Julius Caesar

Synopsis
A feature film which grew out of Stuart Burge’s experience in directing a BBC television version of the play in 1959, as well as a subsequent London stage production. The pedestrian production was critically savaged on both sides of the Atlantic as reviewers warmed to their themes of bad acting, poor casting, shabby sets, and school play costumes.
Language
English
Country
Great Britain
Medium
Film; Video
Technical information
Colour / Sound
Year of release
1970
Duration
114 mins; 4,133 feet
Availability
Hire (film - Glenbuck) Sale (video - retail)

Credits

Director
Stuart Burge
Producer
Peter Snell
Cinematographer
Ken Higgins
Writer
William Shakespeare
Screenplay
Robert Furnival
Music
Michael Lewis (2)
Cast
John GielgudJulius Caesar
Charlton HestonMark Antony
Richard JohnsonCaius Cassius
Diana RiggPortia
Alan BrowningMurellus
Andrew CrawfordVolumnius
Christopher LeeArtemidorus
David DodimeadLepidus
David LelandPlebeian (5)
Derek HardwickePlebeian (3)
Jason RobardsMarcus Brutus
Jill BennettCalphurnia
Ken HutchinsonPlebeian (1)
Michael GoughMetellus Cimber
Michael KeatingPlebeian (2)
Michael WynnePlebeian (4)
Norman BowlerTitinius
Paul HardwickMessala
Richard ChamberlainOctavius Caesar
Robert VaughnCasca
Thomas HeathcoteFlavius

Additional Details

Production type
Fiction Films
Historical period
Ancient Rome
Plays
Julius Caesar
Subjects
Drama; Shakespeare
Keywords
Caesar, Julius; Rome; Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)
Related items
Film Night Special: Caesar’s the Name of the Game
Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar

Notes

Notes
Budget $1.4m
General
Rosenthal, Daniel. 100 Shakespeare Films (p.76) believes the film to have been ‘hamstrung by disastrous trans-Atlantic casting’ where Robert Vaughn’s (Casca) ‘English’ accent made him sound like ‘a shifty Cary Grant’.
Reviews
Crowl, Samuel ‘A World Elsewhere: the Roman Plays on Film and Television’ in Davies, Anthony & Stanley Wells, Shakespeare and the Moving Image: the Plays on Film and Television (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994), pp 146-62.
[Examines the stylistic progression from the experiments of David Bradley’s Julius Caesar (1949) through the formalism of Joseph L. Mankiewicz (1953) to the postmodernism of Stuart Burge’s version].

Production Company

Name

Commonwealth United

Distributor (Hire)

Name

BFI Film Bookings Unit

Email
bookings.films@bfi.org.uk
Web
http://www.bfi.org.uk/about-bfi/help-faq/film-bookings External site opens in new window
Phone
020 7957 8938 / 8935
Address
21 Stephen Street
London
W1T 1LN

Distributor (Sale)

Name

Olive Films

Email
customerservice@olivefilms.com
Web
http://www.olivefilms.com/ External site opens in new window
Fax
+ 1 630 444 1759
Address
707 Colomba Court
Suite 109
Saint Charles, IL
60174
USA

Online Retailer

Name

amazon.co.uk

Web
http://www.amazon.co.uk External site opens in new window

How to cite this record

Shakespeare, "Julius Caesar". https://learningonscreen.ac.uk/shakespeare/search/index.php/title/11652 (Accessed 25 Nov 2024)