Cajus Julius Caesar

Alternative title: Julius Caesar Caio Guilio Cesare
Synopsis: Feature film. The story of Julius Caesar with just occasional borrowings from Shakespeare’s play. Filmed in the traditional Italian spectacular tradition the plot covers a good deal of Caesar’s life and only in the final reel are there parallels with Shakespeare.
Country: Italy
Medium: Film
Technical information: Black-and-white / Silent
Year of release: 1914
Duration: 78 mins; 7,035 feet

Director

Enrico Guazzoni

Cinematographer

Antonio Cufaro

Screenplay

Raffaele Giovanoli

Cast

Amleto Novelli	Julius Caesar
Amedeo Nazzari	Marcus Brutus
Augusto Mastripietri	Cato
Bruto Castellani
Carlo Duse
Giovanni Terribili Gonzales	Tertullia
Ignazio Lupi
Irene Mattalia	Servillia
Lia Orlandini
Ruffo Geri
Signor Ricci

Notes: The copy held in the BFI National Archive has German titles. The quotations from Shakespeare are in English. The titles of the copy held in the Library of Congress are in English. Their 16mm reference print is 60mins.
General: Ball, examining contemporary publicity sources, notes that the film was reported as being eighteen months in production and employing a cast of 20,000. Eleven assistant directors were said to have been employed, the advice sought of two professors of archaeology, while eighteen seamstresses worked for five months on the costumes . The estimated budget was $750,000.
Reviews: Ball, Robert Hamilton. Shakespeare on Silent Film: A Strange Eventful History. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1968 (pp. 208-10. 354).

SHAKESPEARE