Reviews @ PXDCO

This bloated 1963 epic may have won Oscars for art direction, cinematography, costume design and visual effects, as well as earning a nomination as best picture, but “Cleopatra” today is remembered chiefly as the movie that nearly destroyed 20th Century Fox with its multiple budget overruns. As Cleopatra and Marc Antony, Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton clearly were focusing more on their new romance than their performances, letting a shrewd Rex Harrison walk away with a best actor nomination as Julius Caesar. A fascinating — if depressing — exercise in Hollywood excess.