself.

2). A literate and compelling script that could play irrespective of the opulence of its surroundings.

3). Four leading actors who instinctively understand how to work their material, making the seams between performer and character invisbile to the spectator.

#s 1 & 2 were supplied by director / screenwriter Joseph L. Mankiewicz, #3 by Taylor, Burton, Harrison, and McDowell.

This is a film that easily bears repeated viewings, and, again, thanks to Mankiewicz and his actors, functions simultaneously on a variety of levels. For example, there are the love stories:

Caesar & Cleopatra / Antony & Cleopatra.

The tender scenes are written and played almost poetically, but there are also political manouverings going on as each uses the other to attain or augment their power. This is made even more fascinating in that these are obviously intelligent, witty, charming, beautiful, ruthless, and influential people whose calculations shape nations and Empires.

Given all of the above, the movie also looks like the enormous sum it cost, has a brilliant score by Alex North, an accomplished supporting cast (in particular, Martin Landau, Pamela Brown, Hume Cronan, Cesare Danova), and spectacular "set pieces" that though fully integrated into the plot, almost play as "movies within the movie" - Cleopatra's Entry into Rome, Cleopatra's Barge & Banquet, the Battle of Actium.

In sum, Mankiewicz and cast succeed in bringing off the big "world stage" themes critical to this genre of historical film. Their greatest achievement however lies in making an audience understand that these ancient archetypes were human beings trying to bear the weight of both history and their emotions.

There seems to be a great deal of confusion regarding the various running times attributed to "Cleopatra", and which version is available on home video as of early 2011. Let me try to help those readers who have been seeking to purchase the most complete version possible.

When director and editor Joseph L. Mankiewicz first screened the rough cut for Fox executives back in 1963, the film ran approximately 5 and a half hours. Mankiewicz conceived the film being released as two separate features, the first detailing Cleopatra's relationship with Julius Caesar and the second exploring her liaison with Marc Antony. Fox head Darryl F. Zanuck adamantly refused Mankiewicz' plan: Fox had so much money invested in the film that the studio was on the verge of bankruptcy, and Zanuck wanted to rush the film into theatres quickly and recoup as much money as possible while the public was still fascinated by the real-life romantic scandal taking place between Elizabeth Taylor (Cleopatra) and Richard Burton (Antony). He ordered Mankiewicz to edit the film down to a cut that ran a little over four hours (248 minutes). This is the version that was shown to reviewers and early "roadshow" audiences.

However, when it came time to send the film into general release, theatre owners complained that the movie was so long, it could only be shown once per evening. Zanuck agreed and had the film cut again, down to about 222 minutes, and then a second time to a little over three hours in length (192 minutes) so that it could be shown twice per evening and thus, theoretically, bring in twice as much money, and quickly. This 192 minute theatrical version thus became the most complete edition of the film that most original audiences ever saw.

However, with the advent of the home video revolution and the consequent revival of interest in the film, Fox searched their vaults and came up with a print of the four hour "roadshow" edition, and it is this print which is currently available on DVD in both the out-of-print 3-disc "Five Star Collection" and the current 2-disc "Award Series" releases. Although various press releases advertise the DVDs as running 193 minutes (including, at present, the Amazon Item Descriptions), they are incorrect. The DVDs run approximately 248 minutes, with the feature spread out over two discs. (The third disc in the "Five Star Collection" edition contains a wealth of bonus materials, including vintage multiple trailers and newsreel clips, an extensive gallery of publicity stills and portraits, and best of all, the AMC original full-length documentary, "Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood.")

So ... if you've been avoiding a purchase because you want the most extensive cut of the film available, wait no longer! 50 years after the film was released, with the hullaballoo over the film's cost and the scandal over the Taylor-Burton affair no longer dominating viewers' minds, "Cleopatra" is definitely worth a look. The performances are not nearly as bad as the initial reviewers claimed (Taylor and Burton were both lambasted while Rex Harrison received an Oscar nomination and won the National Board of Review's Best Actor accolade), and the production values are dazzling. "Cleopatra" may have cost a mint and nearly sunk Fox financially, but for sheer visual spectacle it can't be beat. The film scooped up Oscars for Cinematography, Art Direction & Set Decoration, Costumes and Special Effects, and it deserved every one of them. It also should have garnered Roddy McDowall the Supporting Actor Oscar, but Fox mistakenly designated him as a Leading Actor, and he failed to be nominated by the Academy in that category.

