Product Description

Film adaptation of Shakespeare's play chronicling the aftermath of Caesar's assassination at the hands of Marc Anthony, Cassius and Brutus.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7658 in DVD
• Brand: WARNER HOME VIDEO
• Released on: 2006-11-07
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Black & White, Closed-captioned, Dubbed, DVD, Original recording remastered, Subtitled, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 121 minutes

Amazon.com
An examination of the relationship between political power and personal conscience, Joseph Mankiewicz's traditional Julius Caesar (1953) is a veritable master class for aspiring thespians. As the opportunistic Marc Antony, Marlon Brando delivers the famous funeral speech with pure conviction, elsewhere casting an intense physicality that recalls his work in A Streetcar Named Desire. James Mason suggests a latent Hamlet in his turn as the honorable Brutus, while John Gielgud is positively serpentine as the lean, hungry Cassius. Louis Calhern invests Caesar with intelligence and edgy noir echoes, and 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. The director's scrupulous pacing is supported in no small measure by Miklós Rósza's stunning score. 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

Customer Reviews

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.

Showdown: Marc Anthony vs. Brutus.
Shakespeare's plays are an inextinguishable source of inspiration for movie-makers. His works are approached from very different stands: as transposition to other time and surroundings as "West Side Story" (1961) and "Ran" (1985); from a very personal optic as "Titus" (2000) and "Looking for Richard" (1996) or as in the present case with a classic approach.

I've seen this movie when I was a kid, keep a very deep impression from it and remained a Brando's fan forever. I saw it again many times afterwards. I was always delighted by the play and the outstanding acting given by Brando, Mason and the rest of the cast.

This is one of the greatest Shakespeare's historical tragedies. Focuses on the last days of Julius Caesar's life, but the main characters are: Brutus, torn apart by his love to the Republic and his loyalty to Caesar and Marc Anthony, unfaltering in his love for Caesar and will to revenge his murder.

The cast (a mix of British & Americans actors and actresses) gives an overwhelming performance. First of all Brando's Mark Anthony, especially when giving his mournful speech; words are Shakespeare's the powerful way to cast them Marlon's.
James Mason is equally inspired, he transmit to the audience all the storms that rage in Brutus' soul, his moral suffering and final choice.
Only one little step below is John Gielgud's Cassius, the "black eminence" of the conspiracy. The viewer will also enjoy Greer Garson, Deborah Kerr and Edmond O'Brian performances.

A great movie for Shakespeare lovers and general public!
Reviewed by Max Yofre.

All Hail Caesar!!!
and this magnificent production of one the Bard's most memorable plays. This movie boasts an all star cast, and each do a splendid job of portraying their characters, my favorite being John Geilgud, one of the all-time great Shakespearean actors who's Cassius is an emotional boilerplate of envy. James Mason's Brutus is his friend and exact emotional opposite: a self-controlled, even-tempered, honor-loving man. Watching the interplay of these two opposites was for me the most thrilling part of the movie. I can't imagine any actors playing these roles other than Mason and Geilgud. Also, Brando's Mark Antony was marvelous to behold. How he skillfully moves the crowd to riot was nothing less than a virtuoso display of acting that proves Brando to be the genius that he was.

If you like Shakespeare, and particularly 'Julius Caesar', but haven't seen this one yet, BUY IT, you won't be disappointed.