Caesar and Cleopatra (film)
| Caesar and Cleopatra | |
|---|---|
Gabriel Pascal Productions | |
| Distributed by | Eagle-Lion Films (UK) United Artists (US) |
Release dates | 11 December 1945 (London) 6 September 1946 (US) 16 September 1946 (UK) |
Running time | 128 minutes (UK) 123 minutes (US) |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Language | English |
| Budget | US$5.2 million[1] or £1.3 million[2][3] |
| Box office | US$2,250,000 (US rentals)[4] 815,007 admissions (France)[5] £350,000 (US$1.4 million) (UK)[3] |
Caesar and Cleopatra is a 1945 British
Upon release, Caesar and Cleopatra failed to earn back its colossal budget. John Bryan was nominated for an Oscar for Best Art Direction.[7]
Plot
Aging
Cast
- 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
- Lucius Septimus
- Anthony Eustrel as Achillas
- Ernest Thesiger as Theodotus
- Ptolemy
- Robert Adams as Nubian Slave
- Gerald Case as a Roman Tax Officer
- Olga Edwardes
- Harda Swanhilde as Cleopatra's Lady Attendants
- 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 £49.8 million at 2019 value), or US$5.15 million (or US$69.1 million at inflation-adjusted value) at contemporary exchange rates.[8] 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.[9] 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.[1]
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.[10][11] According to Kinematograph Weekly, the top British box-office draw for 1946 was The Wicked Lady.[12]
The film earned $1,363,371 in the United States, making it one of the more popular British films ever released there,[13] but the film's receipts fell short of initial expectations. Variety estimated that Rank lost $3 million (or $35.8 million at 2023 value) on the film after marketing, distribution, prints, insurance rights, and wages were taken into account.[3] Another account says the loss was £981,678.[14]
See also
- Cultural depictions of Julius Caesar
- Cultural depictions of Cleopatra VII
References
Notes
- ^ TCM.com
- ^ "The London Letter: Loan Vote Prospects" The Scotsman [Edinburgh, Scotland] 13 Dec 1945: 4.
- ^ a b c Staff (30 October 1946) "'Cleo' $3,000,000 in the red", Variety, p.3
- ^ Staff (8 January 1947) "60 Top Grossers of 1946" Variety p,8
- ^ Box office information for Stewart Granger films in France at Box Office Story
- ^ "Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)". Archived from the original on 16 January 2009. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
- ^ "946 (19th) Art Direction (Color) Caesar and Cleopatra John Bryan"[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Noteworthy Films Made In U.K." The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 17 January 1953. p. 27. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
- TCM.com
- ^ Murphy, Robert (2003) Realism and Tinsel: Cinema and Society in Britain 1939-48 p.209
- ^ Thumim, Janet. "The popular cash and culture in the postwar British cinema industry". Screen. Vol. 32, no. 3. p. 258.
- ^ Lant, Antonia (1991). Blackout: reinventing women for wartime British cinema. Princeton University Press. p. 232.
- ^ Street, Sarah (2002) Transatlantic Crossings: British Feature Films in the USA, Continuum, p.94
- ^ Chapman, J. (2022). The Money Behind the Screen: A History of British Film Finance, 1945-1985. Edinburgh University Press p 22.
Bibliography
- Vermilye, Jerry. (1978) The Great British Films, Citadel Press, pp. 97–101. ISBN 0-8065-0661-X
External links
- Caesar and Cleopatra at the better source needed]
- Caesar and Cleopatra at IMDb
- Caesar and Cleopatra at Rotten Tomatoes
- Caesar and Cleopatra at the TCM Movie Database
- Caesar and Cleopatra at AllMovie
- Review of film at Variety
- Gabriel Pascal directs Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra 1945 on YouTube(newsreel)
- Film Facts
- Pascal with Jean Simmons at premiere 13 December 1945
