Caesar and Cleopatra

CinemaSerf

A gloriously spectacular but rather soulless adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's telling of the relationship between Julius Caesar - an engagingly mischievous effort from Claude Rains and the young and ostensibly inexperienced Cleopatra (Vivien Leigh). The story depicts the games he plays with her, and then she - more successfully - with him as their unlikely romance blossoms and an intricate power play takes shape. Cecil Parker and and on-form Flora Robson bring some vitality to the project, but otherwise this features a really rather stilted screenplay and whilst Stewart Granger does his best to inject some action into this verbose theatrical enterprise, it never really exceeds the sum of it's parts. Great to look at though. The costumes and sets are first class but it's not quite got the vigour to carry it all off.