The Greatest Story Ever Told

This 1965 epic biblical is oddly fascinating now, I like it a lot, not having seen it for decades, but its getting screenings on our Sky Movies at the moment. It is of course George Stevens' retelling of the story of Jesus and it is an oddly sedate version, avoiding the flamboyance of items like KINGS OF KINGS or BARABBAS, 

The look of the film is astonishing - no biblical lands here, it was shot in the wilds of the USA, mainly in Utah and Arizona and those western landscapes look ideal. Then there is the cast - Max Von Sydow is a dignified Jesus, Charlton Heston is John The Baptist, 
the aged Claude Rains glitters with menace as Herod, Jose Ferrer is Herod Antipas, Dorothy McGuire is Mary, Sidney Poitier is Simon of Cyrene who helps Jesus with his cross, Carroll Baker is Veronica who wipes the face of Jesus. I did not even spot Shelley Winters or Angela Lansbury, while others in the vast cast, some for just seconds include Van Heflin, Sal Mineo, John Wayne as that centurion at the foot of the cross, Pat Boone as an angel, Donald Pleasance as the Satan figure. The disciples include Gary Raymond, Michael Anderson Jr, David McCallum as Judas, Roddy McDowell and Telly Savalas as Pilate. 

IMDB says that David Lean and Jean Negulesco were also uncredited directors, I wonder what input they had? In all, it is not as majestic as BEN HUR or as crowded as QUO VADIS? or as mad as Huston's THE BIBLE, it is like a dignified bible lesson, but it has great visuals and it all looks impressive, and as visually stunning as those weird sets in THE SILVER CHALICE. 

12 Spectacular films

I had this large format spiral bound book "SPECTACULAR! The Story of Epic Films" by John Cary and John Kobal, in 1974, but somehow lost it over the years, so I was pleased to find one cheap online. This would be expensive to produce now, with all those fold-out double page scenes from epic films. It covers it all from the silent days up to the glory Fifties and Sixties era, with special chapters like Robert Wise discussing the making of HELEN OF TROY. Fascinating stuff - it got me list my own dozen Top Spectaculars.

• THE SIGN OF THE CROSS - Cecil B De Mille, 1932
• QUO VADIS? - Mervyn Le Roy, 1951
• HELEN OF TROY - Robert Wise, 1955 
• ALEXANDER THE GREAT - Robert Rossen, 1956
• THE TEN COMMANDMENTS - Cecil B De Mille, 1956
• THE VIKINGS - Richard Fleischer, 1958
• BEN HUR - William Wyler, 1959 (with stunt help from Andrew Morton and Yakima Canutt)
• SPARTACUS - Stanley Kubrick, 1960
• EL CID - Anthony Mann, 1961
• CLEOPATRA - Joseph L Mankiewicz, 1963
• THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE - Anthony Mann, 1964
• ALEXANDER - Oliver Stone, 2004.

And of course LAWRENCE OF ARABIA. 
Special mention to: THE EGYPTIAN, THE PRODIGAL, THE SILVER CHALICE, LAND OF THE PHAROAHS, SIGN OF THE PAGAN, ATTILA, DEMETRIUS AND THE GLADIATORS, 55 DAYS AT PEKING, KING OF KINGS, BARABBAS, GENGHIS KHAN, SODOM AND GOMORRAH, THE GREATEST STORY EVER TOLD, THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES, ATLANTIS THE LOST CONTINENT, FABIOLA, THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII, THE GIANT OF MARATHON, APHRODITE and all those other Steve Reeve and Belinda Lee peplums, and Visconti's THE LEOPARD, 
A big NO to those CGI items like TROY or even GLADIATOR ! 

Lots on all these at Epics, Peplums labels. 

Coming up: 12 Bad Movies We Love; 12 European 1960s films. 

Early 60s 20th Century Fox double bill

THE STORY OF RUTH and FRANCIS OF ASSISI. I remember seeing these two back in 1960 and 1961 - when I would have been 14 and 15, we liked those lush 20th Century Fox cinemascope period movies then. I had never seen them since, so its been fun revisting them now.

Inspired by the tale from Hebrew scriptures and the Christian Bible, the Moabitess child Ruth is sold to the temple of Chemosh. Years pass and she serves as a priestess to the idol. While arranging a temple ritual, she encounters a Judean family of artisans: Elimelech, his wife Naomi, their sons Chilion and Mahlon, and daughter-in-law Orpah. Ruth is curious about their God, and begins to meet secretly with Mahlon. After tragedy strikes, Ruth follows Naomi and begins a new life in Bethlehem...

