| Cleopatra | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
| Screenplay by |
|
| Based on | The Life and Times of Cleopatra by Carlo Maria Franzero Histories byPlutarch,Suetonius, andAppian |
| Produced by | Walter Wanger |
| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Leon Shamroy |
| Edited by | Dorothy Spencer |
| Music by | Alex North |
| Distributed by | 20th Century-Fox |
Release date |
|
Running time | 243 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States[2] |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $31.1 million[3] |
| Box office | $57.8 million (US and Canada)[4] $40.3 million (worldwidetheatrical rental) |
Cleopatra is a 1963 Americanepichistorical drama film directed byJoseph L. Mankiewicz from a screenplay by Mankiewicz,Ranald MacDougall andSidney Buchman, adapted from the 1957 bookThe Life and Times of Cleopatra by Carlo Maria Franzero, and from histories byPlutarch,Suetonius, andAppian. The film starsElizabeth Taylor in the eponymous role, along withRichard Burton,Rex Harrison,Roddy McDowall andMartin Landau. It chronicles the struggles of the young queenCleopatra VII of Egypt to resist the imperial ambitions ofRome.
Walter Wanger had long contemplated producing a biographical film about Cleopatra. In 1958, his production company partnered withTwentieth Century Fox to produce the film. Following an extensive casting search, Elizabeth Taylor signed on to portray the title role for a record-setting salary of $1 million.Rouben Mamoulian was hired as director, and the script underwent numerous revisions fromNigel Balchin,Dale Wasserman,Lawrence Durrell, andNunnally Johnson.Principal photography began atPinewood Studios on September 28, 1960, but Taylor's health problems delayed further filming. Production was suspended in November after it had gone over budget with only ten minutes of usable footage.
Mamoulian resigned as director and was replaced by Mankiewicz, who had directed Taylor inSuddenly, Last Summer (1959). Production was re-located toCinecittà, where filming resumed on September 25, 1961, without a finishedshooting script. During filming, a personal scandal made worldwide headlines when it was reported that co-stars Taylor and Richard Burton had an adulterous affair. Filmingwrapped on July 28, 1962, and further reshoots were made from February to March 1963. With the estimated production costs totaling $31 million (not counting the $5 million spent on the aborted British shoot), the film became themost expensive film ever made up to that point and nearly bankrupted the studio. The cost of distribution, print and advertising expenses added a further $13 million to Fox's costs.
Cleopatra premiered at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City on June 12, 1963. It received a generally favorable response from American film critics, but an unfavorable one in Europe.[5] It became thehighest-grossing film of 1963, earning box-office receipts of $57.7 million in the United States and Canada, and one of the highest-grossing films of the decade at a worldwide level. However, the film initially lost money because of its production and marketing costs totaling $44 million ($452 million in 2024[6]). It received nine nominations at the36th Academy Awards, including forBest Picture, and won four:Best Art Direction (Color),Best Cinematography (Color),Best Visual Effects andBest Costume Design (Color).
After theBattle of Pharsalus in 48 BC,Julius Caesar goes toEgypt, under the pretext of being named the executor of the will of the father of the youngPharaohPtolemy XIII and his older sister and co-ruler,Cleopatra. Ptolemy and Cleopatra are in the midst of their own civil war, and she has been driven out of the city ofAlexandria. Ptolemy rules alone under the care of his three "guardians": the chief eunuch Pothinus, his tutor Theodotus and General Achillas.
Cleopatra convinces Caesar to restore her throne from Ptolemy. Caesar, in effective control of the kingdom, sentencesPothinus to death for arranging an assassination attempt on Cleopatra, and banishes Ptolemy to the eastern desert, where he and his outnumbered army would face certain death againstMithridates. Cleopatra is crowned queen of Egypt and begins to dream of ruling the world with Caesar, who in turn desires to become king ofRome. They marry, and when their sonCaesarion is born, Caesar accepts him publicly, which becomes the talk of Rome and theSenate.
After being madedictator for life, Caesar sends for Cleopatra. She arrives in Rome in a lavish procession and wins the adulation of the Roman people. The Senate grows increasingly discontented amid rumors that Caesar wishes to be made king. On theIdes of March in 44 BC, a group of conspiratorsassassinate Caesar and flee the city, starting a rebellion. Analliance amongOctavian (Caesar's adopted son),Mark Antony (Caesar's right-hand man and general) andMarcus Aemilius Lepidus puts down the rebellion and splits the republic. Cleopatra is angered after Caesar's will recognizes Octavian, rather than Caesarion, as his official heir and returns to Egypt.
While planning a campaign againstParthia in the east, Antony realizes that he needs money and supplies that only Egypt can sufficiently provide. After repeatedly refusing to leave Egypt, Cleopatra acquiesces and meets him on her royal barge inTarsus. The two begin a love affair. Octavian's removal of Lepidus forces Antony to return to Rome, where he marries Octavian's sisterOctavia to prevent political conflict. This enrages Cleopatra. Antony and Cleopatra reconcile and marry, with Antony divorcing Octavia. Octavian, incensed, reads Antony's will to the Roman senate, revealing that Antony wishes to be buried in Egypt. Rome turns against Antony, and Octavian's call for war against Egypt receives a rapturous response. The war is decided at the navalBattle of Actium on September 2, 31 BC, where Octavian's fleet, under the command ofAgrippa, defeats the lead ships of the Antony-Egyptian fleet. Assuming Antony is dead, Cleopatra orders the Egyptian forces home. Antony follows her, leaving his fleet leaderless and soon defeated.
