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IMDbPro

Caesar and Cleopatra

  • 19451945
  • ApprovedApproved
  • 2h 3m
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
2.8K
YOUR RATING
Vivien Leigh, Stewart Granger, and Claude Rains in Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)
Home Video Trailer from Independent Pictures
Play trailer2:42
1 Video
48 Photos
  • Biography
  • Comedy
  • Drama
At the height of the Roman Civil War, a young Cleopatra (Vivien Leigh) meets a middle-aged Julius Caesar (Claude Rains), who teaches her how to rule Egypt.At the height of the Roman Civil War, a young Cleopatra (Vivien Leigh) meets a middle-aged Julius Caesar (Claude Rains), who teaches her how to rule Egypt.At the height of the Roman Civil War, a young Cleopatra (Vivien Leigh) meets a middle-aged Julius Caesar (Claude Rains), who teaches her how to rule Egypt.
IMDb RATING
6.2/10
2.8K
YOUR RATING
  • Director
    • Gabriel Pascal
  • Writer
    • George Bernard Shaw(scenario)
  • Stars
    • Claude Rains
    • Vivien Leigh
    • Stewart Granger
Top credits
  • Director
    • Gabriel Pascal
  • Writer
    • George Bernard Shaw(scenario)
  • Stars
    • Claude Rains
    • Vivien Leigh
    • Stewart Granger
  • See production, box office & company info
    • 56User reviews
    • 14Critic reviews
  • See more at IMDbPro
    • Nominated for 1 Oscar
      • 2 nominations total

    Videos1

    Caesar and Cleopatra
    Trailer 2:42
    Caesar and Cleopatra

    Photos48

    Vivien Leigh and Claude Rains in Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)
    Vivien Leigh and Claude Rains in Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)
    Vivien Leigh and Claude Rains in Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)
    Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)
    Vivien Leigh and Claude Rains in Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)
    Vivien Leigh in Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)
    Vivien Leigh and Claude Rains in Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)
    Vivien Leigh and Claude Rains in Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)
    Vivien Leigh and Claude Rains in Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)
    Vivien Leigh, Stewart Granger, and Claude Rains in Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)
    Vivien Leigh, Claude Rains, and Basil Sydney in Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)
    Vivien Leigh and Flora Robson in Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)

    Top cast

    Edit
    Claude Rains
    Claude Rains
    • Caesaras Caesar
    Vivien Leigh
    Vivien Leigh
    • Cleopatraas Cleopatra
    Stewart Granger
    Stewart Granger
    • Apollodorusas Apollodorus
    Flora Robson
    Flora Robson
    • Ftatateetaas Ftatateeta
    Francis L. Sullivan
    Francis L. Sullivan
    • Pothinusas Pothinus
    Basil Sydney
    Basil Sydney
    • Rufioas Rufio
    Cecil Parker
    Cecil Parker
    • Britannusas Britannus
    Raymond Lovell
    • Lucius Septimiusas Lucius Septimius
    Anthony Eustrel
    Anthony Eustrel
    • Achillasas Achillas
    • (as Antony Eustrel)
    Ernest Thesiger
    Ernest Thesiger
    • Theodotusas Theodotus
    Anthony Harvey
    Anthony Harvey
    • Ptolemyas Ptolemy
    Robert Adams
    • Nubian Slaveas Nubian Slave
    Olga Edwardes
    • Cleopatra's Lady Attendantas Cleopatra's Lady Attendant
    Harda Swanhilde
    • Cleopatra's Lady Attendantas Cleopatra's Lady Attendant
    Michael Rennie
    Michael Rennie
    • 1st. Centurionas 1st. Centurion
    James McKechnie
    James McKechnie
    • 2nd. Centurionas 2nd. Centurion
    • (as James Mc Kechnie)
    Esme Percy
    Esme Percy
    • Major Domoas Major Domo
    Stanley Holloway
    Stanley Holloway
    • Belzanoras Belzanor
    • Director
      • Gabriel Pascal
    • Writer
      • George Bernard Shaw(scenario) (dialogue) (play) (screenplay)
    • All cast & crew
    • See more cast details at IMDbPro

