Цезарь и Клеопатра (1945)

1945 film by Gabriel Pascal

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.

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.

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. 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. 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.