Months later, Cleopatra sends Caesarion under disguise out of Alexandria. She also convinces Antony to resume command of his troops and fight Octavian's advancing armies. However, Antony's soldiers abandon him during the night.Rufio, the last man loyal to Antony, kills himself. Antony tries to goad Octavian into single combat, but is eventually forced to flee into the city. When Antony returns to the palace,Apollodorus, who was in love with Cleopatra himself, tells him she is in her tomb as she had instructed, and lets Antony believe she is dead. Antony falls on his own sword. Apollodorus then confesses that he lied to Antony and assists him to the tomb where Cleopatra and two servants had taken refuge. Antony dies in Cleopatra's arms.
Octavian and his army march into Alexandria with Caesarion's dead body in a wagon. He discovers the dead body of Apollodorus, who had poisoned himself. He then receives word that Antony is dead and Cleopatra is holed up in a tomb. There he offers to allow her to rule Egypt as a Roman province if she accompanies him to Rome. Cleopatra, knowing that her son is dead, agrees to Octavian's terms, including a pledge on the life of her son not to harm herself. After Octavian departs, she orders for her servants to assist with her suicide. Discovering that she was going to kill herself, Octavian and his guards burst into Cleopatra's chamber to find her dead, dressed in gold, along with her servants and theasp that killed her.
Walter Wanger had long desired to produce a biographical film about Cleopatra. As an undergraduate atDartmouth College, he first readThéophile Gautier's fantasy novelOne of Cleopatra's Nights and Other Fantastic Romances and thenThomas North's 1579 English translation ofPlutarch'sLives andWilliam Shakespeare'sAntony and Cleopatra.[7] Wanger had envisioned Cleopatra as "the quintessence of youthful femininity, of womanliness and strength," but it was not until he watchedElizabeth Taylor inA Place in the Sun (1951) that he found his ideal candidate for the role.[7] Around this time, Wanger had discovered through a private detective that his wife,Joan Bennett, was having an affair with her talent agentJennings Lang. On the afternoon of December 13, 1951, Wanger shot Lang twice after having spotted him with Bennett in a parking lot nearMCA.[8] Lang survived, and Wanger, pleading insanity, served four months in prison at theCastaic Honor Farm, north of Los Angeles.[9]
Following his release, Wanger had achieved a career comeback, having producedInvasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) andI Want to Live! (1958), in whichSusan Hayward won theAcademy Award for Best Actress. He would soon return to his dream project of a Cleopatra biographical film.[10]
Wanger pitched the idea to various film studios, includingMonogram andRKO Pictures.[11] He also approached Taylor and her husbandMichael Todd about producing the project withUnited Artists.[12] Taylor expressed interest in the project but delegated the decision to Todd. Meanwhile,Twentieth Century Fox was in financial trouble following its severe box office losses ofThe Barbarian and the Geisha,A Certain Smile andThe Roots of Heaven, all released in 1958.[13] To reverse the studio's fortunes, studio presidentSpyros Skouras requested that studio executiveDavid Brown find a viable project that would be a "big picture." Brown suggested a remake ofCleopatra (1917), which had starredTheda Bara.[14]
In the fall of 1958, Wanger's production company entered into a coproduction agreement with Twentieth Century Fox. Wanger pitched four properties—Cleopatra,Justine,The Dud Avocado, andThe Fall—for the executives to consider. They selected the first three, andCleopatra was the first to enter into production.[12] On September 15, Wanger purchased the screen rights to Carlo Mario Franzero's biographyThe Life and Times of Cleopatra.[15] On September 30, Skouras held his first meeting with Wanger, and asked his secretary to retrieve the screenplay for the 1917 version ofCleopatra. Skouras insisted, "All this needs is a little rewriting. Just give me this over again and we'll make a lot of money." Because the original screenplay had been written for a silent film, the script mostly contained instructions for camera setups.[16]
In December 1958, Ludi Claire, a writer and former actress, was hired to write a rough draft of the script. That same month, art directorJohn DeCuir was hired to produce conceptual artwork to illustrate the visual scale of the project.[17] In March 1959, English authorNigel Balchin was hired to write another script draft.[18] Meanwhile, Wanger had approachedAlfred Hitchcock to direct the film, having worked with him onForeign Correspondent (1940), but Hitchcock declined. Skouras then selectedRouben Mamoulian, who had worked with Wanger onApplause (1929), to direct.[19] With Mamoulian as director, Balchin's script pleased neither him nor Taylor, who felt that the first act was forced and that Cleopatra lacked sufficient characterization.[20][21] Based on his recently airedI, Don Quixote episode in the CBS anthology seriesDuPont Show of the Month,Dale Wasserman was selected to complete the final draft. Wanger instructed him to focus all attention on Cleopatra as the central role. Wasserman recounted that he had never met Taylor, so he watched her earlier films to better acquaint himself with her acting style.[22] In the spring of 1960, English novelistLawrence Durrell was hired to rewrite the script.[20]
