I, Claudius
by Herbert Wise
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DVD details
Actor: Derek Jacobi, Eileen Corbett, Emlyn Williams, Flora Robson, Siān PhillipsDirector: Herbert Wise
Brand: Image Entertainment
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Box set, Color, Full Screen
Running Time: 740 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-08-15
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Image Entertainment
DVD Reviews of I, Claudius
DVD Review: There's nothing of value there and the people make terrible slaves
Summary: 5 Stars
Is the succinct summing up of ancient Britain by "Drusus," Roman General and stepson of "Augustus Caesar," in what is probably the most ambitious BBC mini-series ever made, the incomparable "I Claudius." Spread across 13 episodes and 5 discs, "I Claudius" tells the story of 70 years of Roman history and the founding of the Caesarian dynasty, driven almost entirely by the vaunting ambition and twisted machinations of Caesars wife, the malevolently evil "Livia." Over a period of decades she plotted and maneuvered, elevating some, destroying others, as if playing a monstrous game of chess with peoples lives, `til she finally achieved her ultimate goal, the placing of her eldest son, "Tiberius," on the throne of Empire. But so blinded by her ambition was she that she lost sight or ignored the consequences of some of her own actions, and was, for instance, responsible for unleashing the insanity and horror that was the reign of "Caligula" on the then known World!
Blackly humorous and exquisitely acted by all concerned, "I Claudius" will undoubtedly feel "flat" and "stagey" to audiences raised on epics such as "The Fall of the Roman Empire," "Spartacus," "Ben Hur," "Gladiator," and newer series such as "Rome." Indeed, most of the production does have the feel of a filmed play, and this is most noticeable in the "crowd" scenes, which are handled with that most venerable of stage techniques, "noises-off." For instance, you'll have a medium shot of Caesar and assorted dignitaries around his throne at the Coliseum, the Emperor speaks and the camera slowly zooms in, he finishes and beams at the crowd, who then roar their approval... OFF camera!
But don't let this stylistic - and budget conscious! - technique put you off, "I Claudius" is a monumental undertaking, the filming of Robert Graves' two-part literary masterpiece, "I Claudius," and "Claudius the God." That the series succeeded beyond everyone's wildest dreams is down to the fundamentals; a superb story, an excellent script, and, in many cases, career best performances from the primary cast, as opposed to squillions spent on sfx. The cast of "I Claudius" is HUGE, with an amazing 142 actors credited on the cast page of Amazon... and don't forget that this was a BBC TV production from the late 70's, not a Hollywood epic!
The story is told by an elderly Claudius in flashback, as he writes a secret history of his family, and therefor of the Roman Empire, starting when Claudius himself was but a child and his grandfather, Augustus Caesar, is in his later years. Brian Blessed plays Caesar as a very down-to-earth character. An ex-soldier who now commands an empire, he longs for the old days of the Republic and simpler times, has scant time for all the politicking that goes with his position, and adamantly refuses to allow the Senate to declare him a God. Blessed is one of those actors who can chew the scenery with ease, but restrains his usually larger-than-life persona to give us a very human Caesar, an Emperor who is also a Man-of-the-People.
Sian Philips plays Livia, the wife of Augustus Caesar, and grandmother to Claudius, as a scheming monster who justifies her lifetime of intrigue and murder - including that of one of her own sons! - by proclaiming she was only doing what was in the best interests of Rome! A poisoner of some repute, one character says of her, only half-jokingly, "They say a snake bit her once. And died."
And speaking of monsters, we have John Hurt as the utterly crazed and depraved Caligula. Hurt is an incredibly versatile actor, and will be forever known to most, I'm sure, as "Kane," the unsuspecting host to the "Chest-burster" in the original "Alien." In 1978 he was "Max" in the harrowing "Midnight Express," in 1980 he was the titular "Elephant Man," and you may have seen him recently as "Chancellor Suttler" in 2005's "V for Vendetta!" Hurt's Caligula is a true monster in human form; completely insane, he thinks he has metamorphosed into a God, treats people with childish spite, rewards groveling Senators with their lives or has them executed on a whim, depraved in the extreme he takes his sister as his bride, and makes his horse a Senator! Hurt throws himself into the role with complete abandon, and instead of giving us a caricature of a lunatic, what we have is a truly terrifying mad-man, unpredictable in the extreme, you never know quite what he's going to do next. Cruel, despotic, and vicious, everyone, including his uncle, Claudius, tiptoes around him as if on broken glass in their bare feet! In fact, there is one scene where, in a sudden flash of self-awareness, Caligula asks his uncle if he considers him to be mad. You can see the wheels spinning away inside Claudius' mind, he knows that the wrong answer, or even just the wrong expression on his face, could result in his torture and death, and probably the torture and death of all his friends and family as well! His answer is pure genius; Caligula can NOT be mad, because as Emperor he sets the standard for sanity in the entire World. Caligula ponders this and as he does so you see his momentary self-doubt evaporate; he's back to his old self again in no time and sends his uncle away with the cheery thought that he WAS going to kill him, but changed his mind! This is an incredibly tense scene, and a wonderful performance from both actors.
