Cleopatra 1963

Bosley Crowther, New York Times: It is a surpassing entertainment, one of the great epic films of our day. Read more

Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader: [A] general muddle. Read more

James Powers, Hollywood Reporter: Power and passion are the twin and intertwined themes of Cleopatra, and they have never burned with greater intensity or amid such opulence as they do in this extraordinary film. Read more

Richard Brody, New Yorker: Taylor inhabits the role with a focussed but uninhibited imperiousness, as when she turns Cleopatra's entrance into Rome, aboard a giant rolling sphinx, into the ultimate red-carpet photo op. Read more

TIME Magazine: Sad to say, however, the deep-revolving, witty Mankiewicz fails most where most he hoped to succeed. As drama and as cinema, Cleopatra is raddled with flaws. It lacks style both in image and in action. Read more

Geoff Andrew, Time Out: Harrison, doing his waspish don act as Caesar, alone rises above mediocrity. Read more

Trevor Johnston, Time Out: It's a once-in-a-lifetime experience, for good and ill. Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: Cleopatra is not only a supercolossal eye-filler (the unprecedented budget shows in the physical opulence throughout), but it is also a remarkably literate cinematic recreation of an historic epoch. Read more