The Restored Cleopatra

I don't know if anyone has seen this, I had read it years ago, the 6 hour script, re-read it again today at http://elizabethtaylorthelegend.com/Elizabeth%20Taylor%20-%20Restored%20Cleopatra%20page%2007.html and I must say that Zanuck made the right choice to edit the film the way he did.

For starters a two part Cleopatra makes absolutely no sense, this is a fact. People keep wanting it but it doesn't make sense. Artistically it doesn't make sense, the film was conceived as "Cleopatra" since the beginning(the question here is whether the studio knew of Mankiewicz's intentions or he went rogue with his lunacy due to 24/7 drug abuse and sexism of making a two-part epic, and commercially it doesn't make sense either, historically epics don't have sequels, there is just really no point to it, so I'm glad it's just one film.

Second, a lot of what was left out was very hammy. I'm glad it was out because it was very unnecessary, storywise speaking, even though some of it was really good like the incantations, which brings me to my next point:

When Sofia Coppola was heavily criticized for not including more historical context on her Marie Antoinette film, her response simply was, "we were not doing a mini-series". And she's entirely right. The big screen is not fore mini series. It is not for 6 hour films either. You want to do a mini series? You do a mini series, the big screen is not for that. This is Taylor, Wanger, the studio and absolutely everybody in this film and any other understands, except for Mankiewicz who seems to not have understood this for reasons utterly unknown.

Which leads me to my final point, the movie did not suffer plotwise from the eliminated material, which is the excuse or the main criticism of the movie by the proponents of the 6 hour demented cut. Now I'll grant you that Marie Antoinette could definitely benefit from more material but not Cleopatra. The way it was edited by Fox, all the plotpoints are resolved, and all of Cleopatra's life is there, and it's incredibly accurate. I know about Cleopatra and as a matter of fact it is the most accurate representation in any film or tv rendition of her life. The only major aspect that was omitted was her three children by Antony, but storywise they had to be omitted, other than that, there is nothing missing here. As a matter of fact somethings need to be taken out. For instance Caesar's epilepsy. As a history buff I enjoy it, but artistically it serves no point at all. None. It's Cleopatra, it's NOT "Caesar and Cleopatra", you can watch Vivien Leigh on that. All those scenes need to be cut out, the Calpurnia thing, all of it. It's just not relevant. That's why I feel so strongly for a recut.

I personally love this film, but it really saddens me that is is lost in myth, it is misrepresented, and most tragically, thanks to Mankiewicz's drug addiction or who knows what, it will eventually be lost. This is the most famous film that is never seen. I don't know anyone besides myself who has seen it. People can't see it on netflix when it's on, they can't call their friends and watch it while drinking and eating pizza on a night out, because it's just unwatchable. It is, and it is such a shame.

But the main point is that, other than out of sheer curiosity for it, the missing footage can stay out of this film.