#Julius ceaser how to#
#Julius ceaser plus#

#Julius ceaser how to#

Surely one of those films of the 50's, along with On the Waterfront and Streetcar, where you can run it in an acting school and it might almost be enough to show the movie without any lecture to understand how to command attention from a partner, the audience, the whole world. But as far as just the core story goes, it's the stuff of legend. As with many Shakesepare movies, it may help being familiar with the play ahead of time to get all of the words and idiosyncracies of the Bard prose. Especially Gielgud impresses here, with a role that requires a lot of forceful talking, bordering on yelling, with declarations and insinuations and other things - as big as his acting is, just as with Brando and Mason to an extent, though he kind of pulls it back when he can (see the tent scene between Brutus and Cassius before battle), there's subtleties there, little moments you can see the actor working through the emotional logic first, the dense Shakespeare poetry second. And yet the final moments with Cassius and Brutus are so effective it makes one want to say nevermind. The final battle is good but almost, to me, a little short, as if Mankiewicz steps up to make an epic conclusion, but decides to side-step it as if he isn't totally trusting in his capabilities (that would come later, one supposes, with Cleopatra as far as BIG epics went). How to sway a crowd is the name of the dramatic angle here, and it's the stuff of the best Hollywood dramatic acting, writing and direction (and art direction too, what sets) could offer. He's making it very personal, all the more sad and that the revenge against the betrayers all the more stronger. He isn't just talking to no one, or to himself.

When Brando has his major set piece (he's not in as much of the film as you might expect, but his presence is felt more, which seems to be a thing with Brando character), addressing the crowd devastated over the loss of their ruler, it's a pinnacle of acting. It's almost unfair to give a proper review to the film after seeing it once, as certain big set pieces - or even a couple of the conversations that Cassius has with Brutus or the other Roman senators plotting the death of their 'beloved' Caesar - are quite dense with visual touches and details of performance. And yet it's not simply that these actors get some of the meatiest-dramatic lines ever written, like in the history of all civilizations, but that this is all about what it means to have, take, live with, demolish and get back or keep protected Power, with a capital P. This is the Godfather of political dramas, and so many, many lines have been taken into just everyday grammar aside from the 'fault is not in our stars' line, listen for others like ' O pardon me, thou bleeding piece of earth' or 'it was Greek to me'. It's Shakesepare on Golden-age Hollywood scale, but it's kept intimate when it counts, and the material is allowed to shine fully.

#Julius ceaser plus#

Interesting to see the intensity so LARGE on the fronts of both fronts of British classical-trained theater (John Gielgud, as the most psychologically pathological character, Cassius, fully delivering the goods, plus James Mason being his Mason-iest) and the Method (Brando, seeming like he's always been in these robes - at least this week). The direction is elegant and timed just right to get the performers on their beats and delivering more and then some. E arly in the Trump administration, there was controversy over a New York staging of Julius Caesar in which the actor playing the slain tyrant resembled the 45th president. Regardless, there are elements that shine with Shakespeare's beautiful words, and there are other elements that fall flat.Julius Caesar, the classic story of power corrupting and what happens when it's usurped, is the stuff of a near-masterpiece in 1950's Hollywood.

Director Mankiewicz is faithful, perhaps too faithful, to the original, though adapting the play may have been a damned if you do, damned if you don't type situation. I disliked Louis Calhern as Caesar as he didn't have the right bearing or presence. Watch it primarily for those, because the rest of the film, while erudite and worth watching, just doesn't translate as well. And I have to say, the scenes with Brando right after the assassination are compelling (the one in private ending with him raging 'Cry 'Havoc!'', and of course the address to the crowd), even if he slips on a word or two. On paper, this should be an extraordinary film. In this movie, you have the world's greatest playwright (Shakespeare) combined with one of the world's greatest actors (Brando), two other fantastic talents (Mason and Gielgud), and a compelling historical tale (the assassination of Julius Caesar and resulting civil war).