Alexander the Great (1956)

Source Material

I remember from my youth the comic book being way better than the film. Watching as an adult only reaffirmed my childhood acumen as a critic. This movie is so amazingly boring it made me long for the comic book and a Vicodin. Failing that, I found the remote and put this epic on permanent pause. June 3, 2008

Greek history

A much better movie than the recent version. Add it your collection or a makes a nice gift for that Ancient History major you may know. December 10, 2007

Alexander the Lesser

I'm a moderate fan of Fredric March and I happened to notice that he was in this movie so I watched it. As the movie unfolded, I had a hard time believing that he would participate in this film of near-epic length. He plays the role of Phillip, the father of Alexander and manages to appear through nearly half of the movie. We get a sort of Oedipal understanding of Alexander and his parents which adds nothing to the movie. The role of Phillip requires that March convey a robust masculine appearance which, at this stage of his life, required as much make-up as acting ability. On the other hand, once we get a look at Richard Burton as the adult Alexander, we can't see anything but his curly blond hair. I mention these things because this lengthly movie tends to underscore the importance of costume, makeup, coiffering, sets, special effects, etc. by doing such a sloppy job with each. The story is disjointed and might have survived impressing the pre-teen male audience if it at least had some powerful battle scenes. However, each battle shows us a mass of soldiers on horse and afoot who hold their swords in the air and occassionally swing them about weakly. Nobody seems to be agressive (or even assertive) in these encounters. They seem more like commuters trying to get through Grand Central Station at rush hour; they don't mean to hurt anyone but they're too busy trying to get through the crowd to care if they do. I have to admit that I am confessing my own personal short-comings by acknowledging that I watched the entired 135 minutes of this farce. However, in the interest of movie lovers everywhere, I did it so as to be able to warn you not to make the same mistake I did. October 18, 2007

Rossen the Lesser

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. July 26, 2007

Useless

This DVD is only readable by the American DVD reader system which I didn't know before buying it. Since I live in France it was useless to me June 27, 2007

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