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Streaming Caesar and Cleopatra Online.
Movie Title: Caesar and Cleopatra Caesar and Cleopatra is available for streaming or downloading. |
When the company that makes these can’t even spell the names of the stars honest on the jacket, you glean a queasy feeling that maybe you wasted your money – again. Terror Not! The disc itself plays well. I understanding the colors were perhaps a bit over saturated, but that could have been the settings on my unusual TV. This is to me one of the large movies of all time and I have been trying to procure a DVD of it for years. Finally I am happy. Caesar is the plan I want him to be and judge he was. All the rest are also listless on – even kittenish Cleo. Thanks again, Mr. Shaw. A grand play and a stout movie. (only 4 stars is for the idiot who couldn’t scrutinize the film to obtain the star’s name suitable) .
It’s our astounding edifying fortune to have this document of one of George Bernard Shaw’s greatest plays, filmed during his lifetime so that he could author the screenplay as he wrote the modern stage work. It is a monument to the magnificence, not only of Shaw, but of Caesar. It is also a monument to Shaw’s luminous playcraft, clever plotting, and canny application of humor. It goes without saying that Shaw was shimmering, since of course he was a socialist.
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We have seen this sage before, though differently told, when the extraordinary Rex Harrison played Caesar to the talented Elizabeth Taylor’s Cleopatra. (Both of these names should be written with a K, since that is how they were both actually pronounced.) It is an absolute truth about that later film that only the first half is distinguished worth watching, since Richard Burton in the second half plays a lovesick puppy so well it’s thoroughly disgusting. GBS avoids that pitfall by giving us a expansive Caesar and a toothsome Cleopatra, and unbelievable stars to play them.
Shaw’s play tells the myth of Caesar’s occupation of Alexandria after his final defeat of Pompey, and his defense of his state against perfidious Egyptians and renegade Romans in the service of Ptolemy XIV, Cleopatra’s prepubescent brother and husband. The text is a creation of the utmost cunning: nothing less than a successful imitation of Shakespeare (though mostly in a more fresh idiom) . Few writers other than Shaw would have attempted this feat, and fewer peaceful would have been successful at it.
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Mentioning Ptolemy XIV, I should mention his (and Cleo’s) brother, Ptolemy XIII. They were both married to Cleopatra and each of them was pounding on her bedroom door by the time he was 10. The film, alas, forgets the last Ptolemy, the XVth, called Caesarion, Caesar’s son by Cleopatra. It was his official acknowledgement of this son that caused him so mighty pain serve home.
The essence of Shaw is of course his wit. Hardly a play of his is as witty as this one. The film is 2 hours long and seems scarcely an hour, so packed is it with heavenly dialogue.
To represent this gigantic literary work, the producers have assembled a gallery of some of the greatest actors of the time. Caesar is played by the hugely talented Claude Rains whose portrayals of iconic roles have made him one of the greatest actors of the last century. He gives the immortal Julius such sangfroid and frosty calculation as to do us instantly contain his greatness as a general and statesman.
Cleopatra is portrayed by the substantial Vivien Leigh, who graced and enhanced every fraction she took. Her beauty is in fact far, far greater than the legendary queen’s (we have pictures) . There is a rumor that Cleopatra was African (dim) by descent – which, while not a spacious deal, is a lie. We know each and every one of her ancestors since before the time of Alexander the Huge, and they are all Greek (and mostly closely related) . Shaw also cleverly switches the sage of the rug from her first meeting with Caesar to ruse to smuggle her into Caesar’s emergency redoubt at the Pharos (the Alexandria lighthouse) .
Apollodoros (misspelt with a “u” before the “s”), the Greek jack of all trades, arts, and talents, is played with large humor by the inimitable Stewart Granger. Granger’s acting talents gave both of the Fairbanks a bustle for their money. Cleopatra’s nurse and chief bottle washer, Ftatateeta, is portrayed by the fabulous Flora Robson. For this fragment her skin is stained black and she’s given an Egyptian-style anxiety wig … and is absolutely convincing. When she’s on camera, she manages to upstage even the riveting Rains.
The roll of talented venerable actors continues. As Pothinos (misspelt with a “us”), Ptolemy’s puppet master and master of all tainted diplomatic maneuvers, we have Francis L. Sullivan. It was Pothinos’ thought to knock off Pompey in the hope of sucking up to Caesar. No such luck, of course, because Caesar greatly admired and liked Pompey despite the fact that they had recently become enemies. Sullivan portrays Pothinos with savory wiliness and sliminess. *** As the dependable Rufio, “Caesar’s shield”, we have a steadfast Basil Sydney. Rufio eventually becomes Roman “governor” of Egypt, although that country was then peaceful technically independent and didn’t have a governor. Rufio’s allotment is given a expedient shot of good-humored testosterone and Sydney gives it huge stature. *** The talented faded Cecil Parker gives us Caesar’s faithful British amanuensis, Britannus. His physical stature and Druidic appearance effect him very convincing as a 1st-Century BCE British warrior-poet. *** And so on. Every section in this film is well-played by people who know what they’re doing.
The DVD itself was manufactured in Korea. Don’t inquire of a lot. This Technicolor film has a washed-out glance … although the colors are usually determined if not vividly smart. The sound is splendid (but could be better) and as we might request from actors of stage quality, the dialogue is distinct. There are, in addition, English subtitles. There are no extra features, but with older films we seldom gain them. Some people might rob points off for evil color and sound. So do I. I give extra stars for Shaw’s genius and grasp them off for an horrible recording of the unique film. That leaves the lawful total: the maximum.
It’s gloomy that shallow people with no appreciation of theater or vast playwriting should inflict low-star ratings on this immortal film. It’s an insult to the greatest English playwright since Shakespeare.
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