Scene of Caesar (Rex Harrison) getting killed while Cleopatra (Elizabeth Taylor) sees visions of the bloody multiple stabbings with the aid of an oracle/enchantress.This scene is pivotal in CLEOPATRA (1963) and the film sorta soars and falters at the same time. It soars because there's finally something going on and it's sorta fun, in a campy way, but it also falters because of the phoney theatrics. The entire scene of Caesar's death should have just shown Caesar and the Senators but the movie is about Cleopatra and how often have audiences seen Caesar getting killed already? So the director, writers, whoever, decided to incorporate scenes of a grieving, hysterical Cleo along with Caesar's death. It doesn't really work. It tells audience that the filmmakers thought Caesar's death was not important enough to stand on its own and combining both moments together neutralized the whole thing and robbed the entire moment of any actual feelings.
1 comment:
I agree that they got carried away with these scenes, and I wondered if Cleo really cared. Best scene of the death of Julius Caesar I saw was from the TV Miniseries JULIUS CAESAR, for TV it was pretty graphic, but a very well staged, showing his violent death.
Post a Comment