THE STORY OF RUTH is a perfect biblical - up there with THE PRODIGAL, SAMSON & DELILAH, and even THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, as we follow Ruth (Elana Eden) from being a child sold into being a priestess for a pagan cult (Viveca Lindfors is a very slinky high priestess) to her meeting and falling for Tom Tryon and the invisible god he believes in. As another virgin is sacrificed to that pagan idol Ruth rebels and escapes. 

Elana Eden is attractive and fascinating - its her only main credit. Israeli actresses were popular then, Haya Harareet in BEN HUR, and Daliah Lavi being others busy then. Tom Tryon and Stuart Whitman are the men in Ruth's life, and Peggy Wood is marvellous as the wise Naomi. Biblical life is nicely depicted too, Fox makes it look good and its all handled by veteran Henry Koster. A nice re-view now. Good dvd transfer too.

FRANCIS OF ASSISI. They went to Italy for this one, so it looks great at the real locations, and the costumes and sets look authentic. The cast is the problem. Fox players Bradford Dillman (a rather dull Francis) and Stuart Whitman are the leads. Dolores Hart is Clare (she is of course a real nun now), and the supporting cast features Finlay Currie and Athene Seyler. Old Timer Michael Curtiz directs, its one of his last movies. It follows the story of St Francis fairly faithfully if dully. I much preferred Zeffirelli's BROTHER SUN SISTER MOON in 1973, and of course Rossellini's 1950 film on St Francis. 

RIP, continued ...

Michele Morgan  (1920 – 2016) aged 96. Glamorous French film actress, who was a leading lady for three decades in both French cinema and Hollywood features. She was the inaugural winner of the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1992, she was given an Honorary Cesar Award or her contributions to French cinema. 

I recently reviewed her as FABIOLA, one of the first peplums in 1949, with her then husband Henri Vidal, left, a favourite of ours, see label, who died in 1959. Morgan's best films include LE QUAI DES BRUMES in 1939 with Gabin, and THE FALLEN IDOL.She did PASSAGE TO MARSEILLES with Bogart. She certainly made a raincoat and beret the essence of French chic. 

Other venerable French legends include Danielle Darrieux now 99 (100 next May) and Micheline Presle, 94. Even Jeanne Moreau is 88, and Emmanuelle Riva 89.

Zsa Zsa Gabor (1917-2016), aged 99. The last of the legendary Hungarian Gabor sisters, Zsa Zsa (Miss Hungary in 1936) became one of the first celebrities famous for being famous, but she was a witty, funny lady with all those quips about husbands (she had nine, including George Sanders) and jewels. She was the QUEEN OF OUTER SPACE, and also effective in Huston's MOULIN ROUGE in 1953. She was deliciously funny too in WE'RE NOT MARRIED in 1952. She also pops up in Orson's TOUCH OF EVIL, one of her many cameo roles. RIP dahling.

Jean Dawnay (1925 - 2016), aged 91. Another lady of style and elegance, Dawnay was one of the original British supermodels of the 1950s and 60s. Princess George Galitzine, who has died aged 91, was prominent in many charitable enterprises, most notably the Prince George Galitzine Library in St Petersburg, the Terence Rattigan Society and UK Youth, having been world-famous as Jean Dawnay, a top model for Christian Dior and the last remaining “supermodel” from the 1950s.

She epitomised style and elegance and was both quick-witted and clear-thinking, as evidenced by her performances as a panellist on the popular television series What’s My Line? She was an optimist, and everything she did was conducted with not only wisdom but also sparkle and zest.

I knew the name and the photos, but did not realise what a fascinating life. She was working at Bletchley Park during the war years, then became one of the first air hostesses, and acted as hostess for Terence Rattigan (he based the character of Anne Shankland in SEPARATE TABLES on her). She tried acting as well, with Frankie Vaughan in the enjoyable 1958 WONDERFUL THINGS, and then married a Russian prince.  