As a postscript, I should mention that the search for the missing footage that would restore Mankiewicz' original vision of the film as a five-and-a-half hour blockbuster continues as of this writing. Hopefully, we will all someday see "Cleopatra" as it was intended to be seen. Until then, the 248 edition currently available is definitely recommended.

I think Cleopatra is the best movie ever made, it is also the most expensive movie ever made costing twice more than Titanic in today's money, but it just didn't make it to the screen. Intended to be two movies, Caesar and Cleopatra & Antony and Cleopatra, three hours each. But partly because of the attention of the famous Taylor-Burton affair, Darryl F. Zanuck shamelessly ruined Cleopatra from its 6-hour two movies into ONE 3 hour 14 minute movie, which is the TV version, which is Horrible! But luckily, the 4-hour version, this DVD version, survived the brutal cutting of the film. This movie is the most beautiful movie I have ever seen. The sets, clothes, props, and music... they are just FLAWLESS! As many people know, Rex Harrison as Caesar and Richard Burton as Antony both got nominated for Best Actor at the Oscars, but because the movie was cut to one, they were nominated against each other in the same movie, and more importantly, their best scenes were cut because of the length, so none of them won (but they deserve to), and Roddy McDowell got nominated in the wrong section and his votes were canceled. Martin Landau was going to be nominated as Best Supporting Actor, but after the film was ruined, the Academy Awards dropped him. Elizabeth Taylor's best scenes were cut off that she was so angry she puked at the Premiere.

The Music of the film is the BEST. Till this Day, I don't know why the Oscars didn't give Cleopatra the award. Of course, Oscars didn't give Gone with the Wind, Gladiator, and lots of other film's beautiful scores the Oscar, it's weird.

How do I know about all about Cleopatra? I have ALL the books, interviews, and even the full movie shooting script of this movie, I am the biggest fan! If you have seen the movie, you'll realize that Cleopatra was usually unhappy and tense. But there is a happy side of her, for example, there was a scene where Cleopatra, Antony and her son with Caesar were in the garden, Cleopatra watching them play swords. Then Caesarian, the son, stubbed Antony with his wooden sword and Antony cried out in "pain", and Caesarian suddenly went crying, saying "don't die, don't die!" Antony suddenly comes back to life and tickles Caesarian, then drags Cleopatra into them and they were all laughing and rolling on the floor... it was so happy, and that's one of the many sides of Cleopatra that's been cut off.

In the four-hour version, we first see Cleopatra dumped out of a carpet. That was NEVER intended to be the first scene we see Cleopatra. From the script I learned that there was a whole story of Cleopatra outside Alexandria, and she and the others planned to meet Caesar and how to sneak her in. Just after they got to the Palace, some soldiers almost caught them and the maid had to lure the guards away... it was thrilling to read the pages of the script! There are sooo much to saying about what Cleopatra should have been, but sadly, no one expect FOX has the missing footage, and they are the best scenes of the movie (some scenes were so humorous that I laughed out loud!).

In the late 70's, 20th Century FOX called a recording session to record the lines of the movie so they can restore it, since the sound elements were missing. But it was called off at the last minute. But the three-and-half hours of missing film footage was NEVER lost! With today's technology, they can totally restore the film back, including the sound. They also have the missing part of the unused scores, but why doesn't FOX, after making a two hour documentary about the film, restore it? No one knows! Movies like "A Star is Born", "Lawrence of Arabia", "Sparticus", and many other classic movies has been successfully restored and loved by many. Why not Cleopatra? I am writing just to let you know the truth about the movie, and hopefully, if more people know maybe FOX will restore the film to the intended way. In a Late interview with four-time Oscar winner Joseph L Mankiewicz, the director and screenwriter of the movie, when the subject Cleopatra went up, he literately cried (on TV!). He said he wanted the film to be perfect that he bit his nails until they were bleeding that he had to wear gloves when he was writing the script... He called Cleopatra his "butchered masterpiece". But however, it's still one of the best movies out there! Totally worth buying!!