At a meeting, in October 1958, production headBuddy Adler favored a relatively cheap production of $2 million, with one of Fox's contract actresses, such asJoan Collins (who tested extensively for the part),Joanne Woodward ormodelSuzy Parker, in the title role. Wanger protested, envisioning a much more opulent epic with a voluptuous actress as Cleopatra.[23][24] Wanger suggestedSusan Hayward[25] whileAudrey Hepburn,Sophia Loren, andGina Lollobrigida were also under consideration.[26] When Mamoulian was hired to direct, he had offered the title role toDorothy Dandridge, anAfrican American, during a lunch meeting at theRomanoff's restaurant inBeverly Hills.[27] Dandridge replied, "You won't have the guts to go through with this... They are going to talk you out of it."[28]
In September 1959, Wanger contacted Taylor again on the set ofSuddenly, Last Summer (1959), and Taylor half-jokingly asked for a record-setting contract of $1 million ($10.8 million in 2024[6]) plus ten percent of the box-office gross.[26][29] On October 15, a contract-signing event was staged inside Adler's office where Taylor signed blank papers because the real contract would not be ready for months.[30] Wanger had consideredLaurence Olivier andRex Harrison for the role of Julius Caesar, andRichard Burton for Mark Antony. However, the studios refused to approve Harrison and Burton.[12] On July 28, 1960, Taylor signed a real contract. It was also stipulated that the film would be shot in Europe and in theTodd-AO format, developed by Taylor's late husbandMike Todd (who had died in 1958), which ensured that Taylor would receive additional royalties.[10]
In January 1960,Stephen Boyd was approached by Wanger about being cast as Mark Antony, but felt he was too young for the role.[31] In August 1960, Boyd was cast as Mark Antony,Peter Finch as Julius Caesar[32] andKeith Baxter as Octavian.[33] Mamoulian had also castElisabeth Welch to portray one of Cleopatra's handmaidens.[27]
With Mamoulian as director, construction on the Alexandria exteriors was already under way on the studio's backlot.[27] London was also seen as a viable choice for hosting the production. TheEady Levy had offered financial incentives to American film studios as long as a certain percentage of the primary cast and production crew were English.[34] There, the production would be supervised byRobert Goldstein, the studio's foreign head of production.[35] A number of other countries, including Turkey and Egypt, were considered for exterior locations.[36]
In 1960, Adler entered into a coproduction deal with Italian producer Lionello Santi, who had recently completed aforeign-language version ofCleopatra that the studio purchased to keep away from the American market.[35] Mamoulian traveled to Italy for location scouting and reported back the difficulties upon shooting there.[37] Furthermore, the impending RomeSummer Olympics threatened to complicate filming accommodations.[27] On April 20, 1960, Santi issued a full-page ad inVariety announcing his forthcoming production ofCleopatra without mentioning Twentieth Century Fox's involvement.[38] Angered, Adler shifted the entire production toPinewood Studios (England).[35] On July 11, Adler died from cancer, and was replaced by Goldstein.[39] Skouras asked Wanger to assume Goldstein's former position, but months later, he was replaced bySid Rogell.[40] Meanwhile, Wanger cautioned about shooting in England in a July 15 studio memo, stating that the weather conditions could jeopardize Taylor's health and the labor force was insufficient. However, Skouras had overruled his decision.[12]
Principal photography began at Pinewood Studios on September 28, 1960. On the same day, the British hairdressers' union threatened to leave production, as Taylor had broughtSydney Guilaroff, an American hairstylist. A settlement was reached that Guilaroff would be allowed to style Taylor's hair, but only at herDorchester suite.[26] Soon after, Taylor shot a nude scene in 40-degree weather (4−9 °C) and became sick with a sore throat,[41] rendering her unable to work for two weeks. Mamoulian was then forced to proceed filming without Taylor, instead shooting scenes with Finch and Boyd.[42] Taylor's cold soon progressed into a lingering fever, and for the next few weeks, she was treated by several doctors, includingLord Evans, QueenElizabeth II's physician.[26] On November 13, Taylor's fever reached 103 °F (39 °C) and she was diagnosed withmeningitis.[43] By November 19, Wanger indefinitely postponed shooting, giving studio employees two weeks' notice until Taylor's health recovered.[44] Taylor remained hospitalized for a week and then flew toPalm Springs, Florida, with husbandEddie Fisher to recuperate.[45][46] TheLloyd's of London insurance agency paid $2 million to cover Taylor's medical expenses.[47]
During the pause in filming,Nunnally Johnson was hired to write a new script. Johnson wrote a 75-page draft for the first half of the film, mostly involving Cleopatra and Julius Caesar, that was similar in its tone to that ofCecil B. DeMille'sCleopatra (1934) andCaesar and Cleopatra (1945).[48] Filming resumed on January 3, 1961, but Mamoulian was dissatisfied with Johnson's script. Taylor, who expressed similar displeasure, then appealed forPaddy Chayefsky to write a new script. Chayefsky demurred, saying that a rewrite would take six months.[49] After sixteen weeks of filming and costs of $7 million, the crew had produced just ten minutes of usable film.[50][46] Skouras blamed Mamoulian for the production having exceeded its budget. On January 18, 1961, Mamoulian resigned as director.[51][52]
"Mark Antony lived always in the shadow of Caesar...JLM sees Antony as a bad replica of Caesar, following desperately in Caesar's footsteps but rattling loosely in battlefield, in the Senate and in Caesar's bed. He sees this inability to match Caesar as the cause of Antony's excessive drinking and eccentric behavior. Antony's conquest of Cleopatra is his only triumph over Caesar. Then he realizes he has not conquered but has been conquered—and this leads to his ultimate self-destruction."