The Colossus of Rhodes

Back in the heyday of new dvds, a fun collection were the 'Cult Camp Classics': Vol 4 was Historical Epics and featured those perennial camp favourites (but also great entertainment) LAND OF THE PHAROAHS and THE PRODIGAL, plus THE COLOSSUS OF RHODES from 1961, which I remembered enjoying as a kid. It had all the required elements: colour, spectacle, earthquakes and that giant colossus straddling Rhodes harbour .... it featured a past-it ageing American star: Rory Calhoun, in a selection of mini-togas and nice shoewear and capes, a young cutie (Angel Aranda) and of course a slinky lady - Lea Massari, the girl who vanished from that island in Antonioni's L'AVVENTURA and fetched up here. 

This one is notable now as the first feature by Sergio Leone, who does give it some imaginative touches. It is though almost as satisfying as ATLANTIS THE LOST CONTINENT, also '61, and Aldrich's sadistically camp SODOM AND GOMORRAH from 1962 (before he returned to America to tackle Blanche and Baby Jane Hudson....)

Seeing it again now its rather fun, and there are some fun comments on it, over at IMDB:
Sergio Leone's directorial debut is rife with scantily clad men whose rippling muscles and abs are fully exposed while they wrestle or undergo torture and bondage. The national pastime in Rhodes must have been doing crunches and lifting weights, because even the mature men have flat tight stomachs and bulging biceps. 

Meanwhile, the women, while lovely of face, remain chastely clothed and relegated to the sidelines. The homo-erotic visuals of this tale of ancient Rhodes call into question the film's intended audience. Were there enough closeted gays in the early 1960's to make a success of mediocre movies such as this? 

American actor, Rory Calhoun, a fading western hero who was obviously hired only for his name, wanders through the proceedings like a stranger in a strange land in more ways than one. Portraying the Greek Darios as an American on holiday, Calhoun remains nonplussed in the face of death, torture, and the lures of beautiful women. Decidedly less buff than his Italian counterparts, Calhoun nevertheless overwhelms men whose physical strength obviously exceeds that of his own lean build. Perhaps his attire gave him self-confidence. The stylish mini-togas with colorful scarves thrown over one shoulder and white, laced boots to the mid-calf make Calhoun resemble Captain Marvel more than an ancient warrior. Right: Calhoun with Leone. 

In the scenes between Calhoun and Lea Massari as Diala, there is little doubt that neither performer knows what the other is saying. Calhoun recites his lines in English while Massari recites hers in Italian. It's a genuinely spectacular affair offering pretty much everything you could want from a peplum – muscle men, corrupt rulers, rebels and conspiracies, torture in the dungeons and the arena, the spectacular destruction of a city in a natural disaster and imported American star Rory Calhoun imitating Victor Mature. Steve Reeves still ruled. Delirious or what!

Guy & Kerwin, a few movie choices ....

My friend Martin has caught up with THE GARMENT JUNGLE, a 1957 thriller with Kerwin Matthews and the lovely Gia Scala. He likes Guy Madison as well (see post below) so for you Martin, here's Guy and Kerwin AND a young Kim Novak in FIVE AGAINST THE HOUSE, that nifty 1955 thriller (a prototype for OCEANS 11, which I reviewed a while back. Guy/Kerwin/Kim labels), plus the trailer for THE GARMENT JUNGLE .... and a moment from THE LAST FRONTIER in 1955 with Victor Mature; and his SLAVE OF ROME with Rosanna Podesta in 1961 ....

Summer re-vews: favourite Spartacus moments

Though I have the dvd and have seen it several times, it was on television again (with no commercials) so it seemed a good idea to record it and watch again -and I liked it again as much as ever. Its certainly up there with BEN HUR, EL CID, CLEOPATRA and FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE as one of the great epics of that epic era. Kubrick may not have thought much of it (Douglas hired him - they had already done PATHS OF GLORY in 1957 - to replace Anthony Mann, who at least had EL CID lined up next, and teamed up with Douglas again for his HEROES OF TELEMARK in 1964, one of those movies I just never needed to see), but it has several Kubrickian moments on themes on power corrupting. It has some great set-pieces too (I like the scenes with the Romans led by Crassus visiting Ustinov's slave school, which sets the revolt in motion) but it is that cast that delivers. Olivier as Crassus is one of his great performances of that time, Laughton and Ustinov are fascinating scene-stealers, Jean Simmons is ideal, and so is Kirk (he is 100 this December!) and Tony Curtis too as Antoninus. We get that bath scene now between Crassus and Antoninus (with Olivier voiced by Anthony Hopkins) which was considered too suggestive at the time!. Here are some favourite moments and behind the scenes shots:  Tony with Jean and wife Janet Leigh ... Olivier and Jean together again, after their HAMLET in 1948, and John Gavin showing his marvellous chest at the baths .....