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    Storyline

    Edit

    Did you know

    Edit
    • Trivia
      The role of Caesar was originally offered to Sir John Gielgud, who turned it down, because he detested Director Gabriel Pascal.
    • Goofs
      Caesar refers to his nose as "rather long" and "a Roman nose," but the idea of a "Roman nose" was not introduced until almost 150 years later, when the Emperor Hadrian erected statues of his favorite, Antinous, throughout the Empire (where many of the people had never seen a Roman), and Antinous's long nose was taken as typical of Romans (even though Antinous was a Greek).
    • Quotes

      Julius Caesar: And so to the end of history, murder shall breed murder, always in the name of right, and justice, and peace, until the gods create a race of men that can understand.

    • Crazy credits
      Closing credits cast list finishes with And The Crowd.
    • Connections
      Featured in Great Performances: Laurence Olivier: A Life (1983)

    User reviews56

    Review
    Top review
    8/10
    A Spoiled Little Queen
    Up to the time it was released in 1945 Caesar and Cleopatra was the most expensive British film ever made. It was as though the British cinema was trying to show America it could do a DeMille like epic as good as Cecil B. DeMille or anyone else from Hollywood. It may have been a little too overdone. Director Gabriel Pascal might have gotten a bit carried away with the spectacle and the audience might well have missed some of George Bernard Shaw's inspired dialog.

    And Pascal had the advantage of the aged Mr. Shaw personally supervising the production. Of course Shaw insisted on total fidelity to his play and the ideas therein. I understand that J. Arthur Rank wanted to have a little sex and romance in there, like DeMille did do, but Shaw would have none of it.

    What sets Caesar and Cleopatra apart from other Cleopatra stories that starred Theda Bara, Elizabeth Taylor, and Claudette Colbert is that Shaw portrayed her as probably what she was, a silly teenager who just happens to be Queen of Egypt. There's a little bit of Scarlett O'Hara in Vivien Leigh's performance as she moves from silly teen to a young women well schooled in statecraft by Julius Caesar.

    Claude Rains plays a world weary Julius Caesar and the Shavian quips roll off his tongue with great aplomb. Like George Bernard Shaw's other masterpiece Pygmalion, Rains tutors Leigh and the results far exceed what he could have hoped for.

    Production on Caesar and Cleopatra was begun while there was still a shooting war in Europe and V-2s and other such explosive devices were still raining down on the United Kingdom. A couple came real close to the studio in London this was being filmed at.

    Stewart Granger got his first real notice in this film playing Apollodorus and Francis L. Sullivan plays a blustering and plotting Pothinos. If you look hard among the various slave women you will find both Jean Simmons and Kay Kendall among the extras.

    You will also like both Basil Sydney as Ruffio and Cecil Parker as Britanus, two aides to Caesar who both occasionally give him a reality check.

    Caesar and Cleopatra failed to recoup the cost of making it in initial release. J. Arthur Rank misjudged the British public taste post World War II. Maybe a little less expense and more attention to Shaw's words and the film might have been better.

    Still it's pretty good as is.
    helpful•47
    2
    • bkoganbing
    • Oct 19, 2006

    Details

    Edit
    • Release date
      • September 6, 1946 (United States)
    • Country of origin
      • United Kingdom
    • Language
      • English
    • Also known as
      • Bernard Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra
    • Filming locations
      • Egypt
    • Production companies
      • Gabriel Pascal Productions
      • Independent Producers
      • National Symphony Orchestra
    • See more company credits at IMDbPro

    Box office

    Edit
    • Budget
      • £1,278,000 (estimated)
    See detailed box office info on IMDbPro

    Technical specs

    Edit
    • Runtime
      2 hours 3 minutes
    • Aspect ratio
      • 1.37 : 1

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