FOX: PLEASE RESTORE CLEOPATRA BEFORE IT'S TOO LATE, BEFORE THE FILM ROTS OR A STUDIO FIRE AND BURNS THEM TO DUST, LIKE FOX'S 1917 VERSION OF CLEOPATRA!

What can I say about Cleopatra that has not already been said? It's an epic, powerful, enthralling and magnificent beast of a film, combining breathtaking and expansive visuals with powerful lead performances, and sublime direction by the genius Joseph L. Mankiewicz (responsible for the brilliant 'All About Eve').

'Cleopatra' is the co-ruler of Egypt, exiled by her upstart, puppet-king brother Ptolemy. Enter Julius Caesar, fresh from a civil war with Pompeii, who, ostensibly for the benefit of the Roman empire, ousts Ptolemy and his evil advisors and invests Cleopatra as the sole ruler of Egypt. Hungry for more, the good lady Queen married Caesar and bears him a son in the hopes of extending the Roman empire with Alexandria as its seat of power, but the democratic Roman senate does not agree. Murdering Caesar and forcing Cleopatra and his heir into exile, she returns to Egypt, while Octavian, a heretofore venal and weak man, takes Caesar's place.

Enter Marc Anthony, who, through a series of popular and victorious conquests, rules one-third of the Roman empire. He falls madly in love with Cleopatra, and she with him. Siezing lands and power from her new husband, the couple attempts to overthrow Octavian in a historic battle-at-sea. What follows is real and movie history.

The most remarkable thing about 'Cleopatra' is the fact that it still carries the taboo of failure. This is very much due to a perpetuated myth of financial failure (see the excellent documentary on the bonus disc for clarification of this - lousy money and location management are the culprits) and the fact that this movie is where the Taylor & Burton affair all began. Unpopular as it was in the 1960's, it kept a certain amount of people from giving the picture the praise it deserves. However, mud sticks, and this is another reason for the perceived critical failure of 'Cleopatra'.

Both reasons, happily, are immediately invalidated when one sits down to watch.

In her role as one of the most famus women of all time, Elizabeth Taylor gives a bravura performance, as epic in its attitude as the film itself. She displays a rare feeling for the part, being by turns seductive and regal, human and ethereal. We don't question her authority or her intelligence for a moment.
As Caesar, Rex Harrisson is wonderful. Cleopatra's first powerful lover becomes, in Harrisson's capable hands, a real man, a human bearing the mythical title of Caesar. He is tender and human, wholly believable as a Titan made vulnerable by love.
Richard Burton is similarly magnificent, eclipsing Harrisson's performance with the fire and rash emotion befitting a man in his position. His onscreen chemistry with Taylor is palpable and we are wholly accepting of the fact that she, too, loves him. He is a General of War, and his fierce and passionate battle sequences coupled with his tender, almost innocent love scenes mark him as one of the best actors of his time.

With such excellent performances from the leads, the supporting cast could be forgiven for having been overlooked, but this is happily not the case. Roddy MacDowall is astonishing as the vile and willful Octavian, narrowly and unfairly missing a Best Supporting Actor nomination (again, see the documentary) for his excellent portrayal of an unpopular emperor in uneasy times. Hume Cronyn as Sosigenes is excellent, too.

I can't do any justice to the visual impact of 'Cleopatra' by going into it in-depth, so instead I will just say this. Never before, nor never since, has such a realistic and glorious impression been made by a film. Forget Titanic, and Ben Hur, and all the others - Cleopatra takes the word 'Epic' and utterly redefines it with magnificent temples, sweeping deserts and tempestuous ocean scenes. Taylor as Cleopatra shines like a regal bauble, matched only by her husbands, Caesar and Anthony, in terms of all-encompassing screen presence.

Joseph L. Mankiewicz is, in my opinion, one of Hollywood's most enduring talents. Not content to be responsible for the genius scripting of 'All About Eve', he has created in 'Cleopatra' that which every director surely strives to do: a wholly believable and engrossing setting against which an epic drama is played out.

The DVD quality is superb, with clear and crisp audio and visual elements. The extras are similarly amazing, and the documentary I keep referring to is two hours of fair, unbiased commentary and fascinating insight into one of Hollywood's greatest ever pictures.

