Caligula: The Blu Edition

There are some films that are almost as interesting off screen is on screen with the travails and squabbles surrounding the creation just about as fascinating as the movies themselves. The stories behind how Apocalypse Now and Fitzcarraldo are absolutely intriguing, involving a heart attack, tropical storms, civil war and fiery clashes between the star and director. Caligula is another matter altogether as there was no location shooting to go wrong and all the documented problems were due to 'artistic differences'.

What began as an epic historical drama penned by award-winning author Gore Vidal ended up as one of the most controversial films ever to come before the British censors. The problems are legendary and the cast makes it all the more fascinating with Peter O'Toole, Sir John Gielgud, Malcolm McDowell and Helen Mirren all appearing in a film which features hard-core sex. It wasn't just the censors that the film had problems with, it was the cast, one of whom sued the filmmakers for making her appear in a pornographic film without her knowledge.

The problems started midway through shooting, or one can argue that they began even before then when the film had difficulties attracting financiers and when they found one, it was Bob Guccione, owner of Penthouse magazine. Guccione had one vision for the film and Vidal had another with Guccione wanting much more depravity and sex than the original screenplay envisioned. Guccione settled on a director, Tinto Brass, whose film Salon Kitty had convinced Guccione that Brass was that man, as he managed to marry sleaze and drama into a historical film. When the filming got underway, it was clear that Guccione wanted much more harcore sex and gratuitous violence than Tinto Brass was prepared to film and the two fell out acrimoniously. Brass was banned from the set once principal photography was finished and Guccione finished the film himself with the aid of his friend, Italian director Giancarlo Lui.

The resulting film was critically panned, with Roger Ebert walking out and giving the film zero stars and quoting a woman who he met at a water fountain who described the film as "piece of s***". It was cut to pieces by most censorship boards, rather unsurprisingly given the sheer level of sex and violence, and was only granted an 18 certificate by the BBFC in 2008. It has been released on DVD before but now makes his Blu-ray debut.

I've seen a lot of films that are controversial or have material likely to shock and Caligula is way up there. It's not often you see a 'mainstream' movie containing fellatio, cunnilingus, anal fisting, infanticide, forced urination and penetrative sex, but that's what you get with Caligula. The idea was to show the infamous Roman Caesar, who was known for depraved behaviour, at his most outrageous, leaving no taboo unbroken.

What you have then, is a man who become Caesar by murdering his great-uncle, a syphilis ridden hedonist, who may have given the crown to his biological grandson, a simple young boy called Gemellus. Upon becoming Caesar, Caligula continues an incestuous relationship with his sister who tries to convince him to marry a woman in the senatorial class, but Caligula, nicknamed Little Boots for his work with the army, is adamant that he will marry her even if it means travelling to Egypt where it was legal to marry one's sister. Eventually he succumbs and marries the far from chaste Caesonia who indulges his every whim, no matter how bizarre or degenerate. It's only a matter of time before his behaviour becomes so outlandish that the Senate and the Pretorian Guard lose patience and have him assassinated.


There are some films that I've heard a lot about but haven't seen, normally because they aren't available on DVD, and Caligula was one of these. I was aware of its history and the controversy it caused upon its release but never got around to actually seeing it. The film is an incredible experience, I'll give it that, but it is actually quite boring and extremely disjointed as you can see where the cuts in the Tinto Brass version were made to allow Guccione to insert the scenes containing hard-core sex. It is an amazing film to watch, if only to see why it was panned by the critics and why it caused such a furore amongst the censorship boards.

I don't know how the big-name British actors played innocent, as there is an early scene involving Peter O'Toole, John Gielgud and Malcolm McDowell where they are in a huge set in which scores of extras, virtually all of them naked, performing all manner of sexual acts on each other whilst McDowell follows O'Toole around and Gielgud stands, pondering the scene before him. By the time Helen Mirren comes on board, as Caligula's wife, the orgiastic scenes are in full flow and both she and O'Toole spent part of the time in a state of undress, or are surrounded by people wearing little or nothing. I do understand how they did not foresee how the finished film would look and they were certainly not on set when Guccione brought along his Penthouse Pets to film the sex scenes.


