Story of movie Julius Caesar 1953 Film :
Julius Caesar is a 1953 epic Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film adaptation of the play by Shakespeare, directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, who also wrote the uncredited screenplay, and produced by John Houseman. The original music score is by Miklós Rózsa. The film stars Marlon Brando as Mark Antony, James Mason as Brutus, John Gielgud as Cassius, Louis Calhern as Julius Caesar, Edmond O'Brien as Casca, Greer Garson as Calpurnia, and Deborah Kerr as Portia.
| Julius Caesar | |
|---|---|
Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Joseph L. Mankiewicz |
| Produced by | John Houseman |
| Written by | Joseph L. Mankiewicz William Shakespeare (Play) |
| Starring | Marlon Brando James Mason John Gielgud Louis Calhern Edmond O'Brien Greer Garson Deborah Kerr |
| Music by | Miklós Rózsa |
| Cinematography | Joseph Ruttenberg |
| Edited by | John Dunning |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
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Running time | 121 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $2,070,000 |
| Box office | $3,920,000 |
Screenplay
Many of the actors connected with this film had previous experience with the play. John Gielgud had played Mark Antony at the Old Vic Theatre in 1930 and Cassius at the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1950, James Mason had played Brutus at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in the 1940s, and John Hoyt, who plays Decius Brutus, also played him in the Mercury Theatre's 1937 stage version. Gielgud later played the title role in the 1970 film with Charlton Heston, Jason Robards and Richard Johnson (as Cassius) and in a stage production directed by John Schlesinger at the Royal National Theatre. John Houseman, who had produced the famous 1937 Broadway version of the play starring Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre, also produced the MGM film. By this time, however, Welles and Houseman had had a falling out, and Welles had nothing to do with the 1953 film. P. M. Pasinetti, Italian-American writer, scholar, and teacher at UCLA served as a technical advisor.
Brando's casting was met with some skepticism when it was announced, as he had acquired the nickname of "The Mumbler" following his performance in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951). Director Joseph L. Mankiewicz even considered Paul Scofield for the role of Mark Antony if Brando's screen test was unsuccessful. Brando asked John Gielgud for advice in declaiming Shakespeare, and adopted all of Gielgud's recommendations. Brando's performance turned out so well that the New York Times stated in its review of the film: “Happily, Mr. Brando's diction, which has been guttural and slurred in previous films, is clear and precise in this instance. In him a major talent has emerged.” Brando was so dedicated in his performance during shooting that Gielgud offered to direct him in a stage production of Hamlet, a proposition that Brando seriously considered but ultimately turned down. During filming, James Mason became concerned that Brando was stealing the audience's sympathy away from him and his character, Brutus, so Mason appealed to Mankiewicz, with whom he had bonded earlier while making the film 5 Fingers, requesting that the director stop Brando from dominating the film and "put the focus back where it belongs. Namely on me!" The subsequent shift in directorial attention didn't escape Brando, who threatened to walk off the film if Mankiewicz "threw one more scene to Mason", alleging a ménage à trois among Mankiewicz, Mason and Mason's wife Pamela. Despite the feuding, production continued with only minimal disruption, thanks to what Gielgud called, "Mankiewicz's consummate tact that kept us together as a working unit."
O. Z. Whitehead is listed on the Internet Movie Database as having played Cinna the Poet in the film and not receiving screen credit, but his one scene was deleted before release, and it is not included in any DVD or video releases of the film. (However, Cinna the Conspirator does appear; he is played by actor William Cottrell.)
