Antony and Cleopatra

Alternative title: Maro Antonio y Cleopatra
Synopsis: Feature film version of the play. Ponderous, under-resourced film presented as an epic whose poor reviews prevented its wide distribution.
Language: English
Country: Spain; France; United States
Medium: Film
Technical information: Colour / Sound
Year of release: 1972
Duration: 160 mins

Notes: Budget $1m
Figures: Gross ESP 39,776,701 (Spain). Admissions 1,098,884 (Spain)
Reviews: Kermode, Frank. New York Review of Books 4 May 1972, pp. 18-21 (in review-article). Crowl, Samuel. ‘A World Elsewhere: The Roman Plays on Film and Television’ in Davies, Shakespeare and the Moving Image: The Plays on Film and Television. Cambridge and New York: Cambridge University Press, 1994. pp 146-62.

`Neil’s perfect cheekbones and lip gloss do not compensate for a nondescript personality and insensitive verse-speaking, particularly in the build-up to her suicide where she is embarrassingly out-acted by her Charmian’
Rosenthal, Daniel. 100 Shakespeare Films. (London: BFI, 2007). p. 3.

Released on DVD 2011. The extras include a 33 min film THE MAKING OF ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA (2009) made by Heston’s son, Fraser Heston, who worked as an assistant second unit director on the film. He recounts several stories about the film’s production, describes its roots in his father’s passion for theatre in general and Shakespeare in particular, offers background information on how the film was financed, produced and cast, and touches on several key contributors to the film’s look and sound.

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British Universities Film & Video Council