Review of Caesar and Cleopatra (1945) by Tonypolito — 07 Aug 2013

Vivian Leigh xeroxes her whiny & childish, occasionally brash and conniving delivery as Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With The Wind, this time in lush, form-fitting Nubian garb. Claude Rains as Caesar is her worldly foil, though the sexual steam is notably absent. Rather he's more the mellow mentor, her Roman daddy, sugaring Cleo with the legion defending her claim to the throne. Partially to dodge MidCentury censors, what goes on with Caesar in Cleo's bedroom is just barely implied. As though there was a single viewer in America that didn't already know. The closest Caesar comes to commenting on the sensual is his repeated promise to eventually send Cleo the lover she requires, in the form of Marc Antony.

Unfortunately, the George Bernard Shaw script deals out this historical meeting of minds mostly as a light-hearted romp; actual drama is in very short supply. Perhaps Leigh played these lines well on Broadway six years later, but on the big screen it's a mixed bag at best. As with Liz Taylor's filming of Cleopatra (1963), this film was one of the most expensive to-date ever footed by a studio - and it flopped at the box office.

TRIVIA: In one scene, Leigh rushes across the marbled floor of the palace to impulsively flog a slave. In doing so, she tripped and fell. Two days later, she miscarried her child with Laurence Olivier as a result. She blamed, and never forgave, director Gabriel Pascal.