Rex Harrison as Julius Caesar and Elizabeth Taylor as Cleopatra in CLEOPATRA (1963)
An unlikely couple if there ever was one. Peter Finch was originally cast in the Julius Caesar role which would have been better. Rex was miscast as Caesar. He sounded like a school principle. And Taylor and Harrison have no chemistry at all. One of the films that signalled the end of the PEPLUM genre (along with FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE). Could the genre lived on if this film hadn't been made? Maybe...maybe not.
2 comments:
Saw it on the big screen at a revival cinema ten years ago. It looked strange seeing the Queen of the Nile in heels.
At least for me, Rex is not Caesar but did an acceptable job (the problem is that he is best remembered in "Doctor Doolittle" and "My Fair Lady" movies). The best one is Roddy McDowall as Octavian, his appearance and acting are superb! and, if you read about the real characters, Marc Anthony, at that time, had become an incompetent (read about Anthony's Parthian campaign and, in particular, about Publius Ventidius Bassus). In my opinion, the best for Rome was that Octavian were the winner.
By the way, I got my Gohero Steve "Hercules" Reeves figure, it is almost perfect, and perfect at certain angles and shades. I like it very much.
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