Caligula [DVD]

It's very rare to see a version of Caligula in this country above 90 minutes. This is the complete and uncensored version - a Dutch import, but it plays in English. This version does contain hardcore sex, sometimes carelessly inserted into the finished movie as it was. Young Italian director Tinto Brass's original vision was to be shattered, forcing him to withdraw his name from the movie. Producer Bob Guccione fired Brass for over-filming and running up huge costs from filming beyond what was financially acceptable. Guccione then took control of the film, and assisted by Giancarlo Lui later sneaked back onto the set and shot 6 minutes of hardcore sex which was later edited into the film. Lui re-cut, re-edited and changed parts of Gore Vidal's script to fashion what is possibly the most expensive porn film ever made, which bore little resembalance to Tinto Brass's original vision.

Despite the troubled production, Caligula could be looked at as a masterpiece of cinema, for various reasons. It's a wonder it ever got released at all. Still it maintains its power to shock and repulse - the power of cinema has never been so evident as what it is here. Caligula has beautiful lavish sets, semi-beautiful photography, a stunning classic score, epic orgy scenes, and superb performances from British thespians Malcolm McDowell, Sir John Gielgud, Peter O'Toole and Helen Mirren. McDowell and O'Toole are particularly outstanding in their performances, and none of the 'thesps' take part, or appear in any of the sexually explicit hardcore scenes. Thank goodness.

If you haven't ever watched Caligula and you're not easily offended then subject yourself to this version. If you have seen the film, watch it again because it still remains to be seen, and deserves a place in the 21st Century. We mustn't forget about films like Caligula because despite our repulsion and attitude towards sex and violence, this is human nature, and Caligula probably reflects the happy, and not so happy times when Rome rulled the world.

Ah, "Caligula"... Is it Hardcore drivel, or a highbrow masterpiece on a level with "I, Claudius"? (With Hardcore drivel inserted, of course). Whatever your opinion, it can only be surmised that all participants hadn't a clue what they were getting themselves into. The director(s), the actors, even the editors seem like innocents here; and the story behind it is one that can hardly be believed, in the context of the modern esteem "period" works are held.

Bob Guccione, Penthouse Scion and overall Peddler of Smut had dreams of producing something that would survive the ages and be held as a work of high regard (with hardcore bits in it). Hence, erotic director Tinto Brass was hired for the job - and somehow Guccione and Brass persuaded some of the greatest British Thesps of the period to sign on to acting in it. How? simple. NONE of them had any idea of what they had gotten themselves into. Had Brass been given Final Cut them perhaps their sensibilites wouldn't have been too scorched, but Guccione, horrified with the film that Brass had presented, locked the poor hack out of the editing room, re-cut the film with a blunt instrument (resembling a dirty spoon, most probably) and added many hardcore inserts. Hence, a Legend was born - a near-pornographic epic with John Gielgud in it. Only in America...

Over the years, the film has been presented in many truncated forms; in 1979 the BBFC massively cut the film down to 1 Hour 42 minutes from it's original 2 Hours 36 minutes. But now, for the first time in this country we can see the full film in all it's (smutty) glory. The set includes 4 discs - The original UK version, the uncut version and an "Alternate" version that is 2 Hours 33 Minutes long, but with the smut "covered up" by alternate camera angles and differing sequences and the like. The 4th disc is comprised by a lavish set of extras, such as interview, press notes etc. So, what's not to like? Even if such a film offends your "Stiff Upper Lip", at least you now have the option to actually SEE it. Thanks, BBFC!

You cannot defend 'Caligula'. It is a monstrous epic of over excess in almost every way possible. Useless porn spliced into an already labyrinthine production, oppulent sets, brilliant ideas, twisted imagery, crazed camerawork, hysteria and madness. It's closest cousin - bizarrely - is Gibson's 'Passion' in the sense of it being a film you admire for its balls, but don't necessarily approve of. And yet, 'Caligula' is fascinating. Perverse for all the wrong reasons and yet - genuinely - bordering of maniacal, bloody insane genius. The fact that it fails so magnificently is fitting for the production. A weak-kneed, boring film would have been a disaster. Okay, 'Caligula' might veer towards boring in some places (usually involving the 'Penthouse pets') but it is also the stuff of cinematic legend, graced with some of the finest British actors of the time.

This version is similar to the US 'Imperial Edition' except you have an extra disc (and I presume it is the cut to pieces version, which is going to stay in the box and never see the light of day). Like the 'Imperial Edition' you get the full, uncensored version (with lots of hardcore porn - working in the boat orgy and in the pleasure palace of Tberius, but nowhere else) and a rough edit with different and extended takes and really badly filmed inserts of softcore porn, shot on a different film stock. This cut on the US disc has 2 commentaries by Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren. The track with McDowell is an absolute blast.

The disc of extras has various documentaries and interviews that veer from genuinely interesting to late 70's promotional blag.

I agree with Mark Kermode that there is 'a bloody good film somewhere in Caligula' - at least you have the opportunity (at long last) to judge for yourself and quite possibly enjoy one of the most controversial films ever made. Don't get me wrong, it's a piece of sh*t, but it still stands head and shoulders above the growing, disposable dung heap of contemporary cinema.