The right movie; the wrong script.
What an odd experience this film is. You're transported back in time, treated to sets and a cast that are an embarrassment of riches (they are that good), and handed a story worthy of the budget this film must have run. You're treated to some of the finest British actors ever to grace stage or screen and a cast of hundreds if not thousands. You're spellbound watching Raines and Leigh meet beneath Egyptian stars -- mesmerized by the acting, the costumes, the sets (this movie has it all, trust me!) -- and then this: Camp.
The problem with this film isn't the story. It's certainly not the budget. It isn't the acting (magnificent) or the set designs (spectacular). No, the problem with this movie is the frequency with which Shaw contaminates a serious drama with completely unexpected, and at times uncomfortable, contemporary humor. I suppose it passed for wit in its day. That's fine. I love a good comedy as much as the next person.
But the constant interruption of the movie by Shaw's pathetic need to be "in vogue" at all times -- even at the expense of yanking the viewer out of a historical drama and inflicting 20th Century cant -- is somewhat like watching (any) great drama and suffering a commercial interruption about every 10 minutes.
What you end up with is a movie that is about Shaw. It isn't C&C, it is Shaw, refusing to let you be transported to ancient Babylonian times. He inserts his humor into the story at the most unseemly moments, resulting in aberrations in acting that I confess I've never seen before. You're speaking a serious line, and it's a dramatic moment. But Shaw suddenly wants you to say something funny. The jerk from drama to comedy manifests as (take your pick) affected male actors who prance about like indulged queens in a film that apparently doesn't take anything too seriously so wtf . . . or (the only recourse any serious actor has to bridge an impossible contradiction in staging) camp. I marvel Shaw was able to restrain himself from inserting musical numbers somewhere in this movie.
Look, pick one, but just one. Either commit the movie to be camp, or sign on for Ben-Hur. We're watching Caesar about the serious business of conquering Egypt and Cleo cracks wise about his receding hairline. But it isn't ancient Babylon that's cracking wise because the language is pure 20th Century cant. You're jerked out of the movie so many times by this that it becomes almost embarrassing to watch.
The fact that the performances and the sets are so magnificent makes it even more painful! When this 20th Century street cant is abruptly inserted, POOF! Goodbye Babylon; hello Proctor & Gamble. It gave me a headache because I realized after about the 4th or 5th of these interruptions that the problem didn't lay with the actors, it was the goddamned script. If Shaw doesn't take the movie seriously, why the hell should I?
Honestly, the most bizarre set of inconsistencies I think I've ever seen in a film.
mc