As with John Hurt's Caligula, Derek Jacobi's Claudius is a career-making performance. First seen under a huge amount of padding and "old" make-up as the aged and frail Emperor, Jacobi plays Claudius from his late teens/early twenties, to his death at the end of the series. Sporting a severe limp, and a stammer that is at times painful to listen to, Claudius is considered a simpleton and a fool, something that helps shield him from his grandmothers scheming, as well as an early prophesy that he would one day rule the Empire. The Roman elite took such things very seriously, and even Caligula had to stay his hand lest he anger the Gods themselves! But as well as the limping and the stammering and the drooling, Jacobi shows us the intelligence and innate goodness in his character. A scholar and historian, he, like his grandfather, longs for the old days of the Republic, but knows that the tide of history will not allow the Republic to return, at least in his lifetime.
There are many other great performances in "I Claudius," including a pre-Trek Patrick Stewart - with hair! - as "Sejanus," a commander of the Praetorian Guard, plotting to marry himself into the Royal Family, and even with stand-out performances from the likes of Blessed, Philips, and especially Hurt, it is Derek Jacobi's incredibly naturalistic performance as Claudius that binds the whole story together.
In our current Hi-Def, 5.1, Big Screen audiovisual world, I too, like many other reviewers, was disappointed that "I Claudius" wasn't given something of a spring clean to bring the picture and sound up to today's standards. It looks pretty much just the way it did when I saw it on TV back in the late 70's! But, don't let that put you off, as I said, this is superlative television, truly, one of the greats, and I would recommend it without hesitation!
And before I finish I'd like to share a little bit of trivia with you that I always enjoyed hearing Derek Jacobi tell during interviews. They had rehearsed and were filming the actor who played the young Claudius, Ashley Knight, while Jacobi was still rehearsing his own performance, and everyone said how wonderful the child actor was... and it IS a great performance! Unfortunately, it was realized too late that he was limping with the "wrong" foot, so Jacobi had to go back to square-one, and start his rehearsals all over again, changing HIS limp to match his younger self!
Description of I, Claudius
Studio: Image Entertainment Release Date: 09/04/2007 Run time: 740 minutes Rating: NrThis superbly acted, mordantly funny romp through 70 years or so of Roman history is one of the best-loved miniseries ever made, and deservedly so. Derek Jacobi plays Roman Emperor Claudius, who reflects in old age on his life and his remarkable family, giving us a history lesson that's unlike anything you learned in school.
The story begins in 24 B.C. during the reign of Augustus Caesar, Rome's first emperor, and ends in A.D. 54 with Nero on the throne. In between, I, Claudius details the scheming, murder, madness, and lust that passed for politics in the early years of the Pax Romana. The biggest worm in the Roman apple is Augustus's wife, Livia (the superb Siān Phillips), whose single-minded pursuit of power shapes the destiny of the Empire. With a carefully planted rumor here and a poisoned fig there, she gradually maneuvers her son, Tiberius, toward the throne, creating an atmosphere of suspicion and treachery that starts Rome on its helter-skelter slide into bloody chaos. Phillips somehow makes us understand this extraordinarily wicked woman. As she ages and her carefully wrought webs begin to unravel, it becomes clear that Livia has been as thoroughly poisoned by her own ambition as her victims were by her carefully prepared meals.
Further acting honors go to George Baker as Tiberius, who resists but eventually succumbs to the destiny forced upon him by his mother, and to John Hurt as a hilarious and absolutely terrifying Caligula. In one breathtakingly tense scene, the mad Emperor performs a dance in drag, then asks Claudius to critique it, perfectly capturing the horror of a world where one wrong word means death, or worse. Jacobi is the perfect Claudius, hiding his intelligence behind a crippling stammer and shuffling around the edges of events--until he finds himself pulled to the very center. His wry comments give shape to the tangled story of his family and help the audience make sense of a dauntingly complex cast of characters.
I, Claudius might seem a little studio-bound to viewers brought up on more recent big-budget costume dramas, but the topnotch cast and the incident-filled plot are more than enough to hold the attention through almost 11 hours of gripping, deliciously wicked Roman follies. This boxed set also includes a documentary entitled "The Epic That Never Was," about Alexander Korda's failed attempt to film I, Claudius in 1937. The film, directed by Josef von Sternberg and starring Charles Laughton as Claudius and Merle Oberon as Messalina, was abandoned unfinished, and it remains one of Hollywood's great lost movies. --Simon Leake
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