It is in the experimental field where we find tapes of sometimes unimaginable length. The Cure for Insomnia , directed in 1986 by John Henry Timmis IV, runs for 87 hours and is listed as the longest of all time in the Guinness Book of Records. Its plot? Poet LD Groban reads a 4,000-page poem on camera, with small video clips inserted from time to time.
A horror that perhaps emulated a 48-hour film: The Longest Most Meaningless Movie in the World , made in 1968 based on archive scenes by Englishman Anthony Scott.
As for Hollywood cinema, Cleopatra takes the cake, starring Elizabeth Taylor and directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz in 1963, with a length of 4 hours and 3 minutes. It is followed by Gone with the Wind and Lawrence of Arabia (both 3 hours and 42 minutes); The ten commandments (3 h and 40 m), The gate of heaven (3 h and 39 m); Ben-Hur (3 hrs and 32 min); The Lord of the Rings: the return of the king (3 hours and 30 minutes); and Espartaco (3 hours and 18 minutes).
