- Actors: Marlon Brando, James Mason, John Gielgud, Louis Calhern, Edmond O'Brien
- Language English
- Classification: U
- Studio: Warner
- VHS Release Date: 19 Feb 2001
- Run Time: 120 minutes
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- ASIN: B00004CLJY
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 3,740 in Video (See Top 100 in Video)
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
An examination of the relationship between political power and personal conscience, Joseph Mankiewicz's Julius Caesar is a solidly acted spectacle presented in classical, traditional form. Julius Caesar reveals its characters to be divided, complex, and contradictory--and therefore all the more human. The acting here is a veritable masterclass for aspiring thesps. As the opportunistic Marc Antony, Marlon Brando delivers the famous funeral speech with pure conviction, elsewhere casting an intense physicality that recalls his work as Stan in A Streetcar Named Desire. James Mason suggests a latent Hamlet in his turn as the honourable Brutus, while John Gielgud is positively serpentine as the lean, hungry Cassius. Louis Calhern invests Caesar with intelligence and edgy noir echoes carried over from his performance in The Asphalt Jungle (1950). Director Mankiewicz astutely balances the Renaissance view of Caesar as a power-obsessed, corrupt tyrant destined for punishment with modern suggestions that his murder may have been ill-advised. With its dark alleyways and complex hues of grey, this Julius Caesar at times owes more to Double Indemnity than Laurence Olivier. The director's scrupulous, pellucid pacing---supported in no small measure by Miklos Rozsa's stunning score--is the perfect complement for the screenplay's sophisticated, frieze-like structure. At film's end, power itself is without a master, and the spirit of Caesar has been left unrevived: and to Mankiewicz's credit, the latter is revealed to be the true tragedy of Julius Caesar.--Kevin Mulhall
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
14 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
Julius Caesar is one of my favourite plays and this film is one of my best-loved screen-versions of Shakespeare. The original text is brilliant and it sounds even more so in the film. Marlon Brundo is a perfect Marc Antony. He really looks like a Roman nobleman. I absolutely adore the scene, after Caesar's death, when Brutus and then Antony make their famous speeches. Both of them are so convincing and impressive. The reaction of the crowd is very well shown too. John Gielgud does his best as Cassius. In scenes of Cassius's arguments and dialogues with Brutus and other conspirators he maintains the highest standards of Shakespearean performances. I've seen the film about a dozen of times and I would recommend it to every one.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
James Mason as Brutus, Gielgud as Cassius, Brando - yes, he can act - as Mark Anthony. The text is Shakespeare's, and the only catch is that the cuts of the play to fit it into the film make it a little disjointed.
Mason - did he ever make a bad movie? - is excellent, and the movie is his.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:VHS Tape
With Marlon Brando in one of his best roles as Marc Anthony and James Mason tackling Brutus's role with relish, this version of Julius Caesar is a triumph. Rarely has Brando filled a role with such aplomb in a part that could have been written for him. Mason is awesome as the patriot too muddled in his own mind to be able to make a rational decision. Perhaps the one area of weakness is the cinematography but if you consider the age of the film, allowance must be made. Of course the focal point of the film is Marc Anthony's stirring speech to the Plebians, as rousing an oration as you will find (nicely imitated in 'that carry on film').
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
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I have been raised on this play and saw many versions. I have had the real story pointed out to me and meaning behind many of the words explained. Read more
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