Speaking of epics, word on the street has it that the new BEN-HUR is not going to be a success. It seems its just another run of the mill mainly CGI shallow blockbuster for a week or two at the multiplex, and lacks the complexity and richness of the 1959 Wyler film, still wonderful after almost 60 years. Even that TV version of a few years ago (with Ray Winstone as Quintus Arrius) is totally forgotten now. Arrius is not even in the new version (which is 90 minutes shorter than the 1959 one, no Nativity prologue either as it plays down the religious aspect...) as they make more of Sheik Ilderim - Morgan Freeman - the only big name in the cast - but can a black man be a realistic sheik back in this Roman era? Just asking ..... the supposed homoerotic tensions are also gone - Ben and Massala are almost brothers now. But the main question is how will the chariot race look now?

I saw the 1925 silent version last year too (Epics label) and it was nothing compared to the 1959 film, looks like this redundant one will not be around much longer either, another mediocre remake of a classic film. That old quip comes back: "Loved Ben, hated Hur". 

Summer re-reads: Pompeii by Robert Harris

An unputownable re-read is this 2005 novel by Robert Harris. I liked it even more this time around, apart from one strand of the narrative, which I will return to.

A sweltering week in late August. Where better to enjoy the last days of summer than on the beautiful Bay of Naples? But even as Rome's richest citizens relax in their villas around Pompeii and Herculaneum, there are ominous warnings that something is going wrong. Wells and springs are failing, a man has disappeared, and now the greatest aqueduct in the world - the mighty Aqua Augusta - has suddenly ceased to flow. Through the eyes of four characters - a young engineer, an adolescent girl, a corrupt millionaire and an elderly scientist - Robert Harris brilliantly recreates a luxurious world on the brink of destruction.

As addictive as a thriller, as satisfying as great history, says Simon Sebag Montefiore, while Boris Johnson is ‘lost in admiration at his energy and skill.

The amount of research Harris must have done for this is mnd-boggling but its all there bringing this ancient world to vivid life. I understand Roman Polanski was interested in filming it, but that never never happened. There are though so many other versions of the Pompeii story out there, from the 1959 Steve Reeves film, that 2007 German series, and the 2014 CGI version, which was not that bad actually - see Peplums/Epics labels. 

There is though a nasty streak of anti-gay comment if not homophobia here, as expressed by Pliny and the overseer Corax who seems to want to do things to our engineer hero .... but surely the ancient world was more accepting of same sex relations ....... this streak was also evident in Harris' first novel FATHERLAND (the gay young soldier who sees too much), and his ENIGMA (I couldn't be bothered reading it or seeing the film) about the Bletchley codebreakers seems to have sidelined Alan Turing in favour of fictional romances - at least THE IMITATION GAME rectified that!

More reviews state:

"a brilliantly orchestrated thriller-cum-historical recreation that plays outrageous tricks with the reader's expectations".

"As the famous catastrophe approaches, we are pleasurably immersed in the sights, sounds and smells of the Ancient World, each detail conjured with jaw-dropping verisimilitude."

Harris's protagonist is the engineer Marcus Attilius, placed in charge of the massive aqueduct that services the teeming masses living in and around the Bay of Naples. Despite the pride he takes in his job, Marcus has pressing concerns: his predecessor in the job has mysteriously vanished, and another task is handed to Marcus by the scholar Pliny: he is to undertake crucial repairs to the aqueduct near Pompeii, the city in the shadow of the restless Mount Vesuvius. Other characters like that millionaire ex-slave (who starts the narrative rolling by feeding a slave to his eels) and his daughter Corelia have other agendas ..... once you start reading it you can't stop. 

Cleopatra out-takes ...

Elizabeth Taylor and veteran actor Finlay Currie on the set of CLEOPATRA. But Finlay wasn't in CLEOPATRA you say - quite right, his part was surgically removed when they were cutting the 6 hour epic down to a more manageable 4 .... pity Finlay didn't make the cut here, he was in so many other epics, from QUO VADIS? to BEN HUR. 

