Malcolm McDowell (top) and Helen Mirren get it on in ‘Caligula: The Ultimate Cut’.
CALIGULA: THE ULTIMATE CUT *** (173 minutes) R
An unquestionably noble attempt to redeem the expensive, star-studded 1979 fiasco Caligula produces middling results but will at least offer some solace and, dare one suggest, a sense of closure to those admittedly pathetic souls who have devoted way too much time and money following the film’s fortunes and collecting the various versions on VHS and DVD.
As legend has it, producer and Penthouse founder Bob Guccione (who died in 2010 at 79) dismissed Italian director Tinto Brass (now 91 and who had nothing to do with this cut) after the shoot.
Guccione drastically re-edited the film, taking out reels of dramatic footage and inserting porn scenes, rendering the movie disjointed and largely incomprehensible – though that didn’t keep the critically reviled film from being a notable box office success.
This assemblage by producer and art historian Thomas Negovan draws upon miles of unused footage (about 90 hours’ worth, apparently) and succeeds in making the story of debauched Roman emperor Caligula coherent. The declared intent was to draw the film closer to the screenplay by literary titan Gore Vidal (who passed in 2012).
Alas, Caligula: The Ultimate Cut is not a case of gifting the world a lost masterpiece, long thought hidden in a vault stuffed with countless reels of raw footage.
No amount of reconstructive cinematic surgery can make up for the theatrical, almost operatic and inescapably languid direction by Tinto Brass. The performances are hammy and some sequences are of toilet-break length (you can dash out for a dunny run and get back without missing anything).
This version features a lot more of the young Helen Mirren, who co-stars with Peter O’Toole and John Gielgud, prestigious names subsequently shocked to discover they were headlining a dirty movie.
To give the film credit, the scenes of incest and sexual depravity remain shocking some 45 years on and the scale of the production – with an army of extras and elaborate sets that border on the surreal – is remarkable.
If one genuinely heartening aspect to this redemptive crusade has emerged it’s that Malcolm McDowell now embraces the film he long considered an embarrassing dent to an otherwise splendid CV.
Indeed, the notoriety of Caligula has dogged a career studded with outstanding work in such films as O Lucky Man, If, Aces High, Britannia Hospital, Royal Flash (wildly underrated) and, of course, A Clockwork Orange. So, it’s pleasing to hear how the taint of Caligula has been replaced with belated pride.
And it is, by any fair measure – despite all the film’s flaws and abrupt tonal shifts – a daring and confronting marathon performance. If ever you need a prime example of an actor committing to a role, McDowell’s work here as the deranged, egomaniacal, psychopathic absolute ruler of Rome serves superbly.
The big question is: does this version of the film stand on its own or will it chiefly be of interest to devotees familiar with its troubled history?
Probably the latter, to be honest. At just on three-hours it’s simply too long and slow a sit for uninitiated normals who will find the film’s depictions of sexual debauchery and brutality – startling as they are – insufficient to make up for the overall lack of pace.
Still, it is a notable and worthwhile exercise in film restoration that will be saluted by those aging cineastes who first witnessed the controversial original Caligula back in their teens and who have been fascinated with the film’s journey ever since.
So, long may Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus reign, now that he has been put back together. It’s even conceivable his arrival in the stream might earn him a new generation of followers.
Caligula: The Ultimate Cut comes out on disk early 2025. Details here.