Impressive sets and costumes, gorgeous vistas and sensational battle scenes. Sounds like a great start for a big budget Hollywood epic, but storyline wise, it is majorly lacking in cohesive interest. Then there's the casting with Richard Burton commanding as Alexander but silly looking with rusty blonde hair. After a while, it's frustrating to try to keep interest with the massive number of characters so I found myself looking at the physical detail and trying hard to figure out where the dialog and each character fit in.
The first half of the film is much more interesting with the conflict between Prince Alexander and his father, King Philip (Frederic March) providing real drama that is identifiable through a historical context. March is better suited to his role than Burton is. It's interesting to know that a general of Alexander's (Ptolemy) usurped the throne of Egypt after his death and was an ancestor of Queen Cleopatra.
Of course in 1956, you couldn't tell the true story of Alexander (and 65 years later it still hasn't been told on film), but an early scene, there are insinuations after a playful sword fight where looks tell all you need to know. The very tight loin cloth on these gladiators hides nothing, showing that the code had begun to loosen up a little. Claire Bloom, a very gifted actress, is completely wasted. It's interesting that although third billed, Wikipedia does not even mention her character in its detailed plot synopsis. Peter Cushing is completely unrecognizable as Alexander's major enemy.
So what you don't get as a linear storyline is a beautiful epic of a piece of history worthy of being told on screen, and it is easy to become transfixed by the photography and costumes, although a varying shot of a burning city is used several times in the film to indicate conquest. Obviously too many ideas gave way to a confusing screenplay that is easy to lose its way and many viewers may lose interest even if they make it to the end, just to see all the opulence of the individual props that represent ancient Greece and a world that other movies gave us a better vision of.
The first half of the film is much more interesting with the conflict between Prince Alexander and his father, King Philip (Frederic March) providing real drama that is identifiable through a historical context. March is better suited to his role than Burton is. It's interesting to know that a general of Alexander's (Ptolemy) usurped the throne of Egypt after his death and was an ancestor of Queen Cleopatra.
Of course in 1956, you couldn't tell the true story of Alexander (and 65 years later it still hasn't been told on film), but an early scene, there are insinuations after a playful sword fight where looks tell all you need to know. The very tight loin cloth on these gladiators hides nothing, showing that the code had begun to loosen up a little. Claire Bloom, a very gifted actress, is completely wasted. It's interesting that although third billed, Wikipedia does not even mention her character in its detailed plot synopsis. Peter Cushing is completely unrecognizable as Alexander's major enemy.
So what you don't get as a linear storyline is a beautiful epic of a piece of history worthy of being told on screen, and it is easy to become transfixed by the photography and costumes, although a varying shot of a burning city is used several times in the film to indicate conquest. Obviously too many ideas gave way to a confusing screenplay that is easy to lose its way and many viewers may lose interest even if they make it to the end, just to see all the opulence of the individual props that represent ancient Greece and a world that other movies gave us a better vision of.