Antony and Cleopatra

Capsule/Summary ***½

Antony and Cleopatra is the first of only two theatrical features directed by Charlton Heston.  It injects some cinematic energy and action into the Shakespearean play from which it is adapted, but is perhaps too beholden to its source text for its own good.  It is presented for the first time on DVD with a transfer marred somewhat by heavy grain in its source element with resulting digital video compression noise and a mono audio track that reveals some minor limitations in the source mix.  The DVD comes with only a single special feature, but it is a good one: an extended video interview with filmmaker Fraser C. Heston who reminisces about the production and his Director/Star Father.

Directed By: Charlton Heston

Starring: Charlton Heston, Hildegard Neil, Eric Porter, John Castle, Fernando Rey, Juan Luis Galiardo, Carmen Sevilla, Freddie Jones

The Film ***½

Antony & Cleopatra is a cinematic adaptation of the Shakespearean play dramatizing the doomed love affair of Roman General Marc Antony (Heston) and Egyptian Queen Cleopatra (Neil). It takes place in the months following the death of Julius Ceasar, where political power in the Roman empire is shared between Antony, Octavius (Castle), and Lepidus (Rey).  As the film opens, Antony is in Alexandria more consumed with a romance with Cleopatra than with his duties as the ruler of a third of The Roman Empire.  He is shaken from his romantic stupor by news of his wife's death following an attempt to lead an uprising against Octavius and of aggressive naval actions in defiance of Rome by Pompey (Jones).  Antony returns to Rome, pledges his continued loyalty to Octavius and agrees to cement the political relationship via marriage to his sister Octavia (Sevilla).  Antony's renewed active support for Octavius and Lepidus leads to a negotiated truce with Pompey, but when Octavius later breaks this truce, Antony once again withdraws to Alexandria and the arms of Cleopatra, setting the stage for an all out war with Octavius.   

Antony and Cleopatra is the first of only two theatrical features directed by Charlton Heston.  It was a true labor of love on his part which he had been developing and attempting to line-up financing for several years.  Due to a tepid overseas box-office reception in Europe, it never received a wide theatrical release in the United States, and has been relatively little seen considering Heston's status as a top tier movie star for decades before and after its production.

Heston attempts to inject a lusty cinematic energy into Shakespeare's play by staging elaborate battle scenes merely alluded to by dialog in the stage version and not shying away from dramatizing Roman debauchery inclusive of drinking and fleeting nudity.  These elements generally work well save for some naval battles that seem to drag on past their point of interest.   He approaches the lead role of Marc Antony with similar vigor, and the role is a good fit for his often parodied, but even more often entertaining style of acting.   Despite all of the efforts to inject energy into the film, it still occasionally gets bogged down in extended passages of dialog that seem to indicate that Heston was a bit too beholden to Shakespeare's text when adpating it for the cinematic medium.  Trimming dialog describing action that could be realzied in cinematic terms would likely have helped the pacing considerably.  To Heston's credit, he manages to squeeze a lot of production value out of a modest budget, conveying the scale of the naval battles with essentially only one large ship, one small ship and some special effects footage at least partially recycled from Ben-Hur.  

The rest of the cast is filled out primarily by talented British stage actors.  A slight mis-match between Hildegard Neil's on-screen energy and Heston's movie-star gusto prevents them from achieving perfect chemistry, but Neil nevertheless gives a strong performance that shines brightest in her several scenes where she is not opposite Heston.  Of the rest of the cast, John Castle and Freddie Jones are particular stand-outs as the imperious Octavious and the power-hungry Pompey respectively.

The Video ***

The 16:9 enhanced presentation is letterboxed to a 2.4:1 aspect ratio.  Grain is a bit heavy suggesting that the image was derived from a source more than a few generations down from the original negative.  The digital video compression has occasional trouble resolving the grain, but to this viewer's eyes, the associated artifacts are only mildly distracting and generally preferable to additional filtering.  Your mileage may vary.  Color balance seems tilted slightly towards yellow-brown hues and contrast is high, but not excessively so.  Print flaws are minimal to non existent, and other than the aforementioned battle between compression and grain, the same goes for video artifacts. 

The Audio ***

Audio comes courtesy of a Dolby Digital 1.0 mono track.   It is a solid, but not overly impressive presentation with modest dynamic range.  One can clearly hear the difference from scene to scene in how the dialog was recorded inclusive of live audio on-set, live audio on location, and post dubbing.  There are no alternate langage dubs.

The Extras **½

The only  extra on the disc is an extended interview piece called The Making of Antony & Cleopatra with Filmmaker Fraser C. Heston  (32.28).  It is presented in 4:3 video letterboxed to 16:9 with Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo sound.  Still photos and extended clips from the film are incut with on-camera comments from Fraser Heston, the son of Director/Star Charlton Heston, who worked as an assistant second unit director on the film.   He recounts several stories about the film's produiction, describes its roots in his father's passion for theater in general and Shakespeare in particular, offers background information on how the film was financed, produced, & cast, and touches on several key contributors to the film's look and sound.

Packaging

The disc is enclosed in a standard DVD case with die-cut holes to reduce plastic use and no inserts.

Regards,