Caesar and Cleopatra is a 1945 British Technicolor film directed by Gabriel Pascal and starring Vivien Leigh and Claude Rains. 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.

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

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 £ at value), or US$ million (or US$ at inflation-adjusted value) at contemporary exchange rates. 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. 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. 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. According to Kinematograph Weekly, the top British box-office draw for 1946 was The Wicked Lady. The film earned $1,363,371 in the United States, making it one of the more popular British films ever released there, but the film's receipts fell short of initial expectations. Variety estimated that Rank lost $3 million (or $ at value) on the film after marketing, distribution, prints, insurance rights, and wages were taken into account. Another account says the loss was £981,678.