I, Claudius
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Movie Reviews of I, Claudius
Movie Review: A Wonderful Example of Literary License
Summary: 5 Stars
I have looked everywhere for scholarly work on Livia Drusilla, and there is precious little. And what I have found has been mostly conjecture. This clears the way for Robert Graves's historical fiction, I Claudius. After all, one can easily conjecture from what we do know - the numerous heirs standing in Tiberius's path to the Imperium who died under cloudy circumstances - that something was rotten in the state of Rome during the reign of Augustus and his immediate successors. And if Graves offers up Augustus's wife Livia as the Black Widow to end all black widows, who can object?This thirteen-part BBC drama is, along with the inexcusably neglected BBC Lionheart epic, A Fall of Eagles, the greatest TV drama ever made and is among the greatest of dramatic productions ever made in any medium, including live theatre. (If you have seen both, you will notice some of the same cast, including Derek Jacobi and Patrick Stewart.) In fact, I Claudius is indeed "live" theatre. It is one of the few productions I can recall to bring the advantages of live theatre to television - long dialogue and up-close and personal relationship to the audience - while avoiding theatrical staging's claustrophobic effects on a small (or even large) screen. This is accomplished, I believe, by screenwriter Jack Pulman and production designer Tim Harvey. Pulman's dialogue is so dynamic and fluent, that it compensates for the constraints on physical action imposed by a TV studio. And Harvey achieves a small miracle by somehow conveying the grandeur of Rome, though likewise constrained by TV. This opening up of both the physical and emotional atmosphere creates ample room for the story and the performances.
And what performances they are! Claudius is Derek Jacobi's starmaking rōle. And Siān Philips plays the evil Livia with a deliciousness that makes us all feel terribly guilty. For make no mistake, this is a cruel, murderous and depraved woman, and this is a monstrous story. Yet, at the end of each episode, we are lusting for more, just like the Roman mobs in their bloody circuses.
And now I'm watching it yet again - this time on DVD!
Movie Review: The best historical mini-series I have ever seen
Summary: 5 Stars
Without a doubt, for an in-depth fictional portrait of another era, this mini-series more or less sets the standard. The acting is uniformly excellent, but the depth of character, placed in context without cheap TV-style simplification, has not yet been equalled in my viewing. I will certainly watch it with my kids and discuss the details for hours and hours.
As with all historical fiction, this version fills in a lot of gaps that we will never know, making events more dramatic or directed by malevolent intelligence, but it is an interpretation that is entirely plausible. This is the artist's license, and Graves was such a scholar that we can trust it. Moreover, it never crosses the line in melodrama or the maudlin.
The story takes place at the end of the Republic. Julius Caesar is gone, and after a power struggle, Octavian (soon renamed Augustus) has emerged with his hands firmly on the reigns of power. It is one of those watershed moments, in which an entire new way of governance is invented. While not quite an hereditary monarchy, the Roman Emperor must designate an heir to his absolute power, which resides in the hands of two linked families: the Julians and the Claudians. Who will succeed Augustus is the crux of the story. Claudius, deformed, stuttering, and apparently feeble-minded, appears as the least likely successor. However, the candidates around Augustus keep dying in mysterious ways. Then when successors are chosen, they lack not only the moderation of the conservative Augustus, but lack his truly masterful political instinct of maintaining certain social balances. The result is drift, unimaginable autocratic cruelty, and the final destruction of the old oligarchic ruling classes, paving the way for an entirely new class of politicians to arise. Amidst the most brutal manipulation and machination, Claudius finally has his turn, with very surprising results. It is a wonderful study in absolute power and its corrupting influence.
Many reviewers have criticized the copy. Upon viewing it, I must say that it is fine. The problem is that it was shot in the mid-1970s, which was a less technically adept time, and as a BBC production, it is lower budget that current viewers expect. Sure, some of the effects look chinsey, but the drama is so overpoweringly excellent that I cannot fault this.
Warmly recommended. As a classics major, this brings what I studied to life, deepening my fascination with that vanished world. For a general audience, this version can create an interest that will last a lifetime. It is absolutely first rate.
Movie Review: Classic production, classy package
Summary: 5 Stars
A classic TV production from the BBC, "I, Claudius" based on Robert Graves novels first appeared in 1976. Derek Jacobi appears as Claudius who ascends to power in Rome through the treachery of Livia (Sian Phillips)the scheming wife of Augustus (Brian Blessed). The top notch cast, script by writer Jack Pulman and direction by Herbert Wise make this one of the finest and most memorable productions aired during the 70's.
The transfer looks fine but the source videotape is nearly 30 years old. The videotape has faded significantly with age and Image and Fox used the best available source tape that they had the rights to for this production. The mono sound is muffled and probably should have been cleaned up and the signal boosted but, overall, the quality of the DVDs are actually pretty good (by comparsion take a look at the 80's version of "The Twilight Zone" which had an even worse original source tape). I actually don't feel as if the image quality deserves 1 star although it could have been improved along with sound. Each DVD has three episodes of the series. I can't compare it to the UK re-release for image quality but keep in mind that there's only so much restoration that can be done to videotape this old. Unfortunately, the BBC didn't have the budget to shoot the series on film.
