"CLEOPATRA" ELIZABETH TAYLOR, R. BURTON MONDAY 8:00 EASTERN TCM

Oznell · ‎11-08-2014

8:00 p.m. Eastern-- "Cleopatra"-- Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Rex Harrison, Pamela Brown, Hume Cronyn, Martin Landau, Roddy McDowall, Cesare Danova, Francesca Annis

One of those sprawling, colorful epics that I wouldn't tune in for a long, uninterrupted watch-- but love to pop in and out for the lavish, "let-out-all-the-stops" art direction. Glimpse the royal ancient world through the set design, and the gorgeous, intricate costuming, jewels, hair and makeup artistry.

Having raven-haired, violet-eyed, Technicolor-ready "La Liz" as a magificent blank slate to impose all kinds of fantastical Cleopatra looks on didn't hurt either....

Mz iMac · ‎07-26-2014

The movie that resulted in Liz falling in love w/Richard & dumping Eddie. Also resulted in Richard dumping wify.

My favorite part of the movie was Cleopatra & son arriving in Rome.

"Never argue with a fool. Onlookers may not be able to tell the difference."

stevieb · ‎03-10-2010

Interesting to read about this movie and all the fits and starts, the casting changes due to schedule conflicts, the significant and apparently not well done editing to get it down to a reasonable run time and, of course, the scandals... I've seen snippets of the movie and it is a spectacle, if not altogether compelling story telling. I believe Liz, herself, thought the finished product was lacking and described it as 'vulgar'...

I remember my parents and some neighbors going to see it and being luke-warm, at best, toward it... They'd all planned to see The Carpetbaggers, but it was sold out, so saw Cleopatra by default... It might have been interesting had the original cast been retained... Peter Finch (not Rex Harrison) was supposed to play Ceaser and Stephen Boyd (not Burton) was supposed to play Mark Anthony... Both had to move on after significant initial delays... Personally, I never found Burton to be at all attractive and could never buy him as a romantic lead... Boyd might have been the better pictoral choice...

In my pantry with my cupcakes...

Oznell · ‎11-08-2014

And, @Mz iMac, that return of Cleo and the little tyke would be this extravagantly glistening tableau?

Stephen Boyd would have been a great choice, @stevieb! He's got a 'persona' for epics....

drizzellla · ‎03-14-2010

I just went to TCM to see what was the theme of the evening - it is "Hollywood Hair". And it looks like the hairdressers were kept busy during the making of this movie - at least for Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton - not so much.

Mz iMac · ‎07-26-2014

@Oznell wrote:
And, @Mz iMac, that return of Cleo and the little tyke would be this extravagantly glistening tableau?

@Oznell

That is the scene. The arrival is my favorite part of the whole movie. I can change the channel afterwards, I'm done watching.

"Never argue with a fool. Onlookers may not be able to tell the difference."

Oznell · ‎11-08-2014

@drizzellla, that's neat that they have a whole "hair" theme and category going on. As well they might-- whoever did Taylor's hair for this movie really worked-- love the braiding, the way ornaments and jewels are creatively tied into the wigs; it's all so sumptuous.

More tedious time for her to have to be fussed over in the hair and make-up chair, probably, but eye candy on the screen!