Wednesday, June 12, 1963: 'Cleopatra'

The most expensive movie of its time (costing $44 million, or $330 million in 2013 dollars), the four-hour film premieres in New York. It was notable not only for its production length (more than two years) and costs (said to have nearly bankrupted 20th Century-Fox), but also for the off-screen affair between stars Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton, both married at the time. The film would be nominated for nine Academy Awards, winning four.
* Trailers: @
* Entry from Turner Classic Movies: @

* New York Times review (June 13, 1963): @

* Premiere (newsreel): @
* "When Liz Met Dick" (Vanity Fair, 1998): @

* "Cleopatra by the Numbers" (National Post, 2013): @
* Entry from www.in70mm.com: @

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