Cleopatra and the Undoing of Hollywood: How One Film Almost Sunk the Studios

by Patrick Humphries

The extraordinary story of the making of Cleopatra, the film that changed the face of Hollywood

Cleopatra has its place as one of the most fabled films of all time. While others have won more Oscars, attracted better reviews and taken more money at the box office, the 1963 film starring Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton stands alone in cinema legend. What began in 1958 as a $2 million vehicle for Joan Collins eventually opened five years later, having cost more than twenty times that amount.

The making of the film soon became a cautionary tale, for the lavish extravagance of Cleopatra all but bankrupted 20th Century Fox and almost singlehandedly set in motion the decline of the major studios. Actors and filmmakers were hired and fired at a breathtaking rate, and by the time the film was finally released, Hollywood could only watch in horror as it died at the box office.

This is an epic tale of love and lust; of gossip, money, sex, movie-star madness, studio politics and the birth of paparazzi journalism. Within the saga of Cleopatra lies the end of the era of Hollywood’s studio system, the seeds of the Swinging Sixties, and the stuff of timeless movie legend.

Genres: Nonfiction

240 pages, Hardcover

Published April 2, 2024

About the author

Writer and journalist Patrick Humphries is the author of acclaimed biographies of Paul Simon, Bob Dylan, and Richard Thompson. He lives in London, England.

Reviews

[Josh Allen · Rating 2 out of 5]

This should have been a rollicking good re-telling of Hollywood's most notorious film debacle. Instead, Patrick Humphries gives us the saga of that ill-fated movie in choppy, repetitive, episodic instalments. The book intersperses patchy accounts of the beleaguered production with profiles of the main players and sundry other sidebars about everything from other notable swords and sandals epics to Rome in the 60s. So instead of a compelling narrative that gives a real sense of the mounting chaos and panic over budget over-runs, production disasters, outrageous profligacy, monumentally bad decision-making and the global scandal whirling around Taylor and Burton, we get the story told numerous times from slightly different perspectives. I can see how this is easier to write, but it makes for very frustrating reading, with Humphries constantly circling back to make the same point for the umpteenth time. None of this is helped by the author's florid, tabloid style, or by his often careless use of language (e.g. "titivating" when he means "titillating"), or the poor editing (take this line about how UK visitors to Rome "would have been struck by the pervasive odour of garlic - at home, it was only sold in chemists to soften ear wax." Really?! I'm pretty sure Humphries meant to write olive oil, not garlic. Still, I can't help wondering if there's a book editor somewhere sticking cloves of garlic in his or her ear.) There are numerous better books about Hollywood excess, all of which are more insightful. Read one of those instead.

[Maddy Murphy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book follows the development and execution of the 1963 Cleopatra film, starring Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and Rex Harrison. Humphries argues that Cleopatra was the catalyst for the restructuring of movies in Hollywood due to poor planning, over spending, and a star focused organization. This was a very interesting read! Growing up, I would watch old Hollywood films with my mom like Pillow Talk and Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, so I love reading about that time period. Humphries had me hooked and wanting to read more!

I think the book would have flowed better if it was organized in a different way. The author was jumping back and forth through time between pre Cleopatra, during Cleopatra, and post Cleopatra. I think if the book was organized by year, I would have had an easier time comprehending.

Overall, I really liked this book! It was fast paced, concise, and I would definitely read another book by this author.

[Bart · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is not so much about the actual production of the movie, than it is about its impact, so set your expectations accordingly. Humphries has a clear love for the time period in which this movie was produced, and his descriptions of old Hollywood take you way back. The book is well researched and goes into depths on the actors' lives and the inner workings of the studio system. However, the writing does get repetitive, with certain topics returning over and over, which makes it drag in places.

[Mark · Rating 1 out of 5]

Ah man, I wanted to like this one but I didn't. It's a slight volume at 229 pages, which is fine if it's 229 pages about the production of "Cleopatra." But it's a swerving mess of everything but the production of "Cleopatra" (i.e. Taylor, Burton, Taylor & Burton, The Beatles, the actual Cleopatra, Rex Harrison, Daryl Zanuck). Even some of the pages with photographs are numbered. In the end, you might get about 50 pages about the production of the movie. Also nothing is presented in chronological order. You skip from time period to time period from chapter to chapter. There's chapters about casting in three different chapters that aren't organized together.

Which is a shame because that's why the movie flopped. Box office receipts were monumental. It was the highest grossing film in 1963 and had broken even by 1966 after selling the TV rights. It was a giant hit. The crux of it's general failure and it's impact on the studios that the the studio heads made mistakes. They wanted to save money and film in England during autumn, which cost, per the book, $8 million for eight minutes of footage because it rained everyday and Taylor was legitimately sick. By the time filming made it to Italy, they had to change directors, write new scripts. replace people, build sets. etc.

