Caesar and Cleopatra, starring Claude Rains and Vivien Leigh, was a fascinating movie in that it didn’t depend so much on plot as on the acting of the two leads. Vivien succeeded admirably at irritating the living crap out of me most of the time; her personal matron / servant / assassin, Ftatateeta (say that fast 5 times), as portrayed by Dame Flora Robson, was creepy as all get out; and the supporting cast, including an exceedingly tall Stewart Granger (later of Scaramouche fame), were excellent.
But the standout was Rains. His Caesar gets all the best lines, and he speaks them with a wisdom and amusement that is most engaging. Whoever wrote his lines gave him insights (if insights they are) that were most surprising and had me nodding in surprise; perhaps they were false, yet they engaged the thought processes, as did his delivery of them.
It’s worth a watch, if you can stand Vivien’s Cleopatra. Whether she’s good or bad is a matter of personal taste, I suspect; but if you don’t like Caesar, well, you’re just not Roman enough.
