Ridiculous...
This could have been another color blockbuster about the times of antiquity, but it fails on most counts. The script is horrible; everyone seems to be talking and moving too fast. The plot is neither historically correct nor interesting in other ways.
While the two stars,Vivien Leigh and Claude Raines, have been outstanding elsewhere, they miss the mark here. It's just not their fault. In history, Cleopatra was supposed to be cunning, ambitious, brilliant, etc; Vivien Leigh was also all of those things, just not here. Throughout most of the film, she runs around squealing like a child. After all is said and done, she gives only 2 good speeches during the whole 2 hour run. Mr. Raines seems only to be a kindly middle aged man with nothing dynamic to offer. The love affair between Caesar and Cleopatra was never addressed, and that was a fatal error.
Look elsewhere for something better.
Vivien Leigh brings this up to 4/10 solely by being present (otherwise I give it 1/10).
This could have been another color blockbuster about the times of antiquity, but it fails on most counts. The script is horrible; everyone seems to be talking and moving too fast. The plot is neither historically correct nor interesting in other ways.
While the two stars,Vivien Leigh and Claude Raines, have been outstanding elsewhere, they miss the mark here. It's just not their fault. In history, Cleopatra was supposed to be cunning, ambitious, brilliant, etc; Vivien Leigh was also all of those things, just not here. Throughout most of the film, she runs around squealing like a child. After all is said and done, she gives only 2 good speeches during the whole 2 hour run. Mr. Raines seems only to be a kindly middle aged man with nothing dynamic to offer. The love affair between Caesar and Cleopatra was never addressed, and that was a fatal error.
Look elsewhere for something better.
Vivien Leigh brings this up to 4/10 solely by being present (otherwise I give it 1/10).