Review: Julius Caesar (1953)


Set in politically treacherous Ancient Rome, Louis Calhern plays the doomed and arrogant title character, plotted against by the insidious Cassius (Sir John Gielgud) and the more conflicted Brutus (James Mason). Marlon Brando is Marc Antony, looking to take down the conspirators of his fallen emperor. Edmond O’Brien plays co-conspirator Casca, with Deborah Kerr and Greer Garson appearing briefly as the wives of Brutus and Julius Caesar, respectively. A host of familiar character actors have peripheral roles (among them Michael Ansara, George Macready, Michael Pate, Edmund Purdom, and as two crowd members, John Doucette and Lawrence Dobkin).


This 1953 adaptation of the Shakespeare play from writer-director Joseph L. Mankiewicz (“All About Eve”, “Sleuth”)  has a lot of star power and for the most part it comes off rather well, and certainly more consistent than the 1970 version. In what surely must be one of the greatest casts ever assembled, top honours go to Sir John Gielgud and James Mason, which is probably no surprise to anyone. Gielgud (who played the title role in the 1970 version) is especially masterful as Cassius, whilst anyone would’ve been better than 1970’s horrendously miscast Jason Robards in the role of Brutus, but Mason is very fine indeed. However it must be said that American actors Marlon Brando (in one of his better performances), Louis Calhern, and Edmond O’Brien fare much better than you might expect with the language. I personally think the actors who played their roles in the 1970 version are superior, though (Charlton Heston was more persuasive as Marc Antony, Sir John Gielgud is simply a much better Shakespearean actor than is Louis Calhern, and Robert Vaughn was a sly surprise as the shifty Casca).


Deborah Kerr and Greer Garson don’t get much of a look-in here, but Kerr in particular plays her one scene well and never looked more beautiful. It’s quite regrettable that she’s not in the film more, I think (Truth be told, Brando’s Marc Antony isn’t in the film a whole lot, either), but to be honest, her character isn’t really all that necessary here. There aren’t too many duds in the cast, to be honest. Character actors Lawrence Dobkin and especially John Doucette (a veteran of westerns) sound way too much like Ernest Borgnine when they talk, which just isn’t right for Shakespeare, but they have very minor roles. The biggest dud is probably Douglas Watson as Octavius, he’s just awful and completely out of his depth here.


Aside from the sets (recycled from “Quo Vadis?” admittedly, but I for one needed to look that up, and so would you had I not told you) and most of the acting, there’s also a terrific music score by Miklos Rozsa (“El Cid”, “Double Indemnity”, “Spellbound”), a major asset. This is a definite must for fans of the language and fans of these actors, it’s not a great film but there are certainly great aspects to it. Definitely a most respectable effort, it looks sensational.


Rating: B-

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Review: Hellraiser (2022)

Recovering junkie Odessa A’zion accompanies scuzzy boyfriend Drew Starkey on a break-in where all they find is a weird puzzle box. A’zion later opens the box and after some weird shit happens, A’zion and Starkey figure it might be a good idea to learn more about this messed up trinket. Goran Visnjic plays a millionaire who possessed the box before our protagonist nicked it.   Is there any point in remaking/rebooting “Hellraiser” when the 1987 adaptation of Clive Barker’s original text was written and directed by Barker himself? And is considered a horror classic? On evidence here, absolutely not. Directed by David Bruckner ( “The Signal” ) and scripted by Ben Collins ( “The Night House” ) and Luke Piotrowski (ditto) this is an entirely tedious affair. I took a long time to get on board with the 1987 “Hellraiser” , I have to admit. It was wildly imaginative and original, like a nightmare transplanted on to film. However, the characters were stone cold and left me similarly chilly t
Read more

Review: Boyka: Undisputed

Yuri Boyka (Scott Adkins) is out of prison and fighting for a living, with ambitions for the ‘Most Complete Fighter’ to make a real name for himself. However, after an opponent dies during a fight, the deeply religious Boyka starts to have a crisis of conscience. He tries to make amends with the man’s widow, which eventually pits him against a local gangster (Alon Moni Aboutboul, quite good). Anything with Scott Adkins will generally get me interested, and although this series peaked with the superlative “Undisputed II: Last Man Standing” , this 2017 film from director Todor Chapkanov (director of the SyFy movies “Copperhead” and “Ghost Town” ) is no slouch in a series yet to deliver anything less than solid entertainment. Producer Isaac Florentine is missed in the director’s chair, but Chapkanov gives us at the very least the series’ most dramatically ambitious entry, as Adkins’ ‘most complete fighter’ Yuri Boyka continues on his journey to redemption here. In this one, the
Read more

Review: Ninja 2: Shadow of a Tear

Scott Adkins is once again Casey, an American proponent of the martial art of Ninjutsu. When Casey’s pregnant Japanese wife (Mika Hijii) is rubbed out, he’s on a vengeance mission to find her killers. A friendly face, Nakabara (Kane Kosugi) turns up at the funeral, and suggests Casey come to Thailand to deal with his grief in another country. Casey initially declines, but eventually takes Nakabara up on his offer. However, his wife’s murder still haunts Casey, and with intel supplied by Nakabara, the trail eventually leads Casey to a brutal drug baron named Goro (Shun Sugata).   I was extremely disappointed with the first “Ninja” , but had heard that this 2013 sequel from director Isaac Florentine ( “Undisputed II: Last Man Standing” , “Undisputed III: Redemption” , “Ninja” ) was a damn near masterpiece of the martial-arts action movie genre. Having now finally gotten my hot little hands on it, I’d say the hype is a bit much, but this is unquestionably a much better film than the f
Read more