Cleopatra (1999)

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General		Extras
Category	Drama	Main Menu Audio & Animation Scene Selection Animation Game-Cleopatra's Hidden Treasures Biographies-Cast & Crew Production Notes
Rating
Year Of Production	1999
Running Time	174:23
RSDL / Flipper	RSDL (87:41)	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region Coding	4	Directed By	Franc Roddam
Studio Distributor	Hallmark Entertain Magna Home Entertainment	Starring	Billy Zane Timothy Dalton Rupert Graves Leonor Varela
Case	DV-4
RPI	$29.95	Music	Trevor Jones

    Cleopatra is a made-for-television two part feature that tells the story of Cleopatra and her relationships with Julius Caesar and Marc Antony.

    The story begins with Cleopatra's (Leonor Varela's) return to Alexandria where she meets Julius Caesar (Timothy Dalton) and claims the Egyptian throne. A strong relationship quickly builds between them and Cleopatra eventually gives birth to Caesar's son. It is this child and his love for Cleopatra that directly leads to Caesar's assassination. After his death, Cleopatra turns to the only other Roman she feels that she can trust, Marc Antony (Billy Zane). He promises that her son will be crowned as the rightful ruler of Egypt and also to protect the independence of the country. Unfortunately, these are promises he is unable to keep as Roman troops march into Egypt and force him into battle.

    This feature is divided into two distinct sections. The first half of the movie deals with Cleopatra's relationship with Julius Caesar and the second section deals with her involvement with Marc Antony. While it is obvious that this production was given a reasonable budget, it never escapes from the general made-for-television feeling. The performances by the actors are acceptable but never compelling. This, coupled with unconvincing special effects and numerous exterior scenes obviously filmed on soundstages, leaves the viewer disappointed.

Video

    The full frame transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1. It is not 16x9 enhanced.

    The transfer is a little soft but acceptable throughout. Dark scenes do pose a problem for this transfer as they show poor shadow detail. Luckily, the vast majority of scenes are well-lit, but on occasion the dark portions of the scene reveal little detail. No low level noise was detected during the transfer.

    The colours appear to be accurately rendered throughout.

    MPEG artefacts are visible during a number of scenes throughout the transfer but are mainly found during the first quarter of the movie. Two of the most obvious instances of these artefacts may be seen at 6:39 and 7:18. Luckily, the majority of these artefacts are relatively small and are only mildly disruptive to the viewer.

    Numerous instances of aliasing may be seen during this transfer. Some examples of these artefacts may be seen at 15:39, 18:32, 21:00 and 25:17. These artefacts occur throughout the transfer and are moderately distracting to the viewer.

    Some film grain is obvious during the darker scenes, but this is only mildly distracting to the viewer. A very small number of minor film artefacts may be seen which are never distracting.

    Numerous NTSC to PAL conversion artefacts may be seen throughout the transfer. Some examples of these errors may be seen at 0:24, 1:27, 3:28, 13:38 and 20:03. Luckily these errors are only minimally distracting to the viewer.

    A small number of analogue tape errors may also be seen. Some examples of these errors may be seen at 0:02, 0:59, 19:20 174:09 and 174:19. As each of the errors only occur for a single frame, they are not distracting to the viewer.

    A single subtitle track is accessible via the remote control, but it contains no information.

   The layer change is located at the start of Chapter 19 at 87:41. As this is during a natural fade-to-black and at the logical division between the two parts of the story, the change is not disruptive to the viewer.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

    The dialogue is always clear and easy to understand.

    No audio dropouts or problems with sync were detected during the transfer.

    The score by Trevor Jones is classically-based and generally suits the movie. Unfortunately, in a number of scenes the score overpowers the on-screen action.

    The surround channels were not utilised during the transfer.

    The subwoofer was used minimally throughout to support both the score and effects.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Menu

Cast and Crew Biographies

    This collection of cast and crew biographies also includes select filmographies. Most of the biographies are quite extensive and have on average four or five pages of information. Information is included for Timothy Dalton, Billy Zane, Rupert Graves, Leonor Varela, Frank Roddam, Anton Diether, Stephen Harrigan, Margaret George, Dyson Lovell, Robert Halmi Sr., Robert Halmi Jr. and Trevor Jones.

Production Notes

    This extensive 21 page collection of production notes detail the previous version of Cleopatra, the inspiration for this project and the sets used in the movie.

Cleopatra's Hidden Treasures Game

    This extra provides a menu page showing Cleopatra and a number of Egyptian items. If the user presses enter on the remote each of the items is highlighted. The user then presses the left arrow and enter key and they are presented with a five second clip from the movie showing a crowd cheering. Obviously this extra will have extremely limited appeal and I personally do not feel that this is of any real use.

    The Region 4 version of this disc misses out on;

• TV Spot

    The Region 1 version of this disc misses out on;

• Nothing

    Cleopatra is a large-budget telemovie that is quite watchable but has no outstanding performances and is quickly forgotten.

    There are numerous minor problems with the transfer but it is acceptable considering the content provided.

    The audio track provided has no problems and is adequate for the material presented.

    The production notes and cast and crew biographies are informative and provide some interesting information regarding this feature.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall