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Caesar and Cleopatra (film)

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Caesar and Cleopatra
theatrical release poster
Directed byGabriel Pascal
Written byGeorge Bernard Shaw
(play {uncredited}, scenario and dialogue)
Produced byGabriel Pascal
StarringVivien Leigh
Claude Rains
CinematographyF. A. Young F.R.P.S.
Robert Krasker
Jack Hildyard
Jack Cardiff
Edited byFrederick Wilson
Joan Warwick (uncredited)
Music byGeorges Auric
Production
company
Distributed byEagle-Lion Films (UK)
United Artists (US)
Release dates
  • 11 December 1945 (1945-12-11) (London)
  • 6 September 1946 (1946-09-06) (U.S.)
  • 16 September 1946 (1946-09-16) (UK)
Running time
128 minutes (UK)
123 minutes (US)
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
BudgetUS$5.2 million[1] or £1.3 million[2][3]
Box officeUS$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 Technicolor film directed by Gabriel Pascal and starring Vivien Leigh and Claude Rains.[6] 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.[7]

Plot

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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

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Vivien Leigh as Cleopatra

Production

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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 £60.2 million at 2023 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] 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.[10] 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

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Box office

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According to trade papers, the film was a "notable box office attraction" at British cinemas.[11][12] According to Kinematograph Weekly, the top British box-office draw for 1946 was The Wicked Lady.[13]

The film earned $1,363,371 in the United States, making it one of the more popular British films ever released there,[14] 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.[15]

See also

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References

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Notes

  1. ^ a b Steinberg, Jay S. "Caesar and Cleopatra" (article) TCM.com
  2. ^ "The London Letter: Loan Vote Prospects" The Scotsman [Edinburgh, Scotland] 13 Dec 1945: 4.
  3. ^ a b c Staff (30 October 1946) "'Cleo' $3,000,000 in the red", Variety, p.3
  4. ^ Staff (8 January 1947) "60 Top Grossers of 1946" Variety p,8
  5. ^ Box office information for Stewart Granger films in France at Box Office Story
  6. ^ "Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)". Archived from the original on 16 January 2009. Retrieved 1 August 2018.
  7. ^ "946 (19th) Art Direction (Color) Caesar and Cleopatra John Bryan"[permanent dead link‍]
  8. ^ "Noteworthy Films Made In U.K." The West Australian. Perth: National Library of Australia. 17 January 1953. p. 27. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
  9. ^ "Caesar and Cleopatra" (1945) home video review, TCM.com
  10. ^ 'New London "Sport".' The Armidale Express and New England General Advertiser New Series No. 3483 p6. 8 January 1947. Retrieved 9 September 2024.
  11. ^ Murphy, Robert (2003) Realism and Tinsel: Cinema and Society in Britain 1939-48 p.209
  12. ^ Thumim, Janet. "The popular cash and culture in the postwar British cinema industry". Screen. Vol. 32, no. 3. p. 258.
  13. ^ Lant, Antonia (1991). Blackout: reinventing women for wartime British cinema. Princeton University Press. p. 232.
  14. ^ Street, Sarah (2002) Transatlantic Crossings: British Feature Films in the USA, Continuum, p.94
  15. ^ 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
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