Caesar and Cleopatra (film)

{{Infobox film

| name = Caesar and Cleopatra

| image = Caesar and Cleopatra - 1945 - poster.png

| caption = theatrical release poster

| director = Gabriel Pascal

| producer = Gabriel Pascal

| writer = George Bernard Shaw
(play {uncredited}, scenario and dialogue)

| starring = Vivien Leigh
Claude Rains

| music = Georges Auric

| cinematography = F. A. Young F.R.P.S.
Robert Krasker
Jack Hildyard
Jack Cardiff

| editing = Frederick Wilson
Joan Warwick (uncredited)

| studio = Gabriel Pascal Productions

| distributor = Eagle-Lion Films (UK)
United Artists (US)

| released = {{Film date|1945|12|11|London|1946|09|06|U.S.|1946|09|16|UK|df=y}}

| runtime = 128 minutes (UK)
123 minutes (US)

| country = United Kingdom

| language = English

| budget = US$5.2 millionSteinberg, Jay S. [https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/70018/caesar-and-cleopatra#articles-reviews "Caesar and Cleopatra" (article)] TCM.com or £1.3 million"The London Letter: Loan Vote Prospects" The Scotsman [Edinburgh, Scotland] 13 Dec 1945: 4.

| gross = US$2,250,000 (US rentals)Staff (8 January 1947) [https://archive.org/stream/variety165-1947-01#page/n54/mode/1up "60 Top Grossers of 1946"] Variety p,8
815,007 admissions (France)[http://translate.google.com.au/translate?sl=fr&u=http://www.boxofficestory.com/ Box office information for Stewart Granger films in France] at Box Office Story
£350,000 (US$1.4 million) (UK)Staff (30 October 1946) [https://archive.org/stream/variety164-1946-10#page/n330/mode/1up "'Cleo' $3,000,000 in the red"], Variety, p.3

}}

Caesar and Cleopatra is a 1945 British Technicolor film directed by Gabriel Pascal and starring Vivien Leigh and Claude Rains.{{cite web|url=http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/28453?view=cast|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090116031439/http://ftvdb.bfi.org.uk/sift/title/28453?view=cast|url-status=dead|archive-date=16 January 2009|title=Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)|publisher=|accessdate=1 August 2018}} Some scenes were directed by Brian Desmond Hurst, who took no formal credit. The picture was adapted from the play Caesar and Cleopatra (1901) by George Bernard Shaw, produced by Independent Producers and Pascal Film Productions and distributed by Eagle-Lion Distributors.

Upon release, Caesar and Cleopatra failed to earn back its colossal budget. John Bryan was nominated for an Oscar for Best Art Direction.[http://awardsdatabase.oscars.org/search/results "946 (19th) Art Direction (Color) Caesar and Cleopatra John Bryan"]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes}}

Plot

Aging Julius Caesar takes possession of the Egyptian capital city of Alexandria and tries to resolve a feud between the young princess Cleopatra and her younger brother Ptolemy. Caesar develops a special relationship with Cleopatra and teaches her how to use her royal power.

Cast

File:Vivien Leigh - Cleopatra.jpg

Vivien Leigh as Cleopatra
Claude Rains as Caesar
Stewart Granger as Apollodorus
Flora Robson as Ftatateeta
Francis L. Sullivan as Pothinus
Basil Sydney as Rufio
Cecil Parker as Britannus
Raymond Lovell as Lucius Septimus
Anthony Eustrel as Achillas
Ernest Thesiger as Theodotus
Anthony Harvey as Ptolemy
Robert Adams as Nubian Slave
Gerald Case as a Roman Tax Officer
Olga Edwardes as Cleopatra's Lady Attendant
Harda Swanhilde as Cleopatra's Lady Attendant
Michael Rennie as 1st Centurion
James McKechnie as 2nd Centurion
Esme Percy as Major Domo
Stanley Holloway as Belzanor
Leo Genn as Bel Affris
Alan Wheatley as Persian
Anthony Holles as Boatman
Charles Victor as 1st Porter
Ronald Shiner as 2nd Porter
John Bryning as Sentinel
John Laurie as 1st Auxiliary Sentinel
Charles Rolfe as 2nd Auxiliary Sentinel
Felix Aylmer as 1st Nobleman
Ivor Barnard as 2nd Nobleman
Valentine Dyall as 1st Guardsman
Charles Deane as 2nd Guardsman

