Capital Celluloid 2024 — Day 217: Fri Aug 9

Caligula - The Ultimate Cut (Brass, 2023): Prince Charles Cinema, 2.15pm


This film also screens on August 11th, 14th and 15th. Details here.

Prince Charles Cinema introduction:
CALIGULA: THE ULTIMATE CUT stars Malcolm McDowell (A CLOCKWORK ORANGE), Academy-Award Winners Helen Mirren (THE QUEEN) and Sir John Gielgud (ARTHUR), Peter O'Toole (LAWRENCE OFARABIA), Teresa Ann Savoy. The original writer was Gore Vidal and the original director, Tinto Brass, but both removed their names when their vision was severely compromised. The original film was produced by Bob Guccione and Franco Rossellini. With sumptuous set designs by two-time Oscar winner Danilo Donati. Shadowed by the murder of his entire family, the young, wary Caligula (Malcolm McDowell) eliminateshis devious adoptive grandfather (Peter O'Toole) and seizes control of the declining Roman Empire, descending into a spiral of depravity, destruction, and madness. A treatise on the corrupting influence ofpower, this extensive reconstruction reveals the complete performances of McDowell and Helen Mirren,as the promiscuous 'Caesonia', from an unprecedented amount of never-before-seen footage. Mirren’s role is greatly expanded from less than 20 minutes to almost an hour onscreen. McDowell and Mirren display a natural chemistry in this their third teaming, having appeared together in the previously acclaimed productions of O LUCKY MAN!, directed by Lindsay Anderson, and Harold Pinter's THE COLLECTION, directed by Michael Apted, also starring Alan Bates and Laurence Olivier.

Here (and above) is the trailer.

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