Shaw's Caesar and Cleopatra (1976 TV--Alec Guinness) 1 of 7

Play by George Bernard Shaw, adaptation (reduction) for TV by Audrey Maas.

Geneviève Bujold ... Cleopatra
Alec Guinness ... Julius Caesar
Margaret Courtenay ... Ftatateeta
Roy Stewart .. Nubian Slave

Director: James Cellan Jones

Keith Burris wrote in "Commonweal":

The tube gave me my first glimpse of how good Guinness could be. It was a BBC import of Shaw's play Caesar and Cleopatra, and Guinness was an incredible Caesar--tragic, detached, and self-aware. He played the part as a grown-up Hamlet, with touches of Gandhi, Adlai Stevenson, and a hit man. And there was not an ounce of the maudlin or sentimental.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• George
• Bernard
• Shaw
• Caesar
• Cleopatra
• Alec
• Guinness
• Geneviève
• Bujold

[dglekjofg]

Oh my god, thank you for posting! I want it! Is this play enclosed in the BBC Shaw box set?

[ShakespeareAndMore]

This "Caesar" is not in that BBC box set, unfortunately.

I taped this "Caesar" from TV broadcast sometime in the 80s, and recently archived the VHS tape to DVD.

[dianddra999]

I first saw this on TV when it aired as, I think, a Hallmark presentation. I had never heard of Cleopatra, Egypt, or Julius Caesar, or Genevieve Bujold but this film made me a fan (at the tender age of eleven). I have long wanted to see it again and now I have my chance!

[GreatGrumbledook]

"I have wandered in many lands, seeking the lost regions from which my birth into this world exiled me, and the company of creatures such as I myself. I have found flocks and pastures, men and cities, but no other Caesar, no air native to me, no man kindred to me, none who can do my day's deed, and think my night's thought. In the little world yonder, Sphinx, my place is as high as yours in this great desert; only I wander, and you sit still; I conquer, and you endure" - I like this monologue!

[SierraNeef]

@MarsGirl2110 Shaw made her a cry baby.

[SierraNeef]

@SierraNeef And to proof this, he is not even talking to the real sphinx.

[SierraNeef]

Cesar is so full of himself.

[Niteowl128]

@jhaisia That's not true, the Ptolemies of whom Cleopatra VII is descended from have Greek, Syrian, Egyptian and Nubian heritages. Cleopatra's own father, Auletes' mother was an Egyptian concubine.

[sickofwaitingtables]

Cleopatra gets on my nerves so bad...

[jhaisia]

JEEZ I DIDNT KNOW..BUT SHE'S NOT EGYPTIAN DANG...CLEOPATRA WAS GREEK DESCENDANT OF ALEXANDER THE GREAT NOT EVEN 1% EGYPTIAN BLOOD

[brnrddlnny]

hello !

j'apprécie grandement cette petite série de vidéos...

mon commentaire serait presque identique à celui de dianddra999....

avec en plus cette question : quelqu'un saurait-il où trouver une version "au-moins" sous-titrée ??? (français... tout le monde a compris !! ;-)

merci pour la publication... qui fait remonter quelques bons souvenirs à la surface !!

[celluloidjunkie13]

There might be nothing more beautiful in this world than Vivien Leigh in this role. Check out that film, coupled with Shaw's lyric, it is everything that it means to be classic.

[marablasie]

This is a brilliant version of Caesar and Cleopatra.