director william castle and a poor man alfred hitchcock and use every trick in the book in an effort to make this film work from a woman dancer paint in gold ( pre goldfinger ) to a man wrestle a bear ala the samson vs the lion in samson and delilah . but nothing can save this clunker . rhonda fleming and a poor man cleopatra appear lose against the like of previous portrayal provide by the like of elizabeth taylor and vivian leigh and and claudette colbert . make matter bad and she change the color of her hair for this film . the result be about as successful a when lana turner trade her blonde mane to become a brunette in betrayed . bad move . then again cleopatra do not have red hair . so maybe fleming shouldn not have make this movie at all . raymond burr poor man portrayal of marc anthony fall flat when compare to the like of the work of marlon brando ( julius caesar ) richard burton ( cleopatra ) and claude rain ( ceasar and cleopatra ) . it no wonder after a history of play heavy in many 1950 mediocre film that he finally escape to the sanctuary of television and and find a much need success in either a courtroom ( perry mason ) or a wheelchair ( ironside ) . one can not really blame the set or the beautiful technicolor and but the story line and the script be downright outrageous . cleopatra ( rhonda fleming ) in this film play the heavy and be use marc anthony ( raymond burr ) in an effort to defeat rome . lucilius ( william lundigan ) and a former confidant of brutus and become friend with marc anthony and try to save him from himself and the wicked queen . in the meantime and cleopatra and fall for lucilius but be not able to win him over to her side . be there anyone out there who want to buy a bridge out there in the brooklyn area . the line in the script be so bad that the actor almost pinch their nose while recite them . try some of these on for size while marc anthony ( to a slave ) while tell your queen i will be there . and tell her it will take more wine than all of egypt to make anthony drunk with word . lucilius ( to anthony ) while i have hear if a man need cleopatra and he doesn not need wine . or how about this one after cleopatra have fail in an attempt to have luciluus assassinate the previous night while cleopatra ( to lucilius ) while perhaps your heart lucilius be more fickle . lucilius ( to cleopatra ) while after what happen last night i be lucky my heart still beat at all . it no wonder william lundigan wind up sell westinghouse refrigerator on television commercial after film like this . in conclusion and this may have be ok saturday matinée movie fare but just a the old style classic type comic book it should not be use a a point of reference in a high school history lesson .