Antony and Cleopatra

Timothy Dalton and Lynn Redgrave offer fine work in this adaptation of Shakespeare's Drama.Although production values for this live on tape adaptation are below par the acting for the most part is fine. Barrie Ingham as Enobarbus offers the finest performance in the play. Always a strong character actor this (along with Pellinore in "Camelot"(1982))is one of his most brilliant portrayals. Walter Koenig also scores as the rebelious Pompey,showing for the first time that he is a much better actor than "Star Trek" allowed. some of the supporting players are dreadful however.In particular Anthony Geary as Octavius Ceasar. Why they cast this man in Shakespeare is beyond me. Overall its a decent adaptation of a play that deserves a more detailed treatment.

About 29 minutes into the second tape, the video play deviated from the written play somewhat. For the video compared to 4:14:119, 4:14:121, and 4:14:133, Antony calls not Diomed but another name--probably Sileucus. Also the actor of Sileucus was used, so it seems that this "error" was more than just mis-speaking by Timothy Dolton. I found this alteration peculiar as well as distracting. The change in the video play shook my confidence in an otherwise impressive performance

I will admit I was disappointed with this film adaptation, when I watched it as I am studying Antony and Cleoptra for English at school. Though to be fair, Antony and Cleopatra is a very complicated play, but for me despite some good moments, this didn't work for me. It is faithful to Shakespeare's play, however there were some scenes that just fell flat; Antony and Cleopatra's reconciliation came across as unintentionally funny rather than heart-rending, and the whipping of the messenger Thydias could have been such an effective scene, sadly it wasn't. The sets and costumes weren't lavish enough, Cleopatra's dresses were nice to look at, if rather simple, but Antony looked as though he was a poor person for most of the production, and Octavious Caesar's costumes just didn't show off his character. And the sets looked rather amateurish for my liking. The performances were variable. I wasn't fond of Timothy Dalton as Antony, he looked the part, but I didn't feel his heart was in it, and when Antony loses his dignity and honour, I felt Dalton overdid it here. Aquitting herself much better is Lynn Redgrave as Cleopatra, true I didn't think she was vivacious enough, but she did have some excellent delivery, and mostly she was bang on target with her character. Sadly, most of her scenes weren't as effective as they could have been, but that wasn't Redgrave's fault, the maids were very static, and throughout I found the direction unusually sluggish. The worst performance was easily Antony Geary as Caesar, he wasn't right for the part at all. Ceasar is cold, calculating and authoritative, and Geary as far as I was concerned didn't do any of those things in his performance, and I found Sharon Barr bland as Octavia. Barrie Ingham however was superb as Enobarbus, he brought a sense of loyalty and poignancy to his part, and that was highly appreciative. Walter Koenig relishes his role as Pompey. Finally, the camera work was okay, a little rough in places. Overall, disappointing. The version with Janet Suzman was better. 5/10 Bethany Cox

...this was absolutely the worst Shakespearean production ever created on the face of the planet. Enobarbus talks like he is drunk and Cleopatra looks cheap and does not fit the part of the beautiful queen of Egypt because she is not! I would rather watch paint dry or perhaps watch grass grow than see this movie. Timothy Dalton's Antony wears 1950's bomber jackets and looks like he's constantly ready to fight a duel on stage. Caesar highly resembles Richard Simmons and does not look a thing like royalty. I was waiting throughout the entire film for him to break out into a rousing round of "Shake Your Booty". The costumes, props, scenery, and camera work was absolutely vomit-inducing, and this comment is coming from a group of high school students, who in their short lives have seen more entertaining Kindergarten graduations. It is no surprise that we are only the second commentators on this movie. We imagine that construction workers can read Shakespeare better than these so-called "actors". The "actors" lack everything from acting abilities, articulation, and passion for the beautiful poetry that should have been expressed in this film.

This movie was supposed to be a complex love between two people, but Antony could not even look Cleopatra in the eye, let alone try and persuade us that they "love" each other. Antony had no rhythm whatsoever. He looked like he was ready to pounce on something. A quadraplegic amputee has more flow in their actions than these "actors".

We doubt anyone wanted to waste their time to critique this movie. However, we were just so angry that Shakespeare has been disgraced by this freak of nature that people actually dare call a "film". Our teacher should be refunded the $80 he spent on this monstrosity. Not that we're bitter.

Although there are good performances by Lynn Redgrave, Timothy Dalton, Barrie Ingham & Earl Boen, on the other hand you have Anthony Geary (Luke Spencer from "General Hospital") dreadful as Caesar & Walter Koenig (Chekhov from "Star Trek") mangling Pompey the pirate. And the blonde bimbo playing Octavia is bland & unemotional. They don't belong in a Shakespeare play & should keep their day jobs! Nichelle Nichols does OK as Charmian. Costumes are adequate, but camera editing is not very smooth. Also missing is some strong passion or chemistry between the 2 leads. Saw this tonight on public TV. This is a play that Kenneth Branagh should consider directing for the big screen & casting himself as Antony...