To replace Mamoulian, Taylor announced that she would approve eitherGeorge Stevens, who had directed her inA Place in the Sun, orJoseph L. Mankiewicz, who had directed her inSuddenly, Last Summer (1959).[54] At the time, Mankiewicz was vacationing at the Children's Bay Cay—Hume Cronyn andJessica Tandy's private island—in the Bahamas. He had completed a 151-pagetreatment outline and written a partially complete first screenplay draft for a film adaptation of Lawrence Durrell's novelJustine (which was also a Walter Wanger production).[55] Mankiewicz initially declined the offer during a lunch meeting with Skouras and his agentCharles K. Feldman at theColony Restaurant. Feldman persuaded Mankiewicz to take the job of directingCleopatra under the advice: "Hold your nose for fifteen weeks and get it over with."[56] Mankiewicz reconsidered, agreeing to write and direct the project.[57]
As an additional incentive, Skouras acquired Figaro, Inc., Mankiewicz's independent production company, for $3 million. In addition to his salary as writer and director, Mankiewicz received $1.5 million from the purchase, while his partner,NBC, received the other half.[48] Having directedJulius Caesar (1953), Mankiewicz expressed his displeasure with the shooting script, stating it was "unreadable and unshootable." Mankiewicz also described Cleopatra's depiction as a "strange, frustrating mixture of an American soap-opera virgin and an hysterical Slavic vamp of the typeNazimova used to play."[58] Because of this, he asked to rewrite the script from scratch, and the studio allowed him two months.[59]
By February 1961, Mankiewicz had conceived a "modern, psychiatrically rooted concept of the film," envisioning Marc Antony's self-destruction because of his "inability to match [Julius] Caesar."[53] Within one month,Lawrence Durrell andSidney Buchman were recruited to collaborate with Mankiewicz on the new script. Story conferences were held with the three writers, and Durrell and Buchman then separately wrote"story-step" outlines. Mankiewicz would expand their outlines into a new script.[60] Mankiewicz consulted the relevant sources, adapting historical literature written byPlutarch andPetronius.[61] In late April, Mankiewicz had grown displeased with Durrell's work, while Buchman was instructed to complete an outline for the film. By then, Buchman's outline only covered the first quarter of the film. Mankiewicz had petitioned for playwrightsLillian Hellman orPaul Osborn to help finish the script, but Wanger hired screenwriterRanald MacDougall.[62][63]
Although filming was set to resume on April 4, 1961, Taylor was hospitalized again forpneumonia on March 4. One news agency erroneously reported that she had died. She recovered after atracheotomy was performed on her throat.[64] On March 14, Twentieth Century-Fox suspended production at Pinewood Studios. The sets were dismantled at the cost of $600,000 (equivalent to $6,377,278 in 2024).[65] Skouras then decided to relocate the production to the studio's backlot in California. Meanwhile, Mankiewicz temporarily left his writing duties and scouted for suitable filming locations in Rome and Egypt. In June, Mankiewicz returned to the studio to report some Italian locations he had found, but was not eager to shoot in Egypt. On June 30, Skouras reversed his decision and agreed to allow Mankiewicz shoot the film atCinecittà in Rome, where the sound stages had been occupied for thestudio's television series and George Stevens'sThe Greatest Story Ever Told (1965).[66]
However, in September 1961, Skouras had "indefinitely postponed"The Greatest Story Ever Told due to presumptive cost concerns.[67] In Italy, the production was divided between two locations with theRoman Forum constructed on twelve acres at Cinecittà and the Alexandria sets nearAnzio.[68] During construction of the Alexandrian sets, activeland mines fromWorld War II were discovered along a private beach, thus demolition experts were hired to remove the explosives. Wanger was also troubled to learnNATO had held a nearbyshooting range for target practice.[69]
During the interim, Finch and Boyd had left the production for other commitments, and each was paid his remaining salary. Laurence Olivier andTrevor Howard had turned down the role of Julius Caesar. Rex Harrison, who was the studio's fourth choice, was then cast.[47] Mankiewicz then suggestedMarlon Brando as Mark Antony, butRichard Burton landed the role after Taylor had seen him asKing Arthur in the Broadway musicalCamelot. Twentieth Century Fox paid Burton $250,000 plus $50,000 to buy out his contract.[47]Roddy McDowall, who was also appearing inCamelot, was cast as Octavian.[70] Mankiewicz had also insisted on casting John Valva, McDowall's close friend, creating an original character named Valvus.[71] By mid-September 1961, Canadian actorHume Cronyn, several American actors, includingMartin Landau andCarroll O'Connor, and several English actors, such asKenneth Haigh,Robert Stephens andMichael Hordern, were cast in supporting roles.[72]
Jack Hildyard had resigned as cinematographer when Mamoulian agreed to step down as director.[52] He was replaced byLeon Shamroy.[70] Shamroy had been the director of photography onThe Robe (1953), the first movie shot inCinemaScope, and had shotSouth Pacific (1958) in theTodd-AO widescreen process that was being used inCleopatra. (Shamroy would win his fourth Oscar for the film.) In January 1962,Andrew Marton was brought in as second-unit director, replacingRay Kellogg.[73] Marton had worked on the first initial shoot.[74] John DeCuir was still kept as production designer.[72]
On September 25, 1961, principal photography began on the revamped production ofCleopatra.[75] Mankiewicz had expressed his intention of directing a two-part epic: "I had in mind two separate but closely linked Elizabeth Taylor films—Caesar and Cleopatra andAntony and Cleopatra—each to run three hours, both segments to receive simultaneous release. Moreover, I felt compelled to undertake the writing of both halves myself, a measure of my total dissatisfaction with the material that had been produced to date."[76]
At that time, he had completed 132 pages of the shooting script, with another 195 pages that remained to be written, so Mankiewicz shot the film in sequence, leaving several actors waiting indefinitely until their scenes were ready to be shot. For the first few months of filming, he filmed scenes during the daytime and wrote the script at night, resorting toamphetamine injections and wearing protective gloves because he contracteddermatitis in both hands.[77][78] Overwhelmed, in February 1962, Mankiewicz rehired MacDougall to script several battle scenes (particularly those of Moongate andActium) and the final 50 remaining pages of the second half.[79]
On January 22, 1962, Taylor and Burton filmed their first scene together. Wanger observed in his journal: "There comes a time during the making of a movie when the actors become the characters they play... It was quiet, and you could almost feel the electricity between Liz and Burton."[80] In February 1962, rumors of the extramarital affair were spreading, so much that Mankiewicz told Wanger in his hotel room: "I have been sitting on a volcano all alone for too long, and I want to give you some facts you ought to know. Liz and Burton are not justplaying Antony and Cleopatra."[81] At the time, Taylor was married to her fourth husbandEddie Fisher—a relationship that also began with an affair as he was married toDebbie Reynolds at the time—and Burton was married to his first wife,Sybil Williams. By the spring, the extramarital affair became worldwide news, with the couple branded as "Liz and Dick". TheVatican City newspaperL'Osservatore Romano published an "open letter" that condemned Taylor for her "erotic vagrancy."[82] Meanwhile, Leon Shamroy, the cinematographer, had collapsed from exhaustion and Forrest "Johnny" Johnston, the production manager, fell gravely ill and exited the production. He died in Los Angeles the following May.[81]
By late May 1962, most of the palace scenes were finished, but the remaining sequences, including those of theBattle of Pharsalus and Actium, the arrival of Cleopatra in Tarsus, and Antony's confrontation with Octavian's legions, were not yet filmed. Some of these sequences were to be shot in Egypt.[83] Back in California, Fox had posted an annual loss for fiscal year 1961, with blame directed at the looming production costs ofCleopatra. As a result, Skouras assured shareholders that he was preparing to take "drastic measures" to reduce expenditures.[84] On June 11, Fox cancelled the already-delayed filmSomething's Got to Give, which had starredMarilyn Monroe andDean Martin.[85]
From June 1–5, Fox executivesPeter Levathes, Otto Koegel and Joseph Moskowitz, whom Wanger jokingly named as the "Three Wise Men," arrived on set to cancel the scheduled shoot of the Battle of Pharsalus. The committee informally fired Wanger by discontinuing his salary and expense account, demanded that Taylor's salary be terminated on June 9, and that all filming be halted by June 30.[86][87] Mankiewicz refused to commit to the new terms, and sent a memo to then-studio chairmanSamuel Rosenman requesting for Taylor's availability to be extended. In response, Rosenman permitted Taylor to work until June 23.[88] On June 12, Wanger's "firing" was first reported by columnistEarl Wilson. Mankiewicz had read Wilson's column, and asked Lewis "Doc" Merman, the studio's production manager, to assume Wanger's position and thereby reinstate the filming of several sequences that were cut. Taylor and Burton, angered over Wanger's dismissal, had planned to protest unless Wanger was reinstated. Back in Los Angeles, Merman consulted with Levathes, in which they both agreed that Wanger would remain as producer.[89]
In haste, the filming unit re-located toIschia, off the coast of Italy where the battle of Actium was shot. The scene of Cleopatra's arrival aboard her barge in Tarsus was completed on June 23, which was Taylor's last day on set.[90] On June 26, 1962, Skouras announced his resignation as studio president, effective on September 30.[91] On July 25,Darryl F. Zanuck was elected as the new president of Fox, while Skouras became the new chairman of the board.[92] Zanuck then fired Levathes, replacing him with his sonRichard D. Zanuck.[93]
During the middle of July, Mankiewicz was filming on-location inEdku, located east of Alexandria. One day, while receiving his stimulant injections, one shot accidentally hit hissciatic nerve, rendering him immobile.[94] Mankiewicz recalled, "I was in agony and had to get around by hobbling on a cane...or by wheelchair."[95] De Cuir also remembered Mankiewicz was scribbling the last pages of the script while being carried on a stretcher. Principal photography ended on July 28, under Andrew Marton's second unit.[96]
Post-production work onCleopatra had left the film's editorial team with 120 miles (630,000 ft) of exposed footage.[50] In Los Angeles, Mankiewicz and his editorDorothy Spencer prepared a rough cut that ran five hours and 20 minutes.[97] On August 31, 1962, Zanuck wrote to Mankiewicz stating he wanted to see a completed first cut and a progress report no later than the first week of October.[98] On October 13, Mankiewicz arranged a private screening of the film's four-and-a-half hour rough cut for Zanuck in Paris.[99] According to Zanuck's account, he was shocked after having seen the first cut, and asked "to see the sequences that had been cut and decided some of them should be restored, but I found to my astonishment that noloops had been made for certain eliminated episodes."[100] Another account states Zanuck felt the rough cut was "beautifully written, beautifully directed, and beautifully staged", but was dissatisfied with the battle sequences. They finished the screening on Sunday morning, October 14.[101] After the screening was over, Zanuck rejected Mankiewicz's plea to distributeCleopatra in two separate installments, believing audiences interested in the Taylor–Burton affair would not attend the first installment.[97] He was further displeased with Cleopatra's dominance over Mark Antony, remarking: "If any woman behaved towards me like Cleopatra treated Antony, I would cut her balls off."[102]
"I made the first cut, but after that, it's the studio's property. They could cut it up into banjo picks if they want."
