The story of Alexander the Great is fascinating, and, handled by the right Director, should hold your attention.
This, however, is not that production.
It is a plodding, ponderous examination of the progression of Alexander from a spoiled teenager trying to please his father, to an early death after conquering the better part of the known world ... while trying to please his dead father.
The acting is often stilted from all principals, with occasional flashes of the rapid and inspired delivery that served Burton so well in his career. The best acting in the entire film was done by Fredric March. When he and Burton were together you could see the scene working. No long, awkward pauses between dialogue unless the scene called for it. March was Excellent as Philip
The battle scenes are almost comical at times. When Philip is in battle, back to a large rock, with enemy soldiers closing in on him, you can see them holding back, waiting for the rescuing Alexander to swoop in to the rescue his father. Waiting for HIS entrance so he can kill them as the script decrees. It's almost as if the battle scenes were shot by a 2nd or 3rd unit under the direction of an apprenticing Director.
The scenery is great, although Spain isn't a really good substitute for Persia. The sets are grand, and look very real instead of like plaster and cardboard.
The scene of the departing Macedonian fleet is quite impressive, as is the long shot of the Persian army camped the night before The Grand Battle of Issus.
But too often through the production what could be an excellent scene is brought to a screeching halt by, well... bad acting. A better score might have helped. Or rather a more involved score. Long stretches of acting are done with no atmosphere setting background score whatsoever.
A lot of the movie felt more like the Dailys just strung together by a ham fisted editor rather than a finished film after a competent editor was able to tighten up everything.
This was originally supposed to be a 3+ hour movie, complete with an intermission. We should all be thankful that it was cut down to the 2hr, 23 min. film we are discussing. And truthfully, if the editing were tightened up, and the frequent pregnant pauses were excised, the existing film might have come in at slightly over 2 hours instead.
I waited a long time to see this film, having heard that it was pretty good. It was not worthy of the anticipation.
This, however, is not that production.
It is a plodding, ponderous examination of the progression of Alexander from a spoiled teenager trying to please his father, to an early death after conquering the better part of the known world ... while trying to please his dead father.
The acting is often stilted from all principals, with occasional flashes of the rapid and inspired delivery that served Burton so well in his career. The best acting in the entire film was done by Fredric March. When he and Burton were together you could see the scene working. No long, awkward pauses between dialogue unless the scene called for it. March was Excellent as Philip
The battle scenes are almost comical at times. When Philip is in battle, back to a large rock, with enemy soldiers closing in on him, you can see them holding back, waiting for the rescuing Alexander to swoop in to the rescue his father. Waiting for HIS entrance so he can kill them as the script decrees. It's almost as if the battle scenes were shot by a 2nd or 3rd unit under the direction of an apprenticing Director.
The scenery is great, although Spain isn't a really good substitute for Persia. The sets are grand, and look very real instead of like plaster and cardboard.
The scene of the departing Macedonian fleet is quite impressive, as is the long shot of the Persian army camped the night before The Grand Battle of Issus.
But too often through the production what could be an excellent scene is brought to a screeching halt by, well... bad acting. A better score might have helped. Or rather a more involved score. Long stretches of acting are done with no atmosphere setting background score whatsoever.
A lot of the movie felt more like the Dailys just strung together by a ham fisted editor rather than a finished film after a competent editor was able to tighten up everything.
This was originally supposed to be a 3+ hour movie, complete with an intermission. We should all be thankful that it was cut down to the 2hr, 23 min. film we are discussing. And truthfully, if the editing were tightened up, and the frequent pregnant pauses were excised, the existing film might have come in at slightly over 2 hours instead.
I waited a long time to see this film, having heard that it was pretty good. It was not worthy of the anticipation.