![]() ![]() ![]() The film opens in 44 BC as Julius Caesar returns to Rome from his victory over Pompey and to the accolades of the masses who view him as immortal and want to crown him as an emperor, which he refuses. In this abbreviated version of Julius Caesar, the emphasis is on the political intrigues involving the noble senators. This two million dollar vehicle, a low-budget for an epic, did surprisingly well in the box-office and received lots of praise among the critics. To save MGM some dough, since Shakespearean films rarely do well in the box-office, Mankiewicz recycles the Roman sets from Quo Vadis. The still camera offers no trick shots, as it allows all attention on the performances. Mankiewicz is dutiful to the poet’s words and films in a straightforward manner he also aims to get the bard’s rhythms correct rather than shooting for excitement. Marlon Brando is in his fourth film and proves to the doubters that he can act without slurring his words, if that’s what the part calls for. ![]() It’s loaded with a star-filled cast that has Marlon Brando playing Marc Anthony, James Mason plays the moral Brutus, Louis Calhern brilliantly plays a delicately superstitious but arrogant Julius Caesar and John Gielgud distinguishes himself as the crafty Cassius (this was his Hollywood debut). “A terrific Hollywood version of a Shakespeare play.”Ī terrific Hollywood version of a Shakespeare play. Mankiewicz screenwriter: from the play by William Shakespeare cinematographer: Joseph Ruttenberg editor: John Dunning music: Miklós Rózsa cast: Marlon Brando (Marc Antony), James Mason (Brutus), John Gielgud (Cassius), Louis Calhern (Julius Caesar), Edmond O’Brien (Casca), Greer Garson (Calpurnia), Deborah Kerr (Portia), George Macready (Marullus), Michael Pate (Flavius), Richard Hale (Soothsayer), Alan Napier (Cicero), Douglas Watson (Octavius Caesar) Runtime: 120 MPAA Rating: NR producer: John Houseman MGM 1953) The fault this time is not in ourselves but in the stars.(director/writer: Joseph L. And there's the Senate milling around in a maze of electronic walla, and Robards sabotaging the key scene just like all the others. In the movie, the special-effects boys have gone to work, and they've got Gielgud spouting blood from every available pore by the time he finishes his last speech. But Shakespeare on the stage can be stylized, and you understand what's happening. But he holds on for two more speeches before be goes. He is stabbed at least a dozen times before he dies, and any one of the wounds should have been fatal. There's plenty of facial emotion, however, when John Gielgud (as Caesar) gets stabbed in the Senate. But just when Heston gets into high gear, we cut away to a long shot of the crowd and lose all the personal emotion in Heston's face. Indeed, several performances are good especially Robert Vaughn's as a slippery Casca. So there's poor Robards trying to remember his lines, and all this synthetic walla curling around him, and then Charlton Heston leaps in with his Mark Antony speech. It sounds as if it were composed on a synthetic electronic device of some sort it doesn't sound human. Now walla isn't expensive - mere cents per wal - but in "Julius Caesar" something very weird has happened to the walla. Crudely defined, walla is the mix of indistinguishable noises a crowd makes when it talks all at once: Walla, walla, walla. In big crowd scenes, sound departments always put in a lot of walla. When we get close-ups of the conspirators, they're arranged like mannequins in a department store window, and so rigid is the staging that sometimes they actually have to talk over their shoulders to each other.Īnd then there's the matter of the walla. When the crowds gather for Mark Antony's funeral oration, they group themselves like refugees from a particularly orderly Renaissance painting. The actors race about on sets so flimsy we half expect them to collapse and sweep the entire Senate away with Caesar. Robards would be enough, all by himself, to capsize the movie, but there's more. ![]()
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