Cleopatra was released in 1963 and has gone on to herald the end of the golden age of the historical epic in Hollywood. Known as one of the most expensive films to ever be made, its troubled production and the on screen connection between Taylor and Burton have both cemented its place in cinematic history.

A Troubled Production

We have a look at some of the issues that led to production delays and there were a lot! From tricky weather conditions, Taylor’s health troubles, to issues with the script, there wasn’t an issue that this film didn’t face in the journey to release. Dr Rad delves into the details of the factors that influenced the production including:

• the monetary problems





• the challenges into Twentieth Century Fox in this period





• the increasing pressure to write and shoot for Mankiewicz





• and Taylor’s public aura in the early 1960s

<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Cleopatra crowned sole ruler of Egypt by Julius Caesar…</figcaption></figure>

A Foray into Roman and Egyptian History

The historical pedigree of Cleopatra is based on a few different sources including credit given to Plutarch, Appian, and Suetonius! The impetus for the film was also based on the book published in 1957, The Life and Times of Cleopatra by Carlo Maria Franzero. There’s a depth of references throughout the film that have support in the ancient sources. Dr G considers:

• the representation of Ptolemy and his advisors





• The divided representation of Cleopatra as a savvy politician and a seductress





• The burning of the library of Alexandria





• The history of where Alexander the Great’s body ends up after death

<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Cleopatra (Elizabeth Taylor) and Julius Caesar (Rex Harrison) standing next to the Tomb of Alexander the Great.</figcaption></figure>

Things to listen out for

• The life and significance of Caesarion





• The importance of Mankiewicz in bringing this project to life





• Shifting to French hours





• What’s up with Mithridates?





• Caesar’s winding journey through the Mediterranean





• Our historical sources for Cleopatra’s life





• Julius Caesar in Egypt versus Cleopatra in Rome





• Cleopatra’s complex Mediterranean identity





• The powerful representation of motherhood





• Elizabeth Taylor’s requirements for this film

Keen to delve more into Cleopatra? Check out our conversation with Yentl Love about the reception of Cleopatra over time.

Further reading

• Brodsky, Jack; Weiss, Nathan (1963). The Cleopatra Papers: A Private Correspondence (Simon and Schuster)





• Cooney, Kara (2018). When Women Ruled the World: Six Queens of Egypt (National Geographic Society)





• Lucan De Bello Civili





• Wagner, Walter and Hyams, Joe (2013). My Life with Cleopatra: The Making of a Hollywood Classic (Knopf Doubleday)

Sound Credits

Our music is by Bettina Joy de Guzman.

<figure class="wp-block-image aligncenter size-large"><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Cleopatra enters Rome with her son Caesarion</figcaption></figure>

Automated Transcript

Lightly edited for our wonderful Australian accents 🙂

Dr Rad 0:15
Welcome to the Partial Historians.

Dr G 0:19
We explore all the details of ancient Rome,

Dr Rad 0:23
everything from political scandals, the love affairs, the battles waged and when citizens turn against each other, I’m Dr Rad

Dr G 0:33
And I’m Dr G, we consider Rome as the Romans saw it, by reading different authors from the ancient past and comparing their stories.

Dr Rad 0:44
Join us as we trace the journey of Rome from the founding of the city.

Dr Rad 0:58
Hello and welcome to a special episode of the Partial Historians. And this one has been a long time coming. Dr G.

Dr G 1:07
it has I’m very excited to be talking about the epic, grand, magnificent, over budgeted 1963 version of Cleopatra.

Dr Rad 1:21
Absolutely we couldn’t believe it. We realized that we’ve talked about this a lot on other podcasts, and then we kind of forgot that we’d never done it for ourselves.

Dr G 1:32
We’ll go into even more nerdy depths of what is happening in this film and why, and I’m very excited to learn from you. Dr Rad, because I know history on film is your jam, and I’m excited to see what I learned from this whole process.

Dr Rad 1:48
I have some film detail for you, Dr G. In fact, I’d like to start with a quote, If I might, from the writer slash director of the film, Joseph Mankiewicz. He said that “Cleopatra was the toughest three pictures I ever made. It was conceived in a state of emergency, shot in confusion and wound up in a blind panic.”

Dr G 2:12
Well, and that gives us a taste of things to come, doesn’t it?

Dr Rad 2:15
It really does a bit of a background detail, if I might. Dr G about this film, setting it setting it all up. So 1963 when Cleopatra was released, we are getting towards the end of the golden era of Hollywood, that time when epics were everywhere. Cleopatra is sometimes blamed the end of the public’s fascination with epics, but I’m not so sure that that is the case. We’ll have to get into a bit of debate about that.

Dr G 2:45
I think it’s certainly pretty opulent. I’m happy to watch it again and again, not too frequently, though, because it is very long.

Dr Rad 2:53
It is very long, and we will get into why that is in a second. But there’s certainly been a lot of attention on this film since its release, and that’s partly because there was a lot of publicity, obviously, around the film’s production, but also since the film’s release, people who were involved with the film have published books and memoirs about this movie. So we’ve got things like my life with Cleopatra by Walter Wanger, who was the producer. We’ve got the Cleopatra Papers, which was written by some of the publicity men who were involved from the side of 20th Century Fox, Weiss and Brodsky. And so there’s just so much material about this film, which I think feeds into the legend itself.

Dr G 3:37
Oh, excellent. I’m so glad there’s good source material on this film as well, because I have planned for our conversation by thinking only about the historic, historical events and what has happened in the course of the film, and how that matches up to our ancient source material. So I think the combination of your perspective on the film production and me chiming in with little details being like, what about this might lead us down some interesting paths.

Dr Rad 4:05
Well, we should perhaps tell our listeners, Dr G that this movie was originally meant to be two epic films, one about Caesar and Cleopatra and one about Cleopatra and Mark Antony. Following in that grand tradition, we think this is going to be a multi-parter special episode for us as well.

Dr G 4:26
Which I think makes perfect sense, because when you do look at the film, the first two hours is Julius Caesar and Cleopatra, and then it’s set up with the intermission, and you’re like, alrighty, then take a short break, and when you come back, it is all Mark Antony and Cleopatra. So you can see how they might have wanted to have two separate films, but for some reason, they ended up sticking them together instead.

Dr Rad 4:53
Absolutely. Now let’s just go through the basic cast, just for people who may not have seen the film. As Cleopatra,we of course, have the gorgeous Elizabeth Taylor, the most beautiful woman in the world. We have Rex Harrison, veteran actor as Caesar. But Dr, G, did you know that he wasn’t meant to play Caesar in this movie?

Dr G 5:13
Really? He does a very good job, I think.

Dr Rad 5:15
He does do a very good job. But, and this is part of the endless production troubles that plagued this film. The original actor who was slated to play Julius Caesar was Peter Finch, illustrious English-Australian actor best known for his r