Alexander the Great
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Movie Reviews of Alexander the Great
Movie Review: Not very exciting
Summary: 3 Stars
It was an OK film. Not very exciting and the plot moved along sort of slow. The costumes and sets were done very nice, but the acting was somewhat mediocre. Not a totally bad film, but could have been better.Movie Review: Nothing Great About This Alexander
Summary: 2 Stars
Robert Rossen 1950's attempt at writing and directing a film on a character as intriguing and dynamic as Alexander The Great falls flat. The subject itself calls for only the most devoted and skilled masters of film which Rossen was not for purposes of this genre.
Because Alexander The Great accomplished so much within only 13 of his 33 years of life, it is virtually impossible to make a good movie on that part alone in less than 3 hours. Richard Burton delivers a strong performance as Alexander but also seems too constrained; Butrton fails to deliver the youthful vigor of which Alexander had so much of. Not only was Alexander a king and conqueror, he was a military genius; a philosopher; a bold explorer; and, in his own mind anyway, a god amongst mortal men. Burton's performance often seems too grave and reserved and fails to reflect Alexander's dynamic personality.
I did like the movie for its focus on Alexander's childhood but that also came short. Alexander's family in this film almost seems to be an excerpt from 'Leave It To Beaver' than the depiction of a pagan royal family that lived 2000 years ago. Although a military genius in his own right, Phillip was a debauche and drunkard whose bizzare sexual preferences shocked even his Greek neighbors. For example, after the battle of Charonea, Phillip II swaggered drunk around the corpses of the enemy and, lifting their heads as if seeking an audience, would yell for Demonsthenes (Athenian orator and staunch enemy of Phillip.) Olympias was a conspiring queen and pagan priestess whose incessant scheming were directed at both Alexander and/or Phillip at one point or another. The characters were poorly presented in this film.
The movie doesn't really cover the campaign or its battles very well either. Looking at the movie, one barely gets any view as to how Alexander refined his father's tactics of the Macedonian phalanx to its peak; a military tactic unmatched until it came against the more fluid ones of the Roman legions almost 200 years later. The same is true as to Alexander's great siege of Tyre in which he built a mile-long jetti into the sea to connect with the City's gates; his hard fought geurilla campaign against Darius' renegade satraps; or his victories against Porus' elephants in India. There are also gross inaccuracies in the film in that Roxanne wasn't Darius III's daughter.
Regardless of its flaws, this film is one hundred times better than Oliver Stone's new film on Alexander The Great: take my word for it. In the spirit of Phillip's last words of wisdom to his son, "Viewers, ask for thyselves a greater movie, for that which Rossen and Stone leave you is too small for thee."
Movie Review: Well, It was Better than Oliver Stone's Crapfest.
Summary: 2 Stars
Viewed: 3/09
Rate: 4
3/09: Alexander the Great, although much better than Oliver Stone's version, is a very flat picture with neither the imagination nor the excitement of Braveheart. Save a few elements, it doesn't even compare with Ben-Hur or The Ten Commandments. Richard Burton holds on his own very well, but I am disappointed that he had to work with inferior material. The cast is good, but stale performances abound. I hadn't recognized Peter Cushing as Memnon until the ending credits, and I did like his hair. As for the film, the rivalry between Alexander and Philip is interesting but too unconvincing. The best parts of Alexander the Great, aside from Richard Burton, are the costumes and the backgrounds including the architecture. They really looked great. I wish I could say the same of the battle scenes; they looked pitifully bad and mediocre, lacking realism. The biggest advantage of Alexander the Great has over Alexander is that the former is never loquacious. That was the reason how I survived the film where Alexander just put me to dead sleep within minutes. However, the dialogues of Alexander the Great need more sharpening in terms of wit, relevance, and power. All in all, I've thought about giving a `5' for Alexander the Great with occasional thinking of `6', but the last twenty minutes of the movie firmly sealed my opinion due to the increasingly boredom. Upon reading the trivia page of IMDB, Charlton Heston, turning down Richard Burton's role, makes a great point by saying, "Alexander is the easiest kind of picture to make badly." Too bad that Oliver Stone did not heed this sage advice.
Movie Review: ALEXANDER THE NOT QUITE GREAT (MOVIE, THAT IS)
Summary: 2 Stars
Around 300 BC, Alexander The Great had conquered the known world. He was only 31. It is said that he got a fever and died when he realized there were no worlds left to conquer.
At this writing, Oliver Stone's epic "Alexander" is getting a lot of UNWANTED attention due to its more than subtle hint of Alex's alleged bisexuality , so it's inevitable that similar themed digital editions will ride the publicity wave.
Black-listed director Robert Rossen's 1956 ALEXANDER THE GREAT (MGM) stars a mellifluous but somewhat effete (oops, maybe it was intentional) Richard Burton as the youthful world conqueror.
This widescreen transfer is not an epic with a cast of thousands in the tradition of "Ben Hur," El Cid" or even "Spartacus." But it does tell the major beats of Alexander's incredible story and tries to make it personal with enough of a psychological take to hold interest and not be pretentious.
Some of the locations are vast and the sets sometimes look like, well, sets. Budget was obviously a concern as there are often only a smattring or extras when the scene demands thousands (except in a few cases when the local army served as extras).
The literate, thoughtful, screenplay hits the big beats of Alexander's incredible life but is sometimes a tad talky, and slow-moving. The transfer looks and sounds great. Frederick March and Claire Bloom costar.
Not a bad movie by any means, just not great.
Movie Review: Rossen the Lesser
Summary: 2 Stars
The faux Shakespearian dialog by Robert Rossen not only induced me to chuckle but it has the unfortunate effect of inspiring Richard Burton to give a bellowing, mannered performance -- maybe hoping to distract from his pitifully non-athletic physique and grotesque blonde wig.
The direction, also by Robert Rossen, reminds me of the worse of the old Italian sword-and-sandals films with failed efforts to make a cast of tens seem larger and make cheap sets to look lived-in.
The history is mix of authentic and questionable, but the vital importance of military tactics has been reduced to simple brute force in cheaply staged battle scenes.
Lovely French icon Danielle Darrieux (in a dark wig -- contrary to Burton) comes off best as the embittered and ambitious mother of Alexander. She and the 'famous moments of legend' earn any positive rating I give this.