Alternately, DeCuir, who was present after the screening, stated Zanuck asked for the film to be "cut to three hours and fifteen minutes."[103] Zanuck canceled the scheduled meeting for the next day, at which it was planned to discuss the film more in detail and departed from Paris. Meanwhile, Mankiewicz continued the dubbing sessions with Taylor and Burton.[101][104] For several days, Zanuck ignored Mankiewicz's calls for another meeting, to which Mankiewicz later learned that Zanuck had hired editor and directorElmo Williams to supervise the completion and final editing of the film.[105] Working to insert the deleted sequences,[101] Williams had spent three consecutive 16-hour days, removing a total of 33 minutes from the original four-hour cut. Williams explained: "When he [Mankiewicz] first saw my version, he began ranting and raving and carrying on. He had finally given up the idea of releasing the picture as two separate films, but he hadn't counted on the released version being reduced in length."[105] According to Zanuck, Mankiewicz had grown angry and demanded the sole responsibility of editing the film. Mankiewicz, however, denied there was any direct confrontation, stating their disagreements were exchanged through letters.[106]
On October 20, Mankiewicz sent a letter to Zanuck requesting an "honest and unequivocal statement of where I stand in relation toCleopatra." A day later, Zanuck issued a nine-page response, blaming him for the film's excessive production costs.[107] He further concluded: "On completion of the dubbing, your official services will be terminated ... If you are available and willing, I will call upon you to screen the re-edited version of the film."[97] A few days later, Zanuck issued a press release stating, "In exchange for top compensation and a considerable expense account, Mr. Joseph Mankiewicz has for two years spent his time, talent, and $35,000,000 of 20th Century-Fox's shareholders' money to direct and complete the first cut of the filmCleopatra. He has earned a well-deserved rest."[97]
Mankiewicz's dismissal from the project was harshly criticized by Taylor and Burton. Taylor responded, "What has happened to Mr. Mankiewicz is disgraceful, degrading, particularly humiliating. I am terribly upset. Mr. Mankiewicz has put two years of his life intoCleopatra, and the film is his and Mr. Wanger's. Mr. Mankiewicz tookCleopatra over when it was nothing—when it was rubbish—and he made something out of it. He certainly should have been given the chance to cut it. It is appalling."[108] Burton separately telephoned, "I think Mr. Mankiewicz might have made the first really good epic film. NowCleopatra may be in trouble."[108]
On October 30, Mankiewicz flew back to his East Side townhouse where he held a press conference, insisting he had "never demanded control" nor disputed the studio's right to the final word on the finished cut. Instead, he stated he had "wanted to present the film to Fox and/or Zanuck as I saw it and be permitted to discuss with him my ideas for the picture."[109]
On December 7,The New York Times reported that Mankiewicz would likely rejoin the production after having an "extremely constructive" conference with Zanuck. Both had agreed that new scenes with Harrison and Burton were needed for the film.[110] Zanuck explained that he would "bend over backwards, artistically so that I wouldn't have to exercise [my rights as president] unless it became absolutely essential. Joe accepted that, took the scenes that I had blocked out crudely and roughly, went to work with them and wrote them."[99] The new sequences included those meant to strengthen Antony's character so he would stand up to Cleopatra.[111]
Mankiewicz was reinstated as director, and thereby he partially restored several deleted sequences including scenes of Sosigenes tutoring Cleopatra.[102] In February 1963, several members of the cast, along with 1,500 extras, were called back to reshoot theBattle of Pharsalus inAlmería, Spain.[99][112] Mankiewicz then returned to London for eight consecutive days to reshoot new scenes with Burton at Pinewood Studios. The retakes primarily concerned Antony's scenes with his fourth wifeOctavia and his companion, Rufio. On March 5, 1963, filming was finally completed.[113]
Several versions ofCleopatra have reportedly existed:[a]
The earliest known attempt to restoremissing footage to the film was when Joseph L. Mankiewicz appeared onThe Dick Cavett Show in the late 1970s. He stated he had always wantedCleopatra to be two films, thus setting off the first recovery attempt.[114] Each movie was expected to run under 3 hours long, for a total runtime around5+1⁄2 hours.[115] Following the death of Richard Burton, in 1984, interest was renewed in restoring the lost footage ofCleopatra. Brad Geagley, a film scholar and self-professed fan of the 1963 film, spent a considerable amount of time attempting to secure the missing footage.[115] However, by the late 1970s, Fox had destroyed "trims" and outtakes from their studio archives from films produced before 1979 to save on costs. When Geagley discovered this decades later, he concluded "Cleopatra's elements [are] forever missing."[114]
By the mid-1990s, before learning of the destruction, film preservationists consulted film laboratories in Los Angeles, New York, London, and Rome, along with Fox's own archives. Several reels ofB-roll footage fromCleopatra were located in a salt mine inHutchinson, Kansas, but none of the rumored missing scenes were discovered. Dorothy Spencer, the film's editor, had been "adamant" that all the deleted elements had been shipped to Hollywood and stored byDeluxe. One man recalled seeing several rooms of film elements forCleopatra, none of which have been found.[114]