I can't recommend 'Cleopatra' highly enough. For scope, beauty, and drama, it is the unquestionable best. The length of the movie is immaterial, further cuts would only diminish its effect. One for everyone's collection.

Where IS the rest of it?

That may sound like an odd question given that "Cleopatra" runs 4 hours, but despite the lavish sets, clever dialogue, generally good performances, etc... there is nonetheless a certain "smallness" about this gargantuan piece of Hollywood history (which, if one adjusts for inflation, remains easily the most-expensive movie ever made).

This "smallness" is hard to explain, except that I think it may have something to do with so many scenes occuring inside, with very little external shooting which remains in the final cut.

As I understand, the original version was ~6 hours, which does seem a tad too long, but FOX made Mr. Mankiewicz cut the film down, which he initially did to a length of about 5 hours and 15 minutes... THIS is the version that I'd like to see (but no one's apparently been able to find the footage) but the studio then took it and hacked it down to "only" 4 hours in 1963, some prints running less than 3(!!) Elizabeth Taylor is said to have vomited after publicly viewing the slashed-up version in London.

It's also been said that the two stars missing from the 4 hour version (let alone the shorter one) are Rome and Egypt... I can believe it-- as there is a pronounced lack of a sense of "place" or location in the 4 hour cut, the version readily available.

If they could reassemble the 5 1/4 hour cut, with that footage back in place, I wonder if the size and scope of "Cleopatra" would finally measure up to what it seems to be trying to promise at every moment. Because despite how long it already is, one senses that you've "missed" something throughout the movie.

I'm not ashamed to admit I love this film and always have--even though at times I have been teased, ridiculed and even insulted for it. It came out when I was a highschool freshman, and I instantly fell in love with Liz. That's one place to start in considering this movie: at the time it was made, Liz (as Elizabeth Taylor was known in all the media) was at the absolute peak of her luscious physical perfection. It is entirely possible that there has never been a more gorgeous creature on two legs on the face of the earth. The fact that she looks stunning in such extreme makeup and headdresses says a lot. Then there's the impeccable credentials of the writer/director, Joseph L. Mankeiwicz, who had won Oscars for writing and directing two years in a row (A Letter to Three Wives, 1949; and All About Eve, 1950). While there is no denying the eye-popping visuals of this film--the costumes, the sets, the action sequences, and (of course) Liz Taylor in her prime--it has a literary and witty screenplay that seldom is given the credit it deserves. One example: When Cleopatra compliments Marc Antony on his Greek-style garb aboard her barge, he explains, "I have a fondness for almost all Greek things," to which she retorts, "Being an almost all-Greek thing, I am flattered," a reference to the historical Cleopatra's lineage. The film was nominated for nine Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and won four. Contrary to popular belief, it did NOT lose money, even though it was the most expensive film made up to that time (and, if you adjust for inflation, of all time). When it opened in the original reserved-seat roadshow run, it was sold out for four solid months. The New York Times gave it a glowing review.

So why is it thought of by many as a flop? The major problem was with the advance hype the movie generated, a phenomenon that has never been matched. When Fox advertised it with the slogan, "The motion picture the world has been waiting for," that was no idle hype. The movie was literally years in the making, for most of which time you couldn't pass a magazine rack without seeing at least a half-dozen publications with Liz and Burton on the cover. Their adulterous affair (both were married, he to Sybil, she to Eddie Fisher) during the filmmaking process made headlines and marked the true birth of the paparazzi in Italy, where it was filmed. It even earned a condemning editorial in the Vatican newspaper (although not, as sometimes reported, by the Pope himself). The film was parodied on prime-time television even before it opened. As a result, many people were just waiting for a chance to pounce on it, eager to denounce it as a flop, regardless of how it turned out.

Cleopatra also suffered because of its great length. It is reported that Mankeiwicz wanted to edit it as two three-hour films, but that Fox studio head Darryl F. Zanuck would not permit it, resulting in a film that ran slightly over four hours--for a few weeks, at least. It debuted in New York at four hours and six minutes; by the time it opened elsewhere, it had been trimmed by 22 minutes. And as its first run continued for the following months, it got progressively shorter as exhibitors whittled it down to allow for more showings per day. I went to see it four times during its first run, and each time after the first would realize that more scenes were missing.