FILMS IN REVIEW is a fascinating little magazine I missed at the time, its good discovering them now, like that 1988 one with a terrific interview with Lee Remick looking back over her career, and this recent acquisition I found on ebay, dated January 1988 with a good feature on CLEOPATRA, going through the original Mankiewicz screenplay for his proposed six hour version, which would be shown in two parts. Zanuck at 20th Century Fox soon put paid to that and the 4-hour version that exists now is as much as we are going to get. 
I don't think there will be any A STAR IS BORN-type restoration here! 

Other deletions, apart from Finlay, included background material on those other characters like Ruffio, Sosigenes, Apollodorus, Octavian, etc. 

I like this particular scene closing the first half, as Cleo sails away, its perfectly written, acted, and scored with that great Alex North score.

Among the supporting players we also like Richard OSullivan (the little boy in DANGEROUS EXILE) as the petulant young Pharoah, Gregoire Alsan as the scheming Pothinus, and Pamela Brown's all-seeing high priestess, and of course we love the opulent sets and costumes, as discussed before, and that great panning shot over the bay of Alexandria as Caesar arrives ....  There is still a lot to enjoy in CLEOPATRA not least Rex as Caesar and as befits a Mankiewicz film, the dialogue is to savour.

Peplum veterans

Let's praise some of our peplum/epic favourite actors, great dependables who always 'add value' and make their scenes come alive .... (I am only focusing on their peplum/costume roles).

Frank Thring (1926-1994): Australian Frank was deliciously evil with a streak of camp, particularly as Aella in THE VIKINGS chopping off Tony Curtis's hand and ending up in the wolf pit, Pontius Pilate in BEN HUR ("A long life young Arrius, and the good sense to live it"), Ad Kadir in EL CID (when the starving citizens of Valencia revolt he gets thrown off the city walls), and his Herod Antipas in KING OF KINGS.  His published biography should be quite interesting.

Sir Cedric Hardwicke (1983-1964): The distinguished thespian was Sethi the old Pharoah in Cecil's THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, King Priam in HELEN OF TROY, the Judge in THE STORY OF MANKIND, Tiberius Caesar in SALOME, King Edward in RICHARD III, and the owner of the balloon in the amusing adventure FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON. 

Finlay Currie (1878-1968). 90 year old Finlay clocked up 145 credits, his busy career included lots of epics and costume dramas - in fact any epic had to include Finlay for extra gravitas: David in SOLOMON AND SHEBA, Balthasar in BEN HUR, Magwich in GREAT EXPECTATIONS, the traitor in DANGEROUS EXILE, Peter in QUO VADIS, Cedric in IVANHOE, the Mullah in ZARAK, in TEMPEST, Jacob in JOSEPH AND HIS BROTHERS, the pope in FRANCIS OF ASSISI, Titus in CLEOPATRA, a senator in THE FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. Right: Finlay with George and Yul in SOLOMON AND SHEBA.

Then, theres: Harry Andrews (1911-1989)  - prolific Harry did some great peplum roles too: I like his Baltor, advisor to Gina's Queen in SOLOMON AND SHEBA. He was in blackface too as Darius the deposed king of Persia in ALEXANDER THE GREAT, Peter in BARABBAS, and Hector in HELEN OF TROY, and in 55 DAYS IN PEKING, Lord Lucan in THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE (1968).. More on Harry at label. 

Stanley Baker (1928-1976). The very prolific Stanley also did sterling duty in peplums:  starting with Olivier's RICHARD III, Achilles in HELEN OF TROY, Attalus in ALEXANDER THE GREAT, and of course being very nasty in SODOM AND GOMORRAH. Ditto more on Stanley at label. 

We cannot forget George Sanders (1906-1972) who did a whole string of costumers and some epics among his 135 credits..... IVANHOE, Adonijah in SOLOMON AND SHEBA, Charles II in THE KING'S THIEF, hilarious in JUPITER'S DARLING, SON OF FURY, raising his goblet to toast Delilah as the temple falls around them in SAMSON & DELILAH, King Richard in RICHARD AND THE CRUSADERS, the villain in MOONFLEET etc. 

Henry Daniell (1894-1963) too - sardonic Henry had some good peplum/costume moments in a long career: he is good in THE PRODIGAL 1955, and the Sheik in FIVE WEEKS IN A BALLOON, 1962 - and in the 1930s MARIE ANTOINETTE, THE PRIVATE LIVES OF ELIZABETH & ESSEX, Baron De Varville to Garbo's CAMILLE, Mr Brocklehurst in JANE EYRE,  THE SEA HAWK, SIREN OF ATLANTIS, THE EGYPTIAN, etc.   
Then there's Vincent Price ... and of course Kirk Douglas, Anthony Quinn, Jack Palance have also done iconic work in peplums - not to mention Steve Reeves & Co ...
Peter Ustinov too for scene-stealing beyond the call of duty in QUO VADIS, THE EGYPTIAN, SPARTACUS, where he, Olivier and Laughton seemed to be out-acting each other ... 
and the recently departed Douglas Wilmer - see RIP below.

