I have watched this film several times and finally appreciated the witty dialog. Shaw sets a precedent for more modern phrases and lights up the B&W screen with audacity and welcome intrigue.Stunning vixen Vivien resorts many times to her impish Scarlett character and found this most annoying but loved the interplay with Claude. He made Caesar playful, powerful, and poignant. How could they have murdered him? History is told much more affectionately in this version and it is a treat. Many are offended by the inaccuracies, but if you know the difference the offense is lessened.I think the horrendous burning of the Alexandria Library allowed by Caesar was the most difficult to comprehend given his appreciation of learning, literature, and history. This just did not make sense and wondered how Shaw got this all wrong, unless there is some factual aspect I am unaware.Robson was unforgettable as the Chief Medical slave and remembered her in "Withering Heights" and "Fire Over England", such versatility! Stewart Granger provided much needed eye candy and over the top dramatics. His costumes were much briefer than other soldiers but guess if you have great legs, shorten the skirt!Recommend for Claude and Vivien fans, Shaw's clever dialog and high jumps into the ocean.

I am curious about this film's credits listing 4 cinematographers...and not just any...Cardiff,Young,Krasker and Hildyard...big names that I recognize. Why would a single film need 4 main cinematographers? They are not (like other films) credited as 2nd unit and then one main person getting the chief DOP credit. So does anyone know why this film needed 4? Was there a succession of firings/or quittings and they needed to sub in another (and another etc.)? If not, how can 4 work simultaneously on one film?..one would think with 4, there would be a lot of on-screen noticeable discrepancies of styles etc. My untrained eye couldn't detect.

With Claude Rains and Vivien Leigh taking the leads in this George Bernard Shaw play, and a supporting cast made up of Flora Robson, Stewart Granger and Frances L "Did I do right, Pip?" Sullivan from Great Expectations, it would be a crazy film buff who didn't make this a priority viewing, right? Er - wrong.The whole thing feels very stagey and the direction never gains any momentum. It's hard to believe that this comes from the same era as Casablanca or Great Expectations, it just feels so twee, almost like a secondary school play. I like Rains but prefer him in his sly, side-on roles rather than benign and heroic as Caesar here. Vivien Leigh is a pouty, annoying Cleopatra, very much like Jean Simmons as young Estella (okay, that came a year after so I guess Simmons is the copy cat). All you wish for her is that Caeser would put her on the receiving end of a dozen rough Roman soldiers! Otherwise this is all fodder for the Carry On and Monty Python brigade. There's even a young Robert Morley lisping the name of Caeser, and an old dodderer who is a dead ringer for the geezer who helps hide the People's Front of Judea from the Romans in Life of Brian. Look out for John 'We're doooomed!' Laurie as a centurian at two minutes past the first hour. Looking old even then.Things do pick up a bit towards the end, with ruminations on power and mortality, but until then it seemed a bit shallow. Just because the Liz Taylor Cleopatra is a bit of a turkey doesn't mean this is much cop.

Although a great fan of Leigh as an actress, I did not care for her portrayal of Cleopatra as a spoiled, manipulative child who pouts and cries in order to get her way with old fuddy duddy Ceasar. This may indeed have made a witty stage play, but the movie was dull and lumbering. I kept going back to it hoping strongly it would get better, but to no avail. Not the least of it's irritating qualities for me was the total lack of historical accuracy. Cleopatra, though young, was acknowledged by contemporaries to be highly educated and intelligent, bred to rule and accustomed from birth to the political intrigues of her dynasty. She would not have needed Caesar to constantly prop her up and remind her to behave as a queen. I was sorry to see Leigh's talent wasted in this film. She is lovely to watch as always, and lights up the screen with her presence, and the acting of other cast members is likewise topnotch, but sadly none of that can save this dud.