Despite all it's shortcomings, I throughly enjoyed 'Caesar and Cleopatra', the 1945 filmed version of George Bernard Shaw's play.
It's essentially a stage-bound production, with Leigh reprising her role as Cleopatra from the stage version. Leigh is brilliant in the role of the feisty girl queen. Given that Leigh was in her early 30's at the time of production, she did a great job of portraying a very young girl. Leigh's seductive innocence, squeals and fits of temper make for a very believable character who couldn't possibly be older than 15 or 16. Claude Rains is great in a leading role as Caesar. It's a calm, measured performance and he shows great command of Shaw's dialogue. The relationship between the two is depicted as a father-daughter bond, with Caesar guiding Cleopatra to becoming a 'real queen'.
Cleopatra's transformation is superbly handled by Leigh. At the start she is a frightened girl hiding in the shadows of the Sphinx, looking very young and unassuming. Caesar's arrival heralds the beginning of a new era for Egypt, and Cleopatra. From her gleeful whipping of a slave to a murderous plot, Leigh is never anything but convincing. She looks the part in suitably regal attire and dramatic make-up. She does seem a bit 'white' to be the Egyptian queen with Greek-Macedonian origins (Leigh is very pale throughout the whole film), but Leigh's cat-like smile and gleaming eyes both scream seductive ruler.
Leigh's performance is even more remarkable given the fact that at the time of shooting she was enduring great personal difficulty. She miscarried Olivier's child on set (tripping and falling heavily in the slave-whipping scene to be precise)and fell into depression afterwards. She played the 'Kill, Kill, Kill!' scene after returning to the set from the hospital, and others on set were reportedly uncomfortable with the depth of her acting and conviction in this scene. She appeared a changed woman, as Cleopatra was.
One must appreciate the attempted scale of Pascal's production. In war-time, poverty-stricken Britain in the 1940's making a film was a hard task, let along making a grand one. The Technicolour is slightly off but still effective, and it is a decent attempt a glossy epic. However, the 'cast of thousands' appear to be just milling around with nothing to do, and it never gets over it's stagy outlook.
C & C is very witty, thanks to Shaw's dialogue. Leigh shows an unurtured gift for comedy in this one, although Shaw had it that Vivien was playing it all wrong. I think she played every scene right. Have a look and judge for yourself.
7/10
It's essentially a stage-bound production, with Leigh reprising her role as Cleopatra from the stage version. Leigh is brilliant in the role of the feisty girl queen. Given that Leigh was in her early 30's at the time of production, she did a great job of portraying a very young girl. Leigh's seductive innocence, squeals and fits of temper make for a very believable character who couldn't possibly be older than 15 or 16. Claude Rains is great in a leading role as Caesar. It's a calm, measured performance and he shows great command of Shaw's dialogue. The relationship between the two is depicted as a father-daughter bond, with Caesar guiding Cleopatra to becoming a 'real queen'.
Cleopatra's transformation is superbly handled by Leigh. At the start she is a frightened girl hiding in the shadows of the Sphinx, looking very young and unassuming. Caesar's arrival heralds the beginning of a new era for Egypt, and Cleopatra. From her gleeful whipping of a slave to a murderous plot, Leigh is never anything but convincing. She looks the part in suitably regal attire and dramatic make-up. She does seem a bit 'white' to be the Egyptian queen with Greek-Macedonian origins (Leigh is very pale throughout the whole film), but Leigh's cat-like smile and gleaming eyes both scream seductive ruler.
Leigh's performance is even more remarkable given the fact that at the time of shooting she was enduring great personal difficulty. She miscarried Olivier's child on set (tripping and falling heavily in the slave-whipping scene to be precise)and fell into depression afterwards. She played the 'Kill, Kill, Kill!' scene after returning to the set from the hospital, and others on set were reportedly uncomfortable with the depth of her acting and conviction in this scene. She appeared a changed woman, as Cleopatra was.
One must appreciate the attempted scale of Pascal's production. In war-time, poverty-stricken Britain in the 1940's making a film was a hard task, let along making a grand one. The Technicolour is slightly off but still effective, and it is a decent attempt a glossy epic. However, the 'cast of thousands' appear to be just milling around with nothing to do, and it never gets over it's stagy outlook.
C & C is very witty, thanks to Shaw's dialogue. Leigh shows an unurtured gift for comedy in this one, although Shaw had it that Vivien was playing it all wrong. I think she played every scene right. Have a look and judge for yourself.
7/10