YMMV / Cleopatra

• Adaptation Displacement: People would be surprised if you told them this was actually a remake of a 1917 film that was lost in a 1937 fire.
• Audience-Coloring Adaptation: Most modern depictions (or parodies) of Cleopatra's life will homage this film in some way - particularly one of the costumes Elizabeth Taylor wears. Even Assassin's Creed Origins takes a lot of cues from the film such as when Cleopatra and Caesar are discussing about Alexander the Great while on his mausoleum.
• Award Snub:
  • Roddy McDowall was originally nominated for Best Supporting Actor, but the studio erroneously listed him as a leading player rather than a supporting one. When Fox asked the Academy Awards to correct the error, it refused, saying the ballots already were at the printer. Fox then published an open letter in the trade papers, apologizing to McDowall: "We feel that it is important that the industry realize that your electric performance as Octavian in Cleopatra, which was unanimously singled out by the critics as one of the best supporting performances by an actor this year, is not eligible for an Academy Award nomination in that category...due to a regrettable error on the part of 20th Century Fox."
  • The film was nominated for Best Picture, but Joseph L. Mankiewicz wasn't up for Best Director. While Rex Harrison's performance was nominated, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor weren't.
• Better on DVD: Since it was filmed to be two movies and still runs four hours long, even with all the edits, viewers find it better to watch the movie in parts, especially with the act breaks that are in the story itself.
• Cant Unhear It: As far as the general public goes, Elizabeth Taylor may as well have been Cleopatra. No one playing the role since has ever managed to erase her from that image in pop culture.
• Couple Bomb: The most notable bomb featuring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton starring together, and probably the most remembered. However The Taming of the Shrew and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? - the two films they did that weren't bombs - are more remembered than their other flops. Although Cleopatra was a very high grossing film, so it's only a bomb because the troubled production meant it would be impossible to see a return. However, the second half focusing on Cleopatra and Marc Antony is considered weaker than the first, so that also factors in.
• Ensemble Dark Horse: Roddy McDowall came away looking quite good in spite of the film's failure, some feeling his performance comes close to overshadowing the three leads. As noted above, he only missed out on a Best Supporting Actor nomination due to a clerical mistake.
• Harsher in Hindsight:
  • Richard Burton's Marc Antony drinks a lot — enough to be troped as The Alcoholic on the main page. Burton would struggle with alcoholism throughout his life which took a massive toll on his health.
  • The final scene is a little hard to watch knowing that Elizabeth Taylor had recently attempted suicide in Real Life.
  • A film being heavily edited to capitalize on the public interest surrounding the romance of two of its stars? This would be repeated decades later with Gigli - which would also become an infamous bomb.
• Just Here for Godzilla:
  • At the time, studio execs thought the public would see the film mainly for Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor - resulting in the planned two-parter being cut down to one film (the first would have focused mainly on Cleopatra and Caesar).
  • A lot of modern viewers will watch just for the stunning costumes worn by Cleopatra - Taylor even set a record for 65 costume changes in the film.
• Money-Making Shot: Quite a few, the most prominent being Cleopatra's big show off arrival in Rome and the naval battle.
• Moral Event Horizon: Octavian crosses this line when he has the title character's young son Caesarion murdered to secure his claim to the throne of Rome. This was a significant departure from history done to make Octavian seem eviler; the Real Life Caesarion was in his late teens at the time of his death (well into adulthood by the standards of the day) rather than the ten or twelve the film portrays him, and was killed after his mother's suicide, meaning the Tear Jerker scene where she realizes he is dead did not happen in reality, nor could it have.
• Overshadowed by Controversy: You can't even mention this film without bringing to mind the legendary Troubled Production.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Casca, one of Caesar's assassins, is played by Carroll O'Connor.
  • UK sitcom fans may be similarly called to retroactive recognition by Richard O'Sullivan as the Pharoah Ptolemy, Cleopatra's ill fated sibling. A decade later he would rise to fame as star of Man About the House.
• Signature Scene: Cleopatra's dramatic entrance into Rome atop a giant sphinx, capped by her winking at Caesar.
• So Okay, It's Average: Has a lot of impeccable decor designs, costume designs, and acting talent poured into it, but the Troubled Production clearly shows in the final product: its pacing is disastrous, its screenplay is forgettable, and even the action sequences seem dated even for the period and fail to capture much attention. It won several Oscars in technical categories and was nominated for several others, but critical reception and audience reception was mostly lukewarm. The movie is still widely remembered and frequently seen owing to its scale, scope and polish, and it still has many defenders mostly because there's no way a movie would be made the same way today.
• Strangled by the Red String: While Cleopatra and Caesar's relationship develops gradually and naturally, Cleopatra and Mark Antony have few scenes together before they declare that they're soulmates and have always loved each other since their (offscreen) meetings. Despite the film centering on their tragic love story and having hours of runtime devoted to it, the actual romance comes across as rather shallow compared to how the film is marketed.

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