Plus French Jacques Sernas (1925-2015) who died last year. Paris in HELEN OF TROY (right) and Laertes in APHRODITE, GODDESS OF LOVE and in THE NIGHTS OF LUCREZIA BORGIA (both opposite Belinda Lee, below), IMDB lists a lot of his other peplums we do not know here. 

Queen of the peplums has to be our favourite, the tragic Belinda Lee (1935-1961). She also did MESSALINA, MARIE OF THE ISLES, JOSEPH AND HIS BROTHERS and CONSTANTINE AND THE CROSS. Ditto, more on Belinda at label .... including her memorial in Rome. Then there's Scilla Gabel, Rossana Podesta (HELEN OF TROY herself), Anita Ekberg and ...

Belinda as Aphrodite

One of our favourite sites is the great PEPLUM (www.peplumtv.com) where I found this full-version of the 1957 APHRODITE, GODDESS OF LOVE starring British Belinda Lee, a cult favourite of ours here - see the label entries. 

This is a better than average peplum, with some great moments and images, Belinda (1935-1961) was a Rank Organisation starlet who was popular in the 1950s, she also branched out into European cinema - peplums like APHRODITE, MESSALINA, MARIE OF THE ISLES, LUCREZIA BORIGA, that New Wave 1959 French film we like LES DRAGUEURS, the 1960 Italian THE LONG NIGHT OF '43 .... as well as others like SHE WALKS BY NIGHT and GHOSTS OF ROME with Marcello Mastroianni. 

Her English titles include NOR THE MOON BY NIGHT, MIRACLE IN SOHO, DANGEROUS EXILE (which I loved as a kid in 1957), THE BIG MONEY, FOOTSTEPS IN THE FOG and she was one of the first BELLES OF ST TRINIANS in 1954. 

Sadly, she was killed in an automobile accident in 1961, aged 25 .... as per my other posts on her. Her husband Rank photographer Cornel Lucas took some great photographs of her. This is her memorial in a cemetry in Rome ....

Cleo & Alex revisited

I always enjoy settling down to watch CLEOPATRA again - particularly if recording it from widescreen HD television, so one can zip past an occasional dull bit. Ditto Robert Rossen's 1956 ALEXANDER THE GREAT - a more turgid telling of the Alexander story than Oliver Stone's 2004 dazzling magnum opus which I like a lot - check posts on ALEXANDER at Colin Farrell label.

CLEOPATRA got a bad press at the time and was considered a turkey for a long time, but its a fascinating movie -- the first half at any rate as Rex Harrison is a dynamic Caesar and there are impressive set pieces - that great panning shot over Alexandra as Caesar arrives (Stone must have hommaged this in his ALEXANDER as he also shows us Alexandra where the aged Ptolomy is dictating his memoirs), and all those early scenes with Taylor and Harrison and of course that entry into Rome! 20th Century Fox certainly lavished care and attention and money on the sets and costumes and crowd scenes - all those people were really there. Taylor is impressive with that make-up and all those costume changes (a great wardrobe by Irene Sharaff, like that contrasting blue and red she wears when seeing Caesar's assassination in the flames, with high priestess Pamela Brown) and I love the score by Alex North - my best friend had the soundtrack album so we used to play it a lot. Leon Shamroy's cinematography captures the opulence of the sets.
I like that closing scene to the first half too as Cleo sails away and the music swells up. Her barge entering Tarsus in the second half is a wow too .... but here Burton rants and Taylor gets shrill ("I asked it of Julius Caesar, I DEMAND it of you"..), then the final scenes in the tomb are marvellous. I first saw this on its general release, maybe in '64 or '65, and those close-ups of Taylor on the big screen as the asp bites are someone one remembers .... Legend has it that Mankiewiz was writing the script by night and shooting during the day, after the film relocated to Italy and the famous scandal erupted. The dvd and blu-ray packages are good too, packed with all those features and documentaries including footage of Peter Finch and Stephen Boyd, initially cast, and Joan Collins' screen test as Cleo ...... it would not have been the same. 
CLEOPATRA remains impressive and a lot of fun, without the cachet of  Kubrick's SPARTACUS or Mann's EL CID or FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE, or those other great epics of the time like Lean's LAWRENCE OF ARABIA or Visconti's THE LEOPARD. 