The one shift the author mentions but does not elaborate on is Taylor being a "free agent" actress and being able to demand her $1 million paycheck. An explanation of the old studio system where actors/actresses were tied to studios and often farmed out to other studios would have been nice. But the reasons that "Cleopatra" was a millstone around the studios' necks wasn't Taylor's salary, the changing tides of popular culture thanks to "Easy Rider" or the Beatles or Taylor and Burton's affair. It was filming in England for three months instead of Los Angeles or Italy.

The other problem is that the author seems accomplished. He's prolific in writing about music and film. He gets grouchy "stay off my lawn" near the end, but he should be adept at writing a better version of this story.

[Amber Ray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Le gossip, but enjoyable. I've only seen bits of Cleopatra...enough to tell me it takes itself really too seriously and that it's really the Roman era a la the fifties.
Frock Flicks, a site about how movies so frequently muff the historical periods they're filming had a field day on this one. Taylor's costumes are....often less than accurate as are the dancers (pasties on boobs anyone?) and the seriously nonperiod queen's boudoir.
From the start, it sounds like this film was a monster. Poor planning, lavish money gobbling sets, expensive stars wasting their talent, and monumentally poor decisions like filming warm Egypt in chill English sets!
Humphries states Cleopatra didn't single handedly kill the old studio system, but I'd say it was the canary in the coal mine for that kind of film making. Things changed and the studios had to change too.
I think the real "villain" wasn't the spoiled stars, it was the sheer lack of budget, planning and focus. This film mushroomed out of control, and from the bits I've seen it didn't pay off--what I saw didn't hook me to see more. It was overdramatic and almost silly. I may sit down and see it sometime just because.
It's also sad how Burton and Taylor wasted themselves and their talents. Taylor is stunningly beautiful in Butterhouse 8 but drink and painkillers made her coarse and fat in her middle age. Burton according to this book had the contradictory urges to be a fine Shakespearian actor...but also to get exceedingly rich and famous. He couldn't have both, couldn't control his drinking and could have been more. I found that sad and exasperating.
But an entertaining campy gossipy read.

[Mélinée · Rating 4 out of 5]

Growing up Cleopatra was one of my favorite movies, I was fascinated by the rich sets and the powerful aura of Elizabeth Taylor as she entered Rome in a glorious parade. As I grew older, I became fascinated with the story of the movie’s production and with the infamous Taylor-Burton affair, so when I found this book I knew I had to read it. Cleopatra and the Undoing of Hollywood is truly a captivating read, it does not only focus on the scandal, which I assumed it would, but offers a complete recollection of every aspect of the production of the ill-fated movie from its troubled beginning in London to the madness of its release. It introduces characters that are often forgotten while talking about the downfall of the movie, such as the producers and the other actors that are often neglected in favor of Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor who are often the only ones mentioned when talking about Cleopatra’s failure. More than a book about a movie, this work explains the end of Hollywood’s golden age, it paints the portrait of a society in the middle of drastic changes such as the arrival of the Beatles and JFK’s assassination that led to the death of the old Hollywood and to the birth of a new era of filmmaking.

[John Yingling · Rating 3 out of 5]

This could have been such a good book; an inside look at one of the most notorious, talked-about movies ever made. But the author took so very many side tours into areas that, frankly, were unnecessary and to me were added just to pad the number of pages in the book. When he actually stuck to discussing the film itself, his comments and analyses were often spot on. I just wish there would have been a lot more of this and not the detours.

[Phil Bean · Rating 4 out of 5]

I debated whether this was a 3 or a 4*

Its a great story, well researched. Its just all over the place and severely needed a good editor. The same tales are retold again and again, sometimes in the same chapter.

I'm glad I read it, but a good editor would have cut it down to 2/3 the size.

[John Kenrick · Rating 3 out of 5]

Info packed but SO repititious

The author did a ton of research, but he has the maddening habit of stating the same points over and over again - sometimes in the same chapter, or even the same page. I learned much that was of interest, but what a slog!

[Ellison · Rating 4 out of 5]

with profiles of characters this shares the casting and selection of film sites, and the fails therewith. expenses that nearly caused the studio to fail, only making any fund$ much later, insightful. pix.

[Madeline Corzine · Rating 4 out of 5]

While sometimes seeming to jump chronologically all over the place, this is a great history of the making of a film and how it plays into the history of the film industry. Clearly shows how the movie was both shaped by and shaped the history of Hollywood.

[W · Rating 3 out of 5]

Repetitive and too British-centric

[Miriel68 · Rating 2 out of 5]

A gossipy, chaotic book about the most expensive and convoluted production in the history of the cinema. Many interesting tidbits, but also many repetitions and no in-depth reflections.