Unnamed "collectors" are rumored by Geagley to have the8+1⁄2 hour assembly cut in black-and-white. They apparently showed portions from the film, but "we don't know exactly what they have". It is not clear if Geagley has seen any missing footage himself. Fox was interested in restoring the footage, but "the path went cold."[114] Some lost footage has since been found, which includes Cleopatra walking through the camp outside Alexandria among dozens of extras. This was intended to be Cleopatra's first scene in the film.[33] It also includes a snake dance featured in the procession into Rome, where women dance in skimpy snake-like costumes.[33]
The music ofCleopatra was scored byAlex North. It was released several times, first as an original album, and later versions were extended. The most popular of these was the Deluxe Edition or 2001Varèse Sarabande album.
Cleopatra premiered at the Rivoli Theatre in New York City on June 12, 1963, with an estimated audience of 10,000 spectators congregated outside. Among those present at the premiere were Rex Harrison, Walter Wanger, Joseph L. Mankiewicz, Darryl F. Zanuck,Jacob Javits,Richard Rodgers,Joan Fontaine,Louis Nizer and Beatrice Miller. Burton and Taylor were not in attendance; Taylor was in London and Burton was filmingBecket (1964).[116] Top ticket prices at the Rivoli were a record $5.50.[5] Soon after the film's premiere, its running time was truncated from 244 to 221 minutes. Two weeks after opening in New York, the film's release was expanded into 37 cities.[5]
According toBarbara McLean, who co-headed Fox's editing department, the studio faced pressure from theater exhibitors and reduced the run time "to three and a quarter hours and eventually, down to two and a half hours" to maximize the number of showings.[117] According toThe New York Times, the film's run time was reduced to 184 minutes for its general theatrical release in the United States.[5] Elizabeth Taylor had attended a charity screening of the film in London and was distraught by the heavily reduced storyline, stating, "They had cut out the heart, the essence, the motivations, the very core, and tacked on all those battle scenes. It should have been about three large people, but it lacked reality and passion. I found it vulgar."[118][119]
Cleopatra has been released on home video on several occasions. The film was released onvideocassette by 20th Century-Fox Video in 1982.[120] A 246-minute cut was released onLaserDisc in widescreen in 1990.[121] A three-disc DVD edition was released in 2001. The release included numerous supplemental features, including the two-hour documentaryCleopatra: The Film That Changed Hollywood.[122]
Schawn Belston, senior vice president of library and technical services at Fox, led a two-year process that restored a four-hour, eight-minute version in 2013. The original 65-mm camera negative was located and used as a source. Fading and damage to the negative were corrected digitally but with care to preserve detail and authenticity.[123] Belston's team also possessed the original magnetic print masters, from which they removed clicks and hisses and created a5.1 surround sound track.[123]
On May 21, 2013, the restored film was shown at a special screening at the2013 Cannes Film Festival to commemorate the film's 50th anniversary.[124] It was later released as a 50th-anniversary version available on DVD andBlu-ray. Since Fox had long ago destroyed the negatives of theouttakes and portions of scenes that were cut during editing of the film, traditional outtakes could not be included. The home-media packages did include commentary tracks and two short films:The Cleopatra Papers and a 1963 film about the elaborate sets,The Fourth Star of Cleopatra.[123]
Bosley Crowther ofThe New York Times calledCleopatra "one of the great epic films of our day," crediting Mankiewicz for "his fabrication of characters of colorfulness and depth, who stand forth as thinking, throbbing people against a background of splendid spectacle, that gives vitality to this picture and is the key to its success."[125]Vincent Canby, reviewing forVariety, wrote thatCleopatra is "not only a supercolossal eye-filler (the unprecedented budget shows in the physical opulence throughout), but it is also a remarkably literate cinematic recreation of an historic epoch."[126] For theLos Angeles Times, Philip K. Scheuer feltCleopatra was "a surpassingly beautiful film and a drama that need not hide its literate, intelligent face because it happens to have been written, not by Shakespeare orShaw, but by three fellows named Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who also directed it, Ranald MacDougall and Sidney Buchman. These are, at any rate, the names on the screen credits, and they have done their job with integrity."[127]
Time magazine harshly wrote: "As drama and as cinema,Cleopatra is riddled with flaws. It lacks style both in image and in action. Never for an instant does it whirl along on wings of epic elan; generally it just bumps from scene to ponderous scene on the square wheels of exposition."[128] James Powers ofThe Hollywood Reporter wrote "Cleopatra is not a great movie. But it is primarily a vast, popular entertainment that sidesteps total greatness for broader appeal. This is not an adverse criticism, but a notation of achievement."[129]Claudia Cassidy of theChicago Tribune summarizedCleopatra as a "huge and disappointing film." Of the cast, she lauded "Rex Harrison's brilliantly quizzical Caesar, the best written role in Joseph Mankiewicz's erratic script, and haunted by Richard Burton's tragic Marc Antony, an actor's triumph over a writer's mediocrity. And with a prodigal gesture of futility, all of it is focused on Elizabeth Taylor, hopelessly out of her depth as a fishwife Cleopatra."[130]
