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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Chris Tryhorn

Are you not entertained? The XVIII best films about the Romans – ranked!

Cleopatra Julius Caesar Christian Clavier Commodus Cecil B DeMille Charles Laughton Claudette Colbert Elizabeth Taylor George Bernard Shaw Kirk Douglas
Paul Mescal stars as Lucius in Gladiator II.
Ready to rumble … Paul Mescal stars as Lucius in Gladiator II. Photograph: Aidan Monaghan/© 2024 Paramount Pictures

XVIII. Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)

In this heavy-going British Technicolor adaptation of George Bernard Shaw’s play, Claude Rains’s oddly relaxed Julius Caesar plays father figure to Vivien Leigh’s implausibly girlish Cleopatra, schooling her in the art of power with just a hint of May to December flirtation. The two leads are just about charismatic enough to compel interest despite Shaw’s ponderous dialogue.

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