This DVD release, like the original VHS release (and first telecast), restores the film to its original premiere running time of 246 minutes, including scenes that moviegoers outside of New York never got to see in the theater. The original three-disc DVD version (apparently available now only through used DVD outlets) included an outstanding AMC-produced documentary on the incredible history of this film, which is well worth seeking out. But the film really speaks for itself. Divorced from the hype and scandal and rumors, it stands up very well on its own. I have shown it to numerous younger viewers who have never seen it, and they are without exception delighted by it. The performances are uniformly strong (especially Rex Harrison and Roddy McDowall), the production values unexcelled, and the technical transfer is stunning in both video and audio (Alex North's exquisite score is among the films greatest assets). Forget the urban myths; this is a great flick.

CLEOPATRA has been given a new life in its glorious DVD presentation from 20th Century Fox. It's all here: great digital/THX transfer for improved sound and superbly clear picture, a cast from Hollywood's Golden Age, including the greatly underrated Elizabeth Taylor (in one of her finest roles), Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Martin Landau, and Roddy McDowell, as well as Hume Cronyn; plus an eye-popping menu for language and scene selection and many other features.

Included on the 3-disc set are 2 documentaries on the making of the movie, as well as commentary from Landau and Joseph Mankiewicz's son among others. I haven't listened to all the running commentary, as it goes on for the entire film's length or some 4 hours. It is interesting to learn about the director's intentions that were just a part of the many, many months of actual film production. Cleopatra was several years in the making; and is to this day considered the most costly film ever made. At the time Elizabeth Taylor was cast, she was the first actor to ever earn $1 million for a single role. She went on to earn several million more because of the lengthy overruns in production time. Her salary was all a part of the huge studio publicity machine generated for the public's appetite for more Hollywood star glamour and gossip. Of course, the Taylor/Burton real-life love affair that started on the set was an even greater cause celebre than today's Hollywood "romances."

The production values were worth every last penny as the DVD will show: the sumptuous colors, Liz Taylor's costumes/makeup/hair, the lavishly detailed sets, and the remastered sound bring you an old-fashion moviehouse experience.

A previous reviewer has mentioned a technical problem in Disc 2 on Chapter 35. The problem being the picture freezes the film and you have to skip the entire scene. I e-mailed Amazon for a replacement copy, and I received another edition this week. Happily, my new copy is free of any problems. It must have been a badly pressed disc.

Don't skip ANY scene: each one is so important in telling the whole story. That is one advantage to a movie of such length: the screenplay has time to unfold and present all the intrigue, passion, rivalry and emotions that make Cleopatra the classic epic that is and always will be!

They really don't make movies like they used to....So, sit back and enjoy 4 hours of the finest moviemaking you'll ever see!!

From the back cover: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Rex Harrison star in this sweeping tale of power and betrayal - the legendary story of the Queen of the Nile and her conquest of Julius Caesar and Marc Antony. Here is the truly unforgettable portrayal of the beguiling beauty who seduced two of Rome's greatest soldiers and changed the course of history. Breathtaking in scope and grandeur, the picture won Oscars for cinematography, art direction, costumes, sets and special effects. In the tradition of epic romantic adventures like Braveheart and Titanic comes the greatest spectacle of all...Cleopatra.

This DVD looks like a great one. The DVD includes a new anamorphic widescreen transfer, audio commentary (participants TBA), the all new documentary "Cleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood," the original featurette "The Fourth Star Of Cleopatra," rare archival footage of the Hollywood premieres, trailers, a historical timeline and a collectible booklet. In all the promo flyer promises over 7 hours of extras, and there are more special features to be announced. Hmmm . . . Where are all the deleted scenes that Cleo and Liz fans want? For those of you who don't know, let me give you some background info. idea Mankiewicz's original idea for Cleopatra was for it to be released in two parts -- Ceaser & Cleopatra and Antony & Cleopatra, each three hours in legnth. They scrapped that idea, and decided to make it a long six hour film. Mankiewicz considered it to be his and Taylor's best work, before the studio cut it down to four hours for the primere.

There is still hope that Fox will release this too, because as of January 28, 2001 there is still more features to be announced.