Caesar and Cleopatra

I really enjoyed this adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's play.Genevieve Bujold is excellent as a young Cleopatra.Sir Alec Guinness excellent as Julius Caesar.I first saw this when I was eleven years old.I'm a big fan of classical books and plays.In fact I think this version was better than the 1945 Claude Rains/Vivien Leigh production.The Hallmark Hall of Fame did a great job with this production its a shame its not on video.

Contrary to other reviewer's claims, this is neither a BBC nor a US network production. It was made by Southern Television in Southampton, England, for the ITV commercial network. It's not one of Shaw's lighter works, and it was all I could do to sit through it. The acting is first-class, but the writing is verbose, and the finger was poised over the fast-forward button.

I also saw this movie on TV in 1976 when I was eleven. It was the first time I learned anything about Cleopatra and Caesar, and it was the first time I saw Genevieve Bujold on film. Her portrayal of the Egyptian Seductress made me an instant fan, of both Bujold, and Cleopatra, as well as Egyptian History. I also immensely enjoyed Alec Guiness's Caesar. I clipped the newspaper advertisement out and saved it until the mid 1990's when I threw away a lot of old things from the past. I recently wanted to rent this film but have found it is not available on DVD. This needs to be remedied! I have never seen a re-airing of this on TV unfortunately...so great was its impact on me that I remember it 30 years later.

This is not (as indicated by another reviewer) a BBC production, but a 'Hallmark Hall of Fame' American production (though there are no Americans in the cast). I'm not familiar with the original play, but it's obvious, considering Shaw's tendencies to be verbose and long-winded, it has been seriously edited. The performances of the 2 leads are excellent as usual. I have always found Bujold eminently watchable, though Shaw was something of a misogynist when writing female roles, and Guiness is Guiness. Unfortunately the rest of the cast is not up to their standards. The play itself has little to do with historical fact (Cleo did in fact sire a child by Caesar). If you wish to see this, it available on youtube.

Caesar and Cleopatra is definitely one of the finest movies on the theme. Both the author (G. B. Shaw) and the actors guarantee for a funny but nevertheless high levelled movie. It is one of those delicate BBC-productions of the 70s like "I, Claudius, Caesar and God" (with Derek Jacobi) which do not need action scenes like Ridley Scotts "Gladiator" instead of a good and historical correct story. It is really a pity, that this film is not available on DVD (even not on VHS!).