Julius Caesar (1953) [VHS]

A well-written and well-acted film, which is like watching a play. A high point of this film is Miklos Rozsa's score. The 4:3 black-and-white picture is of good quality.

This is one of the best film adaptations of Shakespeare I have seen. John Gielgud as Cassius leads a cast that relies on the poetry of the text itself to raise the subtleties and truths of the play. All of the actors give solid performances, and Marlon Brando certainly looked the part of Antony. Though Brando's performance is the weakest, it still seems to fit with the film. This is the epitomy of what a Shakespearean film adaptation should be and is worth watching over and over again: Just like Shakespeare, it never gets old!

This is a classic! The is by far one of Marlon Brando's best performances.

I read the book, and then watched the movie. The movie was good, with a good portrayal of the book. Older movies often do, more so than more modern ones. In some cases this movie gave a more realistic portrayal than the book - an improvement. This was by not having anachronisms, like a clock striking, and wearing not hats but hoods. So, the movie gives one a good visual of the book's contents.

This movie has been colorized. There has been dislike and controversy about that. With broadmindedness and not being conservative about it, I don't see what's wrong with that. It's also an improvement on the old movies. (Just not of silent movies.) That's like the improvements on e.g. the 3 original Star Wars movies. I'd prefer to watch the colorized version of a movie. I did actually watch that version of this movie, which I have. It also looked like it was originally filmed in color. This DVD should also contain that version of the movie. The individual viewers could then decide for themselves which they want to watch. It's the same with other colorized movies like 'Scrooge' (1951), Casablanca (1942), etc.

I also read the book in modern English. These have been done by 'Shakespeare made easy' and 'Shakespeare 2000', of some of his plays. This is also an improvement, so that the plays e.g. can be enjoyed just as much today. The modern English is next to the original. The readers can again decide for themselves which to read. There could be this movie in modern English, if it was filmed recently. The original English makes me lose concerntration very easily.

The Bottom Line:

This 1953 version of Julius Caesar can boast a terrific rendering of Marc Antony's famous speech (and Brutus is an honorable man!) but that's the natural high point of the film which unfortunately continues on for another 40 minutes or so; it's tempting to recommend the film on the basis of that one speech alone but I can't, what with the lacking performance by James Mason as Brutus (who, despite the title, is the main character of the film) and pitiful sets which seem like they were put together an hour before shooting.

2.5/4