What is the point of a narrator repeating Charmian's last dialogue??
It absolutely DESTROYS the final scene.
shareTo each his own. I thought it fit well with Alex North's closing of the Cleo theme; one of my favorite endings.
shareNo it doesn't, it destroys everything. Charmian's original words which Shakespeare quoted verbatim are also way better than what Mankiewicz wrote.
shareMore like it's your opinion it destroys everything (which must be a considerable feat, considering your negativity toward the previous four hours). I just happen to disagree.
And Mankiewicz kept Plutarch's 'Extremely well' which Shakespeare omitted, but I digress...
No, Shakespeare included it. My only negativity is against Mankiewicz that ruined such splendor of a movie.
shareShakespeare kept the 'well' but omitted Plutarch's 'Extremely'
Less verbatim and more synonymous, as all three versions (from Lu, Will, and Joe) have Charmain answer to the quality of the death service for Cleopatra as accord to her royal lineage. Mankiewicz uses Plutarch's 'Extremely Well,' paraphrases Shakespeare's 'fitting" to 'befitting' and does his own spin of the final part, adding 'the last' (which was true) and switches 'kings' to 'rulers' (which implies the inclusion of empowered female queens like Nefritiri and Hatshepsut).
It didn't work.
shareIt didn't work.
What didn't work? Using the actual words of Plutarch instead of Shakespeare's? Or having the narrator repeat them? Either way, they both worked perfectly. share
No they didn't it sucked, and he did not use Plutarch's words but his own drug infused variation, because he shot this movie high on speed in case you didn't know.
shareNo they didn't it sucked
That is your opinion and you are certainly entitled to it, but I do note that you are very much alone in having that opinion.
and he did not use Plutarch's words but his own drug infused variation, because he shot this movie high on speed in case you didn't know.
He did use Plutarch's words. To the letter. All except for the omission of Charmion's name in the dialogue, which was fine.
And "high speed", my foot. The result is certainly not high speed, so that piece of criticism is completely irrelevant, even if true. share
It's not criticism, it's a fact, Mankiewicz would receive several speed shots during the day and then go to sleep with barbiturates, this went on for all the years long shooting.
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