|
| • Advanced Search • Help |
Julius Caesar | Year: 1953 Classification: Action/Adventure Directed: - Joseph L.Mankiewicz - Stuart Burge - Uli Edel Actors/Actresses: - Marlon Brando as Antony - James Mason as Brutus - Louis Calhern as Julius Caesar - John Gielgud as Cassius - Charlton Heston - Jason Robards - Jeremy Sisto - Richard Harris NOT ONE SINGLE COMPLAINT! I am really tempted to say that I enjoyed this better than the book. It is almost unbelievable what a great job the director did in capturing the essence of this play concerning moral ambiguity in a political setting. It was a true blessing that the director managed to gather James Mason, John Gielgud, and Marlon Brando together. Mason is very convincing as the good and honest Brutus who sees a world where everyone is as honest and honorable as he. Gielgud portrays the ambitious (but not without redeeming features) Cassius well. Brando is over the top as the back stage player Antony who eventually emerges as the most powerful character in the play. The effects are simple but good. The scenery is well done (especially considering the limited resources at the time). One fine addition (not in the book) is when Antony's archers defeat Cassius. Modern special effects may have their place, but these actors showed that it takes real acting to tell the story. I can not overestimate how much Mason, Brando, and Gielgud had their fully 3 dimensional characters down to the very core of the essences created by the master of literature William Shakespeare. "There are Some that are Whole that Must be Made Sick" meaning, of course, that there's going to be a hit today on Mr. Big, Julius Caesar.<BR>This is a very successful translation of Shakespeare's play into film. The title character is played rather well I think by Louis Calhern, and his aide de camp Mark Antony is the brooding Marlon Brando. Greer Garson is the barren Calphurnia, trying vainly to convince her husband Caesar to heed her dream of doom. The conspirators are really a first-rate collection: James Mason's Brutus leads the pack--what a beautiful speaking voice. John Gielgud as Cassius is a little less good, but nonetheless effective. Others include Edmund O'Brien and Alan Napier, better known as Alfred the Butler on TV's Batman show. Deborah Kerr as Portia makes an impassioned speech to her husband Brutus to take her into his confidence--how differently things might have worked out if he had done so.<BR>Things move along very well here; it is a well-rehearsed cast and a highly professional one to boot. I disagree strongly with those who suggest that Calhern is miscast; on the contrary, his speaking with an American accent puts him quite apart from the mostly British conspirators, and helps underline why they find him so antithetical to their beliefs. He really seems a threat, someone who has no respect for the old world order but would easily turn it upside down to suit his humor. The two funeral orations are great in print; on film, both Mason and Brando are so persuasive you'll have difficulty yourself not being swayed. <BR>Fine ensemble piece, superlative Shakespeare showcase. Brando shines as Antony Julius Caesar (1953) directed by Joseph Mankiewicz Forget The Manchurian Candidate, this movie should be required viewing during every campaign season. Watching the mob swayed from one direction to the other first by Brutus' (James Mason) speech and then by Marc Antony's (Marlon Brando) is the best warning there is on the perils of democracy. The same unshaven louts who castigate Caesar during Brutus' speech, lionize him during Antony's. In the end the crowd is whipped into a frenzy of revenge when they hear Caesar left them money and land in his will. In our day this sort of mob control has been replaced with entitlement programs. Mankiewicz, one of Hollywood's ablest craftsmen, creates a faithful adaptation of this play. One of Shakespeare's most mature and sophisticated tragedies, Julius Caesar is peopled with such complex and subtle characters, we don't know whom to root for. There is no Iago or Richard III to step forward and tell us boldly, "I am a villain." Each of the characters acts for both high and low motivations alike. Brutus, the noblest and most sympathetic of the characters, battles futilely to save the republic from the inevitable emerging dictatorship. But in spite of his greatness, he is an easy tool for the Machiavellian Cassius (John Gielgud). In a wonderfully nuanced role, Cassius preys on the ambition and vanity Brutus does not even recognize in himself. Cassius, though a callow manipulative bribe-taking scoundrel, can yet be so noble and brave. Shortly before killing himself, he tells his slave he has a final order for him, "Live free." We see beneath his self interest lies a magnanimous heart. In spite of its title, this is not the story of Julius Caesar; his corpse is just the island on which all the other characters fight. Nevertheless, it is an important role. Louis Calhern is too avuncular and fatuous to play the wily Caesar, a puzzling hole in an otherwise fine cast. As an authority figure, Calhern would be perfect to play a dim CEO from a 60's sitcom: Larry Tate of MacMahon and Tate, but not the colossus who bestrides the world. When Caesar tells Antony (Marlon Brando) he trusts only fat, well-fed-looking men, it should seem like a shrewd campaigner passing on a useful observation to a promising up-and-comer, instead it comes off like the loose-lipped worries of a dotard. A generation of movie viewers familiar with Marlon Brando only as the Godfather or the fat guy who gets it at the end of Apocalypse Now might be puzzled this man was ever considered a sex symbol. "Smouldering sensuality?" What are you talking about? In this movie, though, in which Brando won his third Oscar, we can see what made so many women melt. Before being covered by so much lard, the man had quite a physique and on screen was by turns sensitive and attractively arrogant. As Mark Antony, his tenderness at the death of his friend, Julius Caesar, is too deep for tears. During his funeral oration, he turns from the crowd to recover himself, overcome with emotion. But Brando is no sissy wimp. Even at that moment of grief, we can see him listening to the crowd's reaction, gauging their response and calculating his next move. Fine Performance by Heston but I prefer the Brando version Charlton Heston does an admirable job as Marc Antony in this 1970 version of Shakespeare's play. Certainly you will come away from this film wishing he had performed more Shakespeare on film. However, I must admit a strong preference for Marlon Brando's performance in the same role in the 1953 version of "Julius Caesar," and especially the funeral scene where the performance of the mob is equal to that of the actor in the pulpit. It would have been equally worthwhile to see Brando attempt more of the Bard as well. I also find that across the board the acting is slightly better in the earlier version. In this color version it is strange to see Jason Robards, Jr., who made his reputation performing the works of Eugene O'Neill on the stage, flounder so badly with Shakespeare, and I have to admit his performance gets in the way of my enjoyment of this film. Of the other actors it is interesting to see John Gielgud take on the title role since he played the lean and hungry Cassius in the earlier version, a joy to see Diana Rigg nail her significant scene as Portia, and a bit disconcerting to see so many actors who would become television stars in the years to come (e.g., Richard Chamberlain, Robert Vaugh and Carroll O'Connor). I also prefer Joseph L. Mankiewicz's direction of the 1953 film to the work of Stuart Burge in this version. Mankiewicz also had the advantage of Academy Award-winning art direction and set decoration, which I really think overcomes the fact the later version is in color. If you are screening the entire film for students or focusing just on Antony's funeral oration, by either standard I really believe you are better served with the earlier film. Buy Julius Caesar at Amazon.com Buy posters at Allposters.com Jamster - the latest ringtones for your phone!  Search with Walhello on the Internet on Julius Caesar Search with the Priority Search Engine on Julius Caesar This page in other languages: Suomeksi | Nederlands | Deutsch
|