The last disc includes a 71 minute documentary produced in 1965 about the ill fated production of "I Claudius" that producer Alexander Korda started (with Josef Von Sternberg at the helm as director)in 1937. The beautiful production design for the unfinished film isevident in every frame. There's a significant amount of footage that survived (and that Von Sternberg cut as he was shooting the film)and that's presented. Charles Laughton's performance has its moments but it's clear he didn't quite have a handle on the role. Reportedly, he had a number of tandrums during production and Korda used the car accident of Merle Oberon as an excuse to cancel the film despite the large sum of money already spent on the film. What's really fun about the footage is that it's not as fragmentary as one would suspect. Hosted and narrated by the late Dirk Bogarde and featuring interviews surviving cast & crew, it's a fascinating glimpse behind the scenes of what could have been a classic film if not for the misfortunes of the production.
Despite the minor drawbacks of the source videotape, this production is worthwhile to view. It's a pity that we don't have more extras with this set but what we do get is magnificent.
Movie Review: "You're All Scum and You Know It!"
Summary: 5 Stars
I am sorry that I am repeating a title for this review that someone else used, but I like it so much. This is one of the very finest series ever made for television. Some people feel that the lack of music detracts from it, but I feel it makes the acting seem more intense, since no one except the actor is manipulating your feelings as you watch it. It also creates a more somber mood than I find in other programs that do have a musical track. Some people feel the sets are too limited, but I feel they are beautiful and sumptuous, and they again add to the intensity of what we are seeing. The costumes, like in all the 1970's BBC historical dramas are beautiful as well.
As for the actors, frankly my two favorites are Brian Blessed as Augustus and (no surprise) John Hurt as Caligula (Derek Jacobi is great also, but I am attracted to the others more). Blessed plays Augustus as a basically well-meaning, genial man, almost making us forget that he was the most powerful man in the Western World and he rubbed out a lot of people on the way to the top. John Hurt is effeminate, rapacious and cruel all at the same time.
Although Robert Graves wrote the books in the 1920's, his political message is quite relevant today. He points out how a generation of seemingly idealistic, family-oriented, heroic figures such as Drusus, Germanicus, Livia's first husband, and even Augustus give way to corrupt, degenerate rulers, with the acceptance of the people. The Romans, who at one time had a republic and an abhorrence of hereditary monarchy, voluntarily give up their freedom and become indifferent to the debaucheries of their rulers. Sounds something like the bureaucratic dictatorship of the European Union which is taking away more and more freedoms from the people, and like a couple of Presidents of the US in fairly recent history who turned the White House in to a brothel.
My favorite scene is the one where Claudius and his mother Antonio give gladiatorial games in memory of Drusus. Here we see the bloody, barbaric side of so-called Roman "civilization" as Claudius' sister Livilla, dressed as a genteel Roman matron, is screaming to one of the gladiators "kill him!, kill him!". There is the unforgettable scene just before the games where Livia is addressing the gladiators "You're all scum and you know it!" and she tells them something to the effect "these games are being degraded by the use deceptive techniques in order to stay alive!" Priceless.
Movie Review: Clau, Clau, Claudius DOES speak CLEAR!
Summary: 5 Stars
It was with great anticipation that I awaited my copy of the DVD version of this wonderful mini-series. My trembling fingers tore at the cellophane covering the slipcase and I reverently snapped the first of three discs out its cover and into my player. At once I was swept back to my younger days in 1976, glued to the television, awaiting those dissonant harsh and metallically evil string tones which announced the arrival of that serpent slithering with deadly menace across the mosaic background. I watched every installment without a break, mesmerized was I. But it was different, crisp, clear, with color that jumps off the screen. Footfalls so audible, the click of the dice, the stab of a dagger, all vivid and real. Excuse my effervesence, but I have awaited this revived version for many years, nursing my beaten old beta copies to death, watching the color fade with each playing, the sound track more muffled and less audible. How refreshing to see it live again in such splendor. So wanting was I that I searched for a laser disc copy but found them too expensive and used. This is an affordable Claudius, one which will stand the test of time. The bonus documentary of the ill-fated screen epic is just the icing on the cake, a look at a good idea that for various reasons couldn't make it to celluloid. However, the BBC version had an ensemble of actors and actresses who surpassed Korda's vision. Claudius is an intimate story, told in minute detail, far to grand and lengthly a story to compress into 2 hours. It deserves all 13, and revels in that time frame. The most excellent cast includes Sian Phillips as the methodically murderous Livia, Brian Blessed as Augustus, noble in ideas but pitifully pedantic and irritatingly obtuse, unaware of all the intrigue and mahem going on around him, John Hurt as the monstrous Caligula (my favorite even above Jay Robinson of "The Robe" and "Demetrius and the Gladiators" fame)along with George Baker (Tiberius), Margaret Tyzack (Antonia), Patrick Stewart (Sejanus) all provide a wonderful tapestry of murder, debauchery, intrigue, nobility and fatality that frames Derek Jacobi and his stellar performance as the stuttering, limping, drooling, observing, waiting, and finally triumphant Claudius.I highly recommend this DVD to everyone who, like myself, re-lives the tempestuous lives of the first four Roman emperors over and over again. 5 stars for I, Claudius....