Missy -Julius Caesar ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

So our list claimed that this 1953 version of Julius Caesar was the definitive version and the only one to watch hands down. 

I’ll give you a little taste here. 

Julius Caesar is the story of the assassination of Caesar by his fellow republicans. It’s about their motivations and the reactions of his world thereafter. 

I hadn’t seen any version of this play before, though I had read it. The positives were that those throw away lines, referring to the biggest storm ever, or the crowd becoming a mob, got the royal MGM treatment on the screen. There is a giant cast and the special effects are big and booming and immersive. This really makes a huge difference for me as the audience.

Brando as Marc Anthony

and Mason as Brutus are great!

But I felt the hamminess of a big Ben-Hur tinged Hollywood in most of the other performances. Particularly, I felt it with Caesar (Louis Calhern) and Cassius (John Gielgud). I felt the Captain Kirk pauses and grandiose poses, keenly. 

Some of this is just temporal dissonance, I’m used to and prefer, in a likely juvenile way, one kind of movie and this is another. BUT mostly it’s because I vastly prefer a natural sounding delivery, like anything by Branagh, to the sort of scenery chewing shout-fests the 50’s were keen on.

Here the famous Marc Anthony Speach in two styles so you can hear what I mean.

I love this one.

Here is the 1953. I like this one and think Brando is great here.

A lot of the shouting is due to the crowd and distance, completely appropriate to the scene, but not all of it. Older movies (mostly for technical reasons) were shouty. 

I find shouty less compelling.

If you want a real taste of what I don’t like go look up the Charlton Heston version (shudder).

Enough complaining about old Hollywood. 

The play is also not my favorite. It is short and still manages to pack in a bushel of spechifying. 

I’m much more a fan of Greece than Rome when it comes to the two giants of ancient western civilizations. So the attack and defense of the Roman ideals is never going to be much for me. In Shakespeares day everyone literate was brought up on Rome and things Roman and this series of plays makes great sense for them.

There are great ideas here and noble dissertations. To me though it’s not compelling in and of itself.

This play brought more quotable quotes than you could imagine for such a small one.

“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars

But in ourselves,”


“Cowards die many times before their deaths;

The valiant never taste of death but once.”

“Et tu, Brutè?”

“Cry “Havoc!” and let slip the dogs of war.”

It goes on and on. You know lines from this play if you are old enough to read this blog. It has in it some masterful writing.

It’s beautifully written and interesting but it has yet to grab me. This is probably also because I dislike Caesar and most of the conspirators and most of the crowd characters.

The most interesting things for me here all point to Marc Anthony and Octavius in their future. Probably because my foot in the door for Rome comes from I Claudius . I love I Claudius!

It did tickle my history fancy though.

Here for your viewing pleasure some fun Julius Caesar images. 

Brando smoking on set. 

Julius Caesar 

Marc Anthony 

Brutus

Now for something completely different. I've been waiting to do this play, with great anticipation, to put this video, that my daughter showed me last year, up. Its fantastic. Warning it is gory.

I hope someone, in future, does a version of Julius Caesar that I like more. I’m not writing it off by any means but this version wasn’t entirely for me. 

Julius Caesar - 3.5 stars for not grabbing me. 

Mom score - no real moms but I want to give 4 stars to Calpurnia for having to go through the barren woman shaming from Caesar in act one.