In 1937 Sir Alexander Korda embarked on a film epic that was to overshadow all others and enshrine him as saviour of the British film industry. Robert Graves's classics, "I, Claudius" and "Claudius the God" told the story of an apparently imbecilic cripple who overthrew Caligula to become Emperor of Rome. Korda had a star-laden cast lined up: Charles Laughton, Emlyn Williams, Merle Oberon, and Flora Robson, and the legendary Josef von Sternberg was engaged as director. After a month's shooting—a month fraught with difficulties, according to von Sternberg—Merle Oberon was in a car crash and the entire project was shelved. It was not until 28 years later that BBC-TV producer Bill Duncalf came across some tins of film in the Denham studio vaults and realised that they comprised a unique document. The rescued rushes were edited, and together with filmed interviews with people who remembered working on the production, were made into an intriguing documentary.