At 156 minutes, this is a big old film and it does take a lot of watching. There were several occasions when my attention drifted as the editing is not exactly tight and the result is something extremely unwieldy that lurches drastically from a scene of historical drama with one of the main actors, normally McDowell, showcasing their thespian talent, to a scene of completely unnecessary and unwarranted pornographic excess. Far from convincing you that Caligula Caesar was one of the most depraved men who ever lived, you get that impression about Bob Guccione! This could have been something extremely interesting with something to say about one of Rome's greatest villains, but it isn't, and is pretty dull for all of the porn on view.

The Disc

Extra Features
When you normally select 'deleted and alternate scenes' on the menu screen, you expect a few extended or omitted scenes but, in this case, there are 49 minutes of material that was excised from the finished version. This only serves to reinforce my opinion that Guccione and Giancarlo Lui didn't quite know what they were doing and were extremely unsure what to take out, what to leave and what to put in the movie.

There are a series of theatrical trailers which are quite interesting as they give you an impression of how the film was marketed. The North American bonus footage is more evidence of the amount of footage that was shot with over half an hour of very rough material, some with sound and some without.

The behind-the-scenes footage runs at 78 minutes and is quite interesting to watch though it is something you put on in the background as it doesn't require your full attention. This is all rough footage shot during preparation and shooting so you get to see the sets being created, actors rehearsing and Tinto Brass at work.


This Deluxe Edition or, as the packaging dubs it, 'The Blu Edition' comes with a second disc of extra material containing further Featurettes such as a making of, two retrospectives, one with John Steiner and another with Lori Wagner, plus a documentary on Tinto Brass and the film. There are also stills galleries and DVD-ROM content.

Oddly, this doesn't have the commentaries that were on the Imperial Edition DVD and only has one cut of the film.  I would have thought there was enough room for all three but, never mind, you have the one that matters.

As with other Arrow Video Blu-ray releases, this comes in a normal Blu-ray case inside a slipcover with a reversible sleeve that gives you a choice of four covers and the case also houses a booklet. I haven't seen the finished product or read the booklet so I can't comment on the quality.

The Picture
Caligula is a film with notoriously poor visual quality, with Newsweek saying that it "seemed to have been filmed through a tub of Vaseline" and the detail is still poor on Blu-ray. Some scenes are very good with vibrant colours but others are very disappointing with low contrast levels so that detail gets lost in lowlight situations.

This looks like a fairly expensive movie with big sets, lavish costumes and excellent period detail. However, in many scenes all that pales into insignificance because of the amount of naked flesh on show!

The Sound
You get the choice of DTS-HD Master Audio 5.0 or 2.0 and the stereo track is by far the one to choose. The 5.0 mix is extremely muddy with the dialogue hard to make out and, because it's a film that doesn't rely on surround sound, the stereo option presents the dialogue clearly and there is no problem with it being drowned out or otherwise compromised by the score.


Final Thoughts
Caligula is a film that needs to be seen to be believed. I'd heard quite a lot about it but was almost completely unprepared for what I saw. If Brian De Palma's Scarface was a film of excess that revelled in the excess of its central character, then Caligula is a depraved film that revels in Caligula's depravity. It is certainly not a film for the prudish and seems that Arrow Video have, again, put a great deal of effort into one of their Blu-ray releases with what looks like a beautifully packaged set with a great deal of extras.

If you're a fan of Caligula then now is the time to celebrate and if you're slightly curious as to what all the fuss is about, then consider putting your hand in your pocket and splashing out on this splendid package. The film isn't to everyone's tastes - it will be a while before I watch it again - but it is an incredible experience.