ALEXANDER THE GREAT, 1956, is another movie I remember fondly, first seeing it as a kid at a Sunday matinee, some great images linger: Danielle Darrieux as Alexander's mother Olympias on the battlements as the troops depart, and that great moment with the dying Darius (Harry Andrews) abandoned after the battle. A blond Burton does his best, and again there is a good cast including Claire Bloom, Peter Cushing, Andrews and Stanley Baker. Here are a cache of lobby cards:  

From that era, we also like Robert Wise's HELEN OF TROY, Fleischer's THE VIKINGS , Cecil's THE TEN COMMANDMENTS, LeRoy's QUO VADIS and of course Wyler's BEN HUR, and I will add in SOLOMON AND SHEBA too ! Then there' those Steve Reeves movies ..... 

Fabiola, 1949

Sticking with vintage epics & peplums (see the 1925 BEN-HUR below), the 1949 Italian FABIOLA may well be the first of those costumers that became so popular in the 1950s and early 60s. It is a gleaming black and white production, directed by Alessandro Blasetti, starring the French husband and wife team of Henri Vidal and Michele Morgan. He is the gladiator ambitious to get ahead, and she is Fabiola, popular with the people - the daughter of a senator who is murdered early on. The film does start to drag half way, with too much dialogue, but once we get to the gladiators and the arena with those wild animals on the loose, it certainly livens up.

In ancient Rome a love story blossoms between Fabiola, daughter of a senator, and Rhual, a gallic gladiator. When Fabiola's father is killed, the Romans blame the Christians and the persecution begins. Rhual confesses to be a christian and is accused of the murder and sentenced to fight to death in the arena.

Morgan (now in her 90s) is an alluring presence, but the hunky Vidal (more on him at label) died young - aged 40 in 1959. The large cast also includes Michel Simon, Franco Interlenghi , Rina Morelli, Paola Stoppa and Massimo Girotti as the martyr St Sebastian. Its certainly worth a look if your taste runs to sword-and-sandal stuff set in ancient Rome with Christians in peril and Roman mobs lusting for their gruesome entertainments. Its almost as much fun as QUO VADIS,

Ben-Hur, 1925

Finally, I have put on that 1925 silent version of BEN-HUR, which was included in that 3-disk dvd pack on the 1959 film some years ago, and what a fascinating contrast it is to compare both. 

First of all the silent version looks marvellous, with some tinted and early colour inserts, particularly that first 15 minutes as we follow Joseph and Mary (a beatific Betty Bronson) and the Three Wise Men and that star in the sky and some good crowd scenes, its all like some Victorian tableaus - it was from a Victorian novel .... two stunning set-pieces are the galley scene as Ben toils at the oars - with that naked man in chains - and the sea battle is well done, and the other of course is the chariot race at Antioch, which is merely stupendous, as it is in the later version. Several horses met their end here ...

Its the characters and the script thats woeful here, of course being a silent nothing is fleshed out or developed. The spirited Esther of Wyler's film is  a simpering ninny here playing with her doves, we barely see Quintus Arrius - a gruff, old man - with none of the subtle interplay between him and Ben, while Messala (Francis X Bushman) is a one-dimensional cartoon villain who barely recognises Ben when they meet again. There is also a vamp, Ires - who has to find out who the mysterious charioteer is .... he though is Ramon Novarro who is a perfect Ben. (We like Ramon too in MATA HARI with Garbo in 1931). The rest is pure standard silent movie fare. Never has the quip "loved Ben, hated Hur" been more apt. I will appreciate the 1959 film a lot more next time I look in on it, its a sublte, complex masterpiece compared to this version by Fred Niblo - though it must have astounded audiences at the time. The younger Wyler and Henry Hathaway were also involved in its production as assistant directors, which unusual for the time, was filmed in Italy - but the chariot race was filmed back in California where most of the stars of the day played uncredited extras for the race. This dvd restored version (by Thames Silents) has another great score by Carl Davis.

Here are some shots from the 1959 version: Heston and Boyd; plus Bette Davis visiting her old director Wyler.