Sensational documentary about the making of the epic film – the story is such you know it’s going to be interesting, but this has the benefit of some amazing footage. I especially loved seeing the stuff from the cancelled Richard Mamoulian version, with Joan Collins, Stephen Boyd, Keith Baxter and Peter Finch (who I think would have been a sensational Caesar - he had the intelligence of Rex Harrison but was a more believable soldier); also TV footage from the time of Cleopatra spoofs (one with Don Adams), ads, spinoffs (an ice skater doing a Cleopatra routine!) and premieres.
The quality of talking heads is high – the sons and widow of Joe Mankiewicz, daughter of Walter Wanger (who admits to trying on Cleopatra make up as a little girl), Roddy McDowell (who missed out on an Oscar nom because the studio entered him in the wrong category – Best Actor instead of Best Support; poor Roddy, he would have been a shoo-in for a nom, although I don’t quite agree with Maureen O’Hara calling it “a great tragedy), Martin Landau, Hume Cronyn, Keith Baxter (Octavius in the Mamoulian version).
Many of the support cast complain their roles were trimmed (some were cut altogether);I disagree with the argument that Mankiewicz’s six hour cut was a masterpiece; I’ve read the script and am sure there was other good stuff, but it’s long as a three hour version as it is - six would have been torturous. I'm on Daryl Zanuck's side with that one. Still, a remarkable achievement for Mankiewicz that it turned out as well as it did.
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