Penelope Houston, reviewing forSight & Sound, acknowledged that Mankiewicz tried "to make this a film about people and their emotions rather than a series of sideshows. But for this ambition to hold up, over the film's great footage, he needed a visual style which would be more than merely illustrative, dialogue really worth speaking, and actors altogether more persuasive. As the sets seem to grow bigger and bigger, so progressively the actors dwindle."[131]Judith Crist, in her review for theNew York Herald Tribune, concurred: "So grand and grandiose are the sets that the characters are dwarfed, and so wide is his screen that this concentration on character results in a strangely static epic in which the overblown close-ups are interrupted at best by a pageant or dance, more often by unexciting bits and pieces of exits, entrances, marches or battles."[132]
At the time of the film's release,The New York Times estimated that 80 percent of film reviews in the United States were favorable but only 20 percent in Europe were positive.[5] Among contemporary reviews, American film criticEmanuel Levy wrote retrospectively: "Much maligned for various reasons, [...]Cleopatra may be the most expensive movie ever made, but certainly not the worst, just a verbose, muddled affair that is not even entertaining as a star vehicle for Taylor and Burton."[133]Peter Bradshaw ofThe Guardian wrote the film is "a stately but sometimes mindboggling spectacle. This restored big-screen version shouldn't be missed: it's a colossus of the analogue-epic era, and the high point of Elizabeth Taylor's global celebrity, when her prestige was hardly less towering than that of the actual queen of the Nile."[134] Billy Mowbray of British television channelFilm4 remarked that the film is "[a] giant of a movie that is sometimes lumbering, but ever watchable thanks to its uninhibited ambition, size and glamour."[135]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 56% of 43 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The website's consensus reads: "Cleopatra is a lush, ostentatious, endlessly eye-popping epic that sags [and] collapses from a (and how could it not?) four-hour runtime."[136]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 60 out of 100, based on 14 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[137]
Three weeks into its theatrical release,Cleopatra became the number-one box office film in the United States, grossing $725,000 in 17 key cities.[138] It held thetop position for the next twelve weeks before being dethroned byThe V.I.P.s, which also starred Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. It recaptured the number-one spot three weeks later,[139] and proved to be the highest-grossing film of 1963.[140] By January 1964, the film had earned $15.7 million indistributor rentals from 55 theaters in the United States and Canada.[141][142] It finished its box-office run with $26 million in rentals in the United States and Canada.[143] The film was also a major hit in Italy, where it sold 10.9 million tickets.[144] It sold a further 5.4 million tickets in France and Germany,[144] and 32.9 million tickets in the Soviet Union when it was released there in 1978.[145]Cleopatra was the most popular film in Polish cinemas in 1970 and by the end of that year, over 25,000 screenings had taken place in Poland, with over 5.7 million tickets sold.[146]
By March 1966,Cleopatra had earned worldwide rentals of $38.04 million, leaving it $3 million short of breaking even.[147] Fox eventually recouped its investment that same year when it sold the television broadcast rights toABC for $5 million,[148] a then-record amount paid for a single film.[149] The film ultimately earned $40.3 million in worldwide rentals from its theatrical run.[148]
The film won fourAcademy Awards from nine nominations.[150][151] It also earned Elizabeth Taylor aGuinness World Record for the most costume changes in a film (65). This record was eclipsed in 1968 byJulie Andrews with 125 costume changes in the filmStar!.
20th Century-Fox mistakenly submitted Roddy McDowall to theMotion Picture Academy for consideration as Best Actor, rather than as Best Supporting Actor, for the Academy Awards. The academy deemed his role ineligible for a leading actor category and told the studio it was too late to submit him in the correct category because the nomination ballots had already been sent to the printers. 20th Century-Fox then published an open apology to McDowall in trade papers, stating, "We feel it is important that the industry realize that your electric performance as Octavian inCleopatra, which was unanimously singled out by the critics as one of the best supporting performances by an actor this year, is not eligible for a nomination in that category... due to a regrettable error on the part of 20th Century Fox."[33]
With top tickets set at an all-time high of $5.50,Cleopatra had amassed as much as $20 million in such guarantees from exhibitors even before its premiere. Fox claimed the film had cost in total $44 million, of which $31,115,000 represented the direct negative cost and the rest distribution, print and advertising expenses. (These figures excluded the more than $5 million spent on the production's abortive British shoot in 1960–61, prior to its relocation to Italy.) By 1966 worldwide rentals had reached $38,042,000 including $23.5 million from the United States.
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