The casting of Hollywood's most glamorous star of the day as the famous Egyptian queen Cleopatra must have seemed a dream ticket for 20th Century-Fox. But not even Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton (who became her lover during filming) could make this turkey fly, and the dream turned into a bank-breaking nightmare, as the film floundered through numerous (costly) problems. The end result's a gaudy $43million, yawn-inducing slice of indigestible history, and one of the most expensive films ever made. Joseph L Mankiewicz, who took over from Rouben Mamoulian, gritted his teeth and saw it through, but couldn't save it from sinking into the Nile. However, it did win the Best Cinematography Oscar for Leon Shamroy and Rex Harrison garnered an Oscar nod for his Julius Caesar.

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