Shakespeare's great play Antony & Cleopatra (1981) (TV) was directed by Jonathan Miller for the BBC. As with all the BBC Shakespeare productions, this film attempts to give us Shakespeare's plays as we think people would have seen them in Shakespeare's time. Costumes are excellent, but props are sparse and we don't ever see a cast of thousands.The lovely Jane Lapotaire plays Cleopatra--whether childish or, later, older and wiser--in a direct and excellent fashion. Colin Blakely makes a fine Antony. However, in my opinion, Ian Charleson. as Octavius Caesar, gets the acting honors. I think that Charleson acts the part exactly the way it was written. In essence, he is telling us that Antony is ruled by his heart, but he, Caesar, is ruled by his head. Ultimately, of course, Octavius Caesar prevails in the play, as he did in history.I enjoy the BBC Shakespeare movies because we don't have to accept a director's "concept" of what he or she wants to do with the play. It isn't shown in modern times, with automatic rifles instead of swords, it isn't shown with huge armies or navies doing battle. It's essentially a stage play, adapted very well for the small or large screen.I have studied Shakespeare on film, so I have a standard of comparison based on what I have seen from non-BBC productions. If you want leaps of creativity, and the director's thoughts about how Antony would look as a World War II general, look elsewhere. If you want to see the play based on the text, look at the BBC production.P.S. As I write this review, this movie has a horribly low IMDb rating of 6.1. It's much better than that. Find it and see it. It was made for the small screen, so, obviously, will work well on DVD.

I found the performance disappointing. Anthony was cast as Colin Blakely, who looked like a portly professor. Cleopatra was played as middle aged and very English by Jane Lapotiere. Anthony is supposed to be a swashbuckling general. Cleopatra is supposed to be a dark scheming teen. They were simply wrong. It felt more like a play reading at aunt Hilda's than a real production. I don't think Shakespeare much liked Antony or Cleopatra. They continually repulsed me. The sexual innuendos came across as coarse and inappropriate for such old buzzards. Even murderers like Macbeth and Lady Macbeth had more emotional appeal. There was almost no budget spent on sets, costumes or locations. It all looks rather dusty, like old clothes from an attic trunk. There is very little action, just endless rather bland dialogue. It would probably work better if you turned off the video.

This follow-up to "Julius Caesar" watching the continuing fortunes of Mark Antony (Colin Blakely) and Octavius Caesar (Ian Charleson) suffers from a fate that plagued too many of the BBC Shakespeare productions. Despite good performances and an accuracy with the text, it is overlong and too Elizabethan for it's own good.Mark Antony has won the country of Egypt for the Roman Empire, but becomes divided from his friend and fellow ruler Octavius Caesar when he falls in love with Cleopatra (Jane Lapotaire), Queen of Egypt setting the pair of them on course for a showdown...Blakely is good as Antony, and Lapotaire is dynamic and passionate as Cleopatra but Colin Blakely could do more with Caesar to give him more presence. There is some good support here with Emrys James's conflicted Enobarbus and Antony Pedley as Agrippa.Technically it's got some interesting sets notably Cleopatra's boudoir, but there is an excessive reliance on plain white or plain black backgrounds, and the stage fighting is clumsy and awkward to watch.Some scenes could have definitely been cut for pace as they drag too often, a sin in a straight drama such as this. Worthy but ineffective stuff.

First of all, those who have never seen this play, when they first view this film, will be puzzled that the play has been updated to Shakespeare's time. The clothing is definitely from the Elizabethan period. And that's the only interesting part.After watching this film for about 15 minutes, I couldn't continue watching. It was so boring! It seems that the director is expecting the lines of the play to make the play interesting! I know it sounds bizarre, what I just wrote. But it's not just the lines of the actors that makes the movie, it has to have action! There was little action in this film, the actors kind of stood around and said their lines.Jane Lapotoire was not bad as Cleopatra, she was the only one that seems to make sense. You can feel her Cleopatra as being frivolous and madly in love, or is it in lust, with Antony. The actor that plays Antony, alas, looked like an ugly old guy with a beard. What does the dainty, pretty Cleopatra see in this guy?I didn't believe anything in this film. I am not a student of Shakespeare, like most people, I don't understand all the lines of a Shakespeare play, I rely on both action and words to understand the play. This film had precious little action and this is what makes the film fail. This film is just too static.I give this Antony & Cleopatra version a "D-".