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Cleopatra (1963)
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Reviews
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 A Masterpiece Score - Restored and Remastered!
by filmfactsman (February 2, 2005)
Joseph L. Mankiewicz, the film's director, was so delighted with Alex North's brilliant score for the mammoth $44 million, 4+ hour production that he made the unusual gesture (for him) of contributing extensive liner notes for the 1963 Original Soundtrack Album. These notes provide a valuable elucidation of many points in Mankiewicz's conception of "Cleopatra" that are unrealized in the version of the film that was released. Ironically, it was Mankiewicz's son Christopher who recommended North after his enthusiasm for his great score for "Spartacus" (1960). One of the film's nine Academy Award nominations went to North for the score (that year, the Academy nominations for Best Music Score included the epic films "55 Days at Peking", "How the West Was Won" and "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World" - all losing to John Addison's lightweight score from "Tom Jones").
Nevertheless, North is at the top of his form with this exciting, haunting and romantic masterpiece score that can proudly stand beside his very best work, including his stunning achievements with "A Streetcar Named Desire", "The Bad Seed", "Spartacus", "The Misfits", "The Agony and the Ecstasy", "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?", "The Shoes of the Fisherman", "Bite the Bullet" and "Dragonslayer".
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