The Historical Accuracy of the 1963 Film "cleopatra"

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The historical character of Mark Antony, played by Richard Burton, was a well known military general and much like Caesar had a reputation for womanizing. He also had a propensity for drinking which is depicted throughout the second half of the film when he becomes closely involved with Cleopatra. Antony was said to always have carried a large sword and wore a rough clock just as he wore in the film. He was notoriously lustful and charming and captivated many people. It is the flame between Cleopatra and Antony that ignites the love story in the film. Many of the characteristics held by Antony were shared by his beloved Cleopatra. They were both known for being alluring and fascinating and daring and wild at heart. Because of these traits, Cleopatra and Antony seemed to have had a more charismatic union than that of Cleopatra and Caesar.

The film Cleopatra was originally 6 hours long and was cut down to 4 hours then again to just barely over 3 hours for the premier. For this reason, many pieces of the story were absent from the final production. There was also a lack of a shooting script for this film to make things more problematic. Taylor commented that, “They had cut out the heart, the essence, the motivations, the very core, and tacked on all those battle scenes.” In the end, this film went down in history as a legend in film making. The version of Cleopatra that was released to the public was astonishingly accurate historically.

Bibliography

Hall, Sheldon, and Stephen Neale. Epics, Spectacles, and Blockbusters: A Hollywood History. Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 2010.

Jones, Prudence J. Cleopatra: A Sourcebook. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2006.

Rice, E. L. "Cleopatra (1963)." Turner Classic Movies. http://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/102758%7C0/Cleopatra.html.

Weigall, Arthur E. P. Brome. The Life and Times of Cleopatra. Chautauqua, NY: Chautauqua Institution, 1924.