Vivien leigh, claude rains, stewart granger and a very young jean simmons star in the most expensive and sumptuous british film made of its time. Shot in technicolor and directed by gabriel pascal, the film was so extravagant that the director even took sand to egypt to get the right cinematic colour. As rome invades egypt, julius caesar rains stumbles across the young and unrefined princess cleopatra leigh, sheltering in the sphinx. Impressed by her spirit and intelligence, seduced by her charm he determines to make her queen. Cleopatra learns about power and politics at the feet of a master but her downfall begins when she is seduced by mark antony. This witty, brilliantly designed movie features a memorable support cast including stewart granger the prisoner of zenda, flora robson wuthering heights, stanley holloway my fair lady and a very young jean simmons great expectations as the harpist. Running time 128 minutes region region 2 subtitles english release date 19 jun. 2007