Purely Joyful Movie!

It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

This movie popped up recently on FOX movie channel with the opening credits letter-boxed to 2:35 and the rest full frame. It's a shame it's cropped but you don't feel like you're missing image most of the time. There aren't any obvious "talking noses" on each side of the full frame cropping at least. The opening ten minutes are pretty poor with bar room brawls and other unfunny comedy. But once Marc Anthony appears it all gets much better. It's nicely produced and well acted and portrays Cleopatra as, well frankly, as kind of a slut that men don't notice until after they have fallen in love with her. The production design is well done there aren't a lot of huge cities portrayed but what is shown is well done, including a brief nicely done shot of the famous lighthouse at Alexandra. Unlike some Italian films of this genre there are no supernatural elements. There are some impressive "thousands of men on horses" scenes and Cleopatra rides around in a chariot pulled by at least 10 horses. But one let down in that when the actual battle scenes arrive they are done on a pretty small scale and end very quickly. Blame the second unit director for this I suppose. It tends to be large scale set ups to a battle that then shows 5 or 10 guys and lasts a minute and a half. There is however some good smaller scale fight scenes so maybe budget prevented more large scale, either way it's disappointing. It also must be said that what I saws, the Full frame American version, has a number of fast fade outs some of which pretty obviously seem to reveal material edited out of the film. Again though it's well acted and has a few surprises, you can complain there should be more "real" character action rather than one that basically focuses on fiction buddies who happen to be part of large events. But there are many other films that take the same sort of approach to real events and characters. Cameron's TITANIC takes this same approach. So fans of this genre check it out but be a little prepared to be let down in the action department.

I've seen "Le Legioni di Cleopatra" in a restored print in the original Italian language.If you want a history lesson you should not see this film (and the same applies to Hollywood movies), but the main historical facts are superficially presented (the details concerning the characters are, of course, fantasy) in it.Mark Antony (Georges Marchal) is in Alexandria (Egypt) with his lover Cleopatra (Linda Cristal), the queen of Egypt. They rule the eastern part of the Roman Empire. Octavian (Alfredo Mayo) rules the western part of the Roman Empire. He lands with his troops in Egypt. Octavian's forces are superior, but Mark Antony with the help of his allies may still be a force to reckon with. The battle that will decide who will rule the Roman Empire looms ahead.And Cleopatra! Her beauty is legendary. She conquered Marc Antony's heart and lives in a palace. Her legions keep watch over it. No one is admitted entrance without her permission. No one in the outside world is allowed to see her face. But at nights Cleopatra goes out in the streets, disguised in simple clothes, to dance in taverns! She just wants to leave the seclusion of her palace, meet people, and maybe, love.Meanwhile, Octavian sends one of his officers (Ettore Manni), the handsome Curridio (a friend of Mark Antony) to Alexandria to see how things stand and talk Mark Antony into surrendering."Le Legioni di Cleopatra" may be (as many Italian epic films) a low budget production, but it's highly entertaining - tavern brawls, dances, battles, pretty girls.... The story is well told, with good comic, dramatic and romantic moments.All in all, the film is very colorful - it's not only easy on the eyes and mind, but sometimes it's surprisingly serious and moving (that is, if you turn off your critical brain and let yourself flow with the film).The European Community asked of 15 filmmakers of 15 countries that each one should choose a film of his/her country to be restored. Gianni Amelio, representing Italy, chose "Le Legioni di Cleopatra".

Mankiewicz's movie,even if it's unfairly looked upon by pretty much as a failure is a great director's /writer's work.It's not only a question of money;give the same big budget to Vittorio Cottafavi and he will not do what Mankiewicz does.Definitely not."Some French critics ,much to the Italians' surprise,called Cottafavi "an auteur" who transcends the peplum genre".(Jean Tulard;dictionnaire du cinéma,T1).It's wishful thinking.The cock and bull screenplay cannot be taken seriously one single minute.Unlike Mankiewicz's work,which encompasses the whole story,beginning with the rivalry Cleopatra/Ptolemy,"legioni" begins after Actium (maybe it was too expensive to direct a naval battle.So we have Cleo and Mark-Anthony back in Egypt,waiting for Octavius' armies. History is given a rough ride as ever:the plot focuses on a Marc-Anthony's friend,Carridius ,who tries to reconciliate the two former triumvirs.A spate of clichés waits for the audience:taverns where everybody's drunk and fighting,gladiators scenes,tortures aplenty -one of these nice pastimes might indicate that the wicked cruel Egyptians (we do not see the Romans do such a thing)invented the ancestor of the Nuremberg virgin-, and exotic dances,some of them in a low dive,by Cleopatra herself incognito.The plot loses itself in an uninteresting supporting cast which includes a gladiator who becomes friend with the hero Carridius and whose laugh will get on your nerves:a comic relief,this is definitely not;a young and gorgeous slave girl who falls in love with.. well you guess;a courageous slave boy;a very sadistic gladiator.Because of these pointless subplots,we lose sight of the essential,and Georges Marchal,the best actor of the cast,who plays Marc-Anthony ,takes a back seat to the secondary characters.He tries to do the best he can with the lines he gets ,but what can an actor who used to work in "la comédie française" theater do in such a company?

***SPOILERS*** ***SPOILERS*** Corridius (Ettore Manni), a valorous Roman, becomes unintentionally embroiled in the political intrigues of Queen Cleopatra (Linda Cristal.) While he frequents a favorite tavern of local brawlers, he meets a luscious slave girl dancer and falls in love with her. Although he is offically in opposition to the Queen, his light'o'love is actually the queen in disguise. The power struggle between Antony (Georges Marchal), Cleopatra and Ottaviano comes to a climax after a great deal of trouble for everyone involved and ends in the tragic death of the principals. The valiant Corridius manages to survive and finally ends up with a real slave girl who always loved him. Lots of entertaining action and color with Manni and Cristal standouts as the doomed lovers.