Caligula: The Ultimate Cut

Now I'll be honest, I think John Hurt ("I Claudius" - BBC - 1976) made a better Caligula, but Malcolm McDowell is still pretty convincing as the despotic sexual deviant who held the ultimate power in the Roman Empire for four years. It ought not to have been a surprise that he turned out the way he did when we are introduced to the decrepitly monstrous Tiberius (Peter O'Toole) on his island paradise of Capri. He lives there in a court of acolyte nymphs and "fishes" guided only by the vaguest semblance of decency from his friend Nerva (Sir John Gielgud). When that brief sequence of hedonism is swiftly over, our antihero assumes the throne and proceeds to share it with his sister Drusilla (Teresa Ann Savoy) with whom he enjoys a pretty incestuous relationship. There's pressure on him to marry, though, and father a legitimate child - so along comes Caesonia (Helen Mirren) - a woman all too keen to father the imperial progeny whilst enjoying a life of luxury and depravity. That's the history bit - which is really all rather peripheral to this shockingly scripted exercise in soft-porn which we are now going to watch in all it's three hour glory. It's clear that no expense has been spared on the look of the film, and to be fair to director Tinto Brass he does offer us quite a convincing glimpse at the excessiveness of a despotic court ruled by a monarch who believed himself a god - and who had few prepared to argue. It's maybe on that last point that "Longinus" (John Steiner) takes a decisive stance. He is the chancellor who increasingly finds himself, along with Praetorian Commander Chaerea (Paolo Bonacelli), more and more disgusted by the antics of this man with the thinnest grasp on reality. There's nudity all over the shop to the point that it becomes innocuous and once you've got used to that the rest of it fails to carry what could have been a blank cheque opportunity to portray the pivot of historical decadence. Instead, we have McDowell hamming it up energetically as he flounces around, scantily clad, but very little else. It's tawdry, no other word for it - and the unwelcome intermission completely throttled whatever pace there was as it sort of lumbered along in the most clunky of episodic fashions to an denouement that history told us about nearly two thousand years ago. It doesn't seem to know whether it's a movie or a sequence of short theatrical plays, Mirren adds precisely nothing and the magnificently odious O'Toole isn't around long enough to make enough of a difference. It's a shambles, certainly, and this ultimate cut is far, far too long - but somehow it's not unwatchable. You might never eat cottage cheese again!

Caligula is a film with a storied history. What began as a sprawling historical epic saw much of the film land on the cutting room floor. In its place, a violent and pornographic cash-grab that bore little resemblance to the script by Gore Vidal. Though a box office success, thanks to the controversy surrounding the film, critics derided it, and the cast disowned it. Now, forty-four years later, Caligula: The Ultimate Cut intends to showcase the film's original vision-a riveting and complex historical drama showcasing the intoxicating allure of sexuality and power. The film runs nearly three hours, is entirely fascinating, and delivers a triumphant expose on how 'absolute power corrupts absolutely.' In an era of director's cuts and alternate versions, Caligula is a magnificent restoration with a triumphant zeal.

Full Review: Geek Vibes Nation.

This is a superb work of film forensics, creating a version of the film with the narrative cohesion that the original release sorely lacked. Cutting all the gratuitous porn plays a major part in giving the film that narrative cohesion and allows Gore Vidal's political themes to take centrestage. The performances truly shine, with original actors' vocal performances restored instead of the over-dubs used for some characters- especially good for Teresa Ann Savoy. Helen Mirren is given considerably more screentime, which is very welcome, and Malcolm McDowell's performance is revealed as the Oscar-worthy performance we deserved to see in 1980. The new music is also a huge improvement on the 'found' score of 1980.

However there are three exclusions that I didn't like. One was the death of Proculus, which gave some closure to the unforgettable marriage violation scene - and is an extraordinary scene in itself. I think it could have remained without the gratuitous bit with the naked ladies. The second was the scene with Ennia on the bed being 'serviced' by her male companions- it was not entirely clear what service they were providing! A re-edit could make this clearer without becoming porn. The most seriously disappointing ommission for me though was the conclusion of John Gielgud's performance - when Nerva and Caligula share a powerful moment. Given this edit's aim of enhancing the performances, it seems very strange to rob Gielgud of any screetime, given how brief his role is. Perhaps the restorers thought this moment made Caligula look too mad too early but I think it's a vital moment for both characters, and is reflected later in the aforementioned, also cut, Proculus scene. For an 'ultimate' cut I think this scene needs to go back.

In any case I think this is an amazing feat of restoration bringing this extraordinary film much closer to the one Tinto Brass and Gore Vidal intended it to be.

Difficult to write too much.

I appreciated the final result of long fight for offer the quasi original film. I liked the new scenes , offering some fresh air to a movie representing, including for bitter critics, a legend or a sort of classic.

My curiosity was about the impressions of viewer discovering only this version. Its virtue- the idea of power without limits and its price becomes more clear , familiar frames are almost in new light but the essence is the same and the pornographic scenes are less significant than you imagine seeing the previews version.

Impressive ? No doubts !

Perfect ? Far to hope to become. Maybe provocative but it is its basic virtue . In short, for many reasons, an absolutely must see.

As a huge caligula fan i own all there is to own about my fav roman emperor and so when i heard there is a new extended edition of the beloved 1979 film with around 20 or so new footage scenes i was excited and i immediately bought the new spanish blu ray release.

Sadly things did not went well with this.

This cut has a lot of flaws. In fact all went wrong if u exclude some new deleted scenes.

Those deleted scenes were the only worthy part of the film.

U get to see how caligula orders other people to worship his own statues which replaced those of the gods. This scene was great and there are a few more but the good things end here.

Unfortunately this is NOT the original take of the film and everything was changed.

What i mean is even the voices the way the actors performed was different than the theatrical version and that was not good.

More important the divine music which made the original film so much better was not here.

The music used here was boring and added nothing to the film.

I was tired watching this.

I will only keep this cut cause of the new footage and that's that.

I'm very disappointed of this new extended cut.

So i advise you to stick to the imperial edition of the film and the original 155 minutes long version.