Production

Filmed in Technicolor with lavish sets, the production was reported to be the most expensive film ever made at the time, costing £1,278,000 (or £{{Format price|{{Inflation|UK-GDP|1278000|1945}}}} at {{Inflation-year|UK-GDP}} value), or US${{#expr:{{multiply|1.278|4.03}} round 2}} million (or US${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|1278000 * 4.03|1945}}}} at inflation-adjusted value) at contemporary exchange rates.{{cite news |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49075010 |title=Noteworthy Films Made In U.K. |newspaper=The West Australian |location=Perth |date=17 January 1953 |accessdate=4 August 2012 |page=27 |publisher=National Library of Australia}} Caesar and Cleopatra held that record until Duel in the Sun was produced in 1946.

Director Gabriel Pascal ordered sand from Egypt in order to achieve the proper cinematic colour. The production ran into delays because of wartime restrictions.[https://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/70018/caesar-and-cleopatra#articles-reviews "Caesar and Cleopatra" (1945) home video review], TCM.com Several members of the British aristocracy who were known to frequent the Mayfair nightclub scene were recruited for crowd scenes, apparently because taking extra work had become something of a fad; this practice was protested by professional film extras associated with The Film Artists' Association.'New London "Sport".' The Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser New Series No. 3483 p6. 8 January 1947. Retrieved 9 September 2024. During the shoot, Vivien Leigh, who was pregnant, tripped and suffered a miscarriage. The incident triggered Leigh's manic depression, leading to her emotional breakdown, and halted production for five weeks.

The film was described as a "box office stinker" at the time and almost ended Pascal's career. It was the first Shaw film made in colour, and the last film version of a Shaw play during his lifetime. After Shaw's death in 1950, Pascal produced Androcles and the Lion, another Shaw-derived film, in 1952.

Reception

=Box office=

According to trade papers, the film was a "notable box office attraction" at British cinemas.Murphy, Robert (2003) [https://books.google.com/books?id=xtGIAgAAQBAJ&q=hungry%20hill%20film%20box%20office&pg=PA209 Realism and Tinsel: Cinema and Society in Britain 1939-48] p.209{{cite magazine|url=https://archive.org/details/Screen_Volume_32_Issue_3/page/n17|magazine=Screen|page=258|volume=32|issue=3|title=The popular cash and culture in the postwar British cinema industry|first=Janet|last=Thumim}} According to Kinematograph Weekly, the top British box-office draw for 1946 was The Wicked Lady.{{cite book|page=232|title=Blackout: reinventing women for wartime British cinema|last=Lant|first= Antonia|year=1991 |publisher=Princeton University Press}}

The film earned $1,363,371 in the United States, making it one of the more popular British films ever released there,Street, Sarah (2002) Transatlantic Crossings: British Feature Films in the USA, Continuum, p.94 but the film's receipts fell short of initial expectations. Variety estimated that Rank lost $3 million (or ${{Format price|{{Inflation|US-GDP|3000000|1946}}}} at {{Inflation-year|US-GDP}} value) on the film after marketing, distribution, prints, insurance rights, and wages were taken into account. Another account says the loss was £981,678.Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 22.

References

Notes

Bibliography

Vermilye, Jerry. (1978) The Great British Films, Citadel Press, pp. 97–101. {{ISBN|0-8065-0661-X}}

External links

[https://web.archive.org/web/20160611022729/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b6a6e8b52 Caesar and Cleopatra] at the British Film Institute{{better source needed|reason=Help request: a live link can be searched for at https://collections-search.bfi.org.uk/web/search/expert - if available, replace the archive URL with the live link. Or if none found, remove this 'better source needed' template. | date=October 2023}}
{{IMDb title|0038390}}
{{Rotten Tomatoes|caesar_and_cleopatra}}
{{TCMDb title|70018}}
[https://archive.org/details/variety161-1946-01/page/n6 Review of film] at Variety
{{YouTube|a9iLtivLQjA|Gabriel Pascal directs Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra 1945}} (newsreel)
[https://web.archive.org/web/20060108180123/http://www.amps.net/newsletters/newformat/Issue36/Issue36_4.htm Film Facts]
[https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail/news-photo/hungarian-film-producer-and-director-gabriel-pascal-attends-news-photo/2630630 Pascal with Jean Simmons at premiere 13 December 1945]