So sometimes, the plot can get away from me as my comprehension is generally a few minutes behind the movie. It takes every ounce of my concentration to take in Shakespeare’s dialogue if I’m gonna understand even half of it. And I think that made a real difference in being able to enjoy it a little easier than the rest. Of all of Shakespeare’s plays based on real events and historical figures, this is the one where I knew the most facts going in. Because Brando basically drops the mic and walks away with this entire movie once he’s done. There are other speeches by other characters before and after that one, but I can’t imagine many of them are remembered from this version. I’ve never seen a live version of Julius Caesar the play, but I assume the “Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears” speech is a highlight.īut even with that assumption, I wasn’t ready for totally and completely Brando would deliver it. Because it turns out, Marlon Brando can get his mouth around Shakespearean dialogue just as efficiently as he could get it around a donut in later life. OK, so don’t I feel like a real dick for watching this on the assumption that Brando might be a bit of a train wreck. Soon, Antony and Brutus are going head to head, with the Roman citizenry split behind them. But he can’t be kept away for long, and while Brutus is able to convince the romans citizens that the assassination was for their own good, his dry speech is quickly forgotten when Marc Antony delivers is own, passionate rebuttal. Knowing that Marc Antony’s loyalty could never be corrupted, the conspiring senators lure him away from the scene before they commit their deed. It’s not long before Brutus is leading the charge, helping plan and execute the murder of Julius Caesar, for what he genuinely believes is the good of Rome. But the loyalty of Brutus is soon put the test, and ultimately compromised, by scheming senator Cassius (John Gielgud). By his side are two great friends and allies, Brutus (James Mason) and Marc Antony (Brando). The fault this time is not in ourselves but in the stars.It’s the year 44 BC, and Julius Caesar (Loui Calhern) returns to Rome after winning a war against Pompey. And there's the Senate milling around in a maze of electronic walla, and Robards sabotaging the key scene just like all the others. In the movie, the special-effects boys have gone to work, and they've got Gielgud spouting blood from every available pore by the time he finishes his last speech. But Shakespeare on the stage can be stylized, and you understand what's happening. But he holds on for two more speeches before be goes. He is stabbed at least a dozen times before he dies, and any one of the wounds should have been fatal. There's plenty of facial emotion, however, when John Gielgud (as Caesar) gets stabbed in the Senate. But just when Heston gets into high gear, we cut away to a long shot of the crowd and lose all the personal emotion in Heston's face. Indeed, several performances are good especially Robert Vaughn's as a slippery Casca. So there's poor Robards trying to remember his lines, and all this synthetic walla curling around him, and then Charlton Heston leaps in with his Mark Antony speech. It sounds as if it were composed on a synthetic electronic device of some sort it doesn't sound human. Now walla isn't expensive - mere cents per wal - but in "Julius Caesar" something very weird has happened to the walla. Crudely defined, walla is the mix of indistinguishable noises a crowd makes when it talks all at once: Walla, walla, walla. In big crowd scenes, sound departments always put in a lot of walla. When we get close-ups of the conspirators, they're arranged like mannequins in a department store window, and so rigid is the staging that sometimes they actually have to talk over their shoulders to each other.Īnd then there's the matter of the walla. When the crowds gather for Mark Antony's funeral oration, they group themselves like refugees from a particularly orderly Renaissance painting. The actors race about on sets so flimsy we half expect them to collapse and sweep the entire Senate away with Caesar. Robards would be enough, all by himself, to capsize the movie, but there's more.
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