- Marlon Brando as Mark Antony
- James Mason as Brutus
- John Gielgud as Cassius
- Louis Calhern as Julius Caesar
- Edmond O'Brien as Casca
- Greer Garson as Calpurnia
- Deborah Kerr as Portia
- George Macready as Marullus
- Michael Pate as Flavius
- Richard Hale as a Soothsayer
- Alan Napier as Cicero
- John Hoyt as Decius Brutus
- Tom Powers as Metellus Cimber
- William Cottrell as Cinna
- Jack Raine as Trebonius
- Ian Wolfe as Ligarius
- Morgan Farley as Artemidorus
- Bill Phipps as Servant to Antony
- Douglass Watson as Octavius Caesar
- Douglass Dumbrille as Lepidus
- Rhys Williams as Lucilius
- Michael Ansara as Pindarus
- Dayton Lummis as Messala
- Edmund Purdom as Strato
- John Doucette as a Carpenter
- John Hardy as Lucius
- Chester Stratton as Servant to Caesar
- Lumsden Hare as Publius
- Preston Hanson as Claudius
- Victor Perry as Popilius Lena
- Michael Tolan as Officer to Octavius
- John Lupton as Varro
- Joe Waring as Clitus
- John Parrish as Titinius
- Stephen Roberts as Dardanius
- Paul Guilfoyle as a Citizen of Rome
- Lawrence Dobkin as a Citizen of Rome
- Jo Gilbert as a Citizen of Rome
- David Bond as a Citizen of Rome
- Ann Tyrrell as a Citizen of Rome
- John O'Malley as a Citizen of Rome
- Oliver Blake as a Citizen of Rome
- Alvin Hurwitz as a Citizen of Rome
- Donald Elson as a Citizen of Rome
Dramatis personae
in the order of their appearance
- John Doucette as a Carpenter
- George Macready as Marullus
- Michael Pate as Flavius
- Louis Calhern as Julius Caesar
- Edmond O'Brien as Casca
- Greer Garson as Calpurnia
- Deborah Kerr as Portia
- Marlon Brando as Mark Antony
- James Mason as Brutus
- John Gielgud as Cassius
- Richard Hale as a Soothsayer
- Alan Napier as Cicero
- William Cottrell as Cinna
- John Hardy as Lucius
- John Hoyt as Decius Brutus
- Tom Powers as Metellus Cimber
- Jack Raine as Trebonius
- Ian Wolfe as Ligarius
- Chester Stratton as a Servant to Caesar
- Lumsden Hare as Publius
- Morgan Farley as Artemidorus
- Victor Perry as Popilius Lena
- Bill Phipps as a Servant to Antony
- Michael Tolan as an officer to Octavius
- Douglas Watson as Octavius Caesar
- Douglass Dumbrille as Lepidus
- Rhys Williams as Lucilius
- Michael Ansara as Pindarus
- Dayton Lummis as Messala
- John Lupton as Varro
- Preston Hanson as Claudius
- John Parrish as Titinius
- Joe Waring as Clitus
- Stephen Roberts as Dardanius
- Thomas Browne Henry as Volumnius
- Edmund Purdom as Strato
and as citizens of Rome
- Paul Guilfoyle • Lawrence Dobkin
- David Bond • Jo Gilbert • Ann Tyrrell
- John O'Malley • Oliver Blake
- Alvin Hurwitz • Donald Elson
- James Dime
The film received highly favorable reviews. Bosley Crowther of The New York Times called it "a stirring and memorable film," while Variety wrote: "A triumphant achievement in film-making, it will be rated one of the great pictures of Hollywood." Harrison's Reports raved, "Excellent! Sumptuously produced, expertly directed and brilliantly acted, 'Julius Caesar' is an artistic triumph that ranks with the best of the Shakespearean plays that have been put on film." John McCarten of The New Yorker called the film "a very chilly exercise" and opined that Brando "plainly shows he needs a bit of speech training before he can graduate into an acting league where the spoken word is a trifle more significant than the flexed biceps and the fixed eye," but praised Mason and Gielgud as "a pleasure to watch and listen to." The Monthly Film Bulletin called it "an excellent film, excellent cinema, excellent entertainment, and pretty respectable art."
In the second volume of his book The Story of Cinema, author David Shipman pointed to Gielgud "negotiating the verse as in no other Shakespeare film to date except Olivier's". The film currently has a 95% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists:
- 2008: AFI's 10 Top 10:
- Nominated Epic Film
Box office
According to MGM records the film earned $2,021,000 in the US and Canada and $1,899,000 elsewhere, resulting in a profit of $116,000.
Intrada Records released an album featuring a 1995 re-recording of the film's score. The re-recording was performed by the Sinfonia of London and conducted by Bruce Broughton.
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