The Caesars

[phil25]

As I have re-visited the site for the first time in several months, I thought I would take the opportunity to alert those interested to the fact that the 1968 ITV series "The Caesars" written by Philip Mackie, in now out on dvd in the UK.

 

The series is in six parts - Augustus, Germanicus, Tiberius, Sejanus, Caligula and Claudius. It follows essentially the same time period as "I Claudius" - from Augustus' visit to the exiled Posthumus Agrippa, to the accession of Claudius. I can only say that though the series is studio made (ie all on sets with no exterior or location shooting) and in black and white, it retains the power to impress.

 

The sets are HUGE and the acting very impressive. Andre Morel (Quatermass in Quatermass and the Pit, and Messala's predecessor in Ben Hur") is an amazing Tiberius and actually reminded me of the statues of the real Emperor. I am a great fan of George Baker (who played the role in Claudius) but for me Morel is Tiberius - a man who desperately wants to restore the republic, cynical, brutal, but human. We don't get skin disorders and depravity from him, but a man being destroyed from within. Simply superb.

 

Freddie Jones made his name as Claudius and is quite different to Jacobi. Barry Ingham (an actor who also once played Robin Hood but otherwise disappeared) is excellent as Sejanus. Sejanus' fall is done in a packed senate with a subtle speech being read out. One might have been there. incidentally Macro is more subtly played than John Rees Davies manages in Claudius.

 

I saw the series when it was first shown and it has remained with me since. I am delighted to have the ability to watch it again and study it.

 

Where Graves' Claudius follows the "myths" and scandal (more Suetonius' account that Tacitus) The caesar's is more a straight (no pun intended) political drama - no romping on Capri for this serious-minded Tiberius!!

 

Caroline Blakiston (she often played Mrs Thatcher-type roles later in her career) is a grandly imperious and driven Agrippina the elder, with Eric Flynn as a noble but weak Germanicus.

 

I think the same actor plays Tiberius' soothsayer/astrologer Thrasyllus, in both series.

 

There were times when watching The Caesars that i felt i was watching footage of actual events - especially with Tiberius and Sejanus - mackie lets the facts and the political intrigue (the theme of the series is really "who will succeed to the throne") speak for themselves.

 

The late Michael Bates (who also made several Hammer horror films and died tragically young) is the best Gaius Caligula I have seen.

 

I can recommend the dvd without reservation to anyone who might think about buying it. It was just under

[Pertinax]

I have a UK link here:

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/B...7926758-5191654

 

 

and I have ordered it-thanks for digging that little gem out of the mud Phil.

Edited April 27, 2006 by Pertinax

[phil25]

Enjoy, Pertinax. I'm sure you will.

 

Phil

 

(PS - the Emperor who's name you share, a former governor of Britannia, of course, has always interested me. Whenever I stand in the dining room of the Palatine Palace - close to where he was murdered - I think of him. A man who might have done much for Rome and the empire had he lived.

[Pertinax]

I must actually put some thoughts together on him Phil, he certainly didnt look as though he would be candidate for the Imperium -but we all know that didnt last. The name was chosen for me in the traditional Roman way , giving a "pet" name to a particular personality trait of the person in question by his nearest family.

[Pantagathus]

I must actually put some thoughts together on him

 

I see that he was born in a Ligurian town...

[Pertinax]

THe Caesars has arrived " an everyday story of sex, madness and regicide" . Bodes well for a quiet evening in.

[Pertinax]

Well now this is an interesting purchase, for a start its one of the last major TV series shot in black and white-this doesnt detract from it at all, in fact its austere sets give the action a documentary graininess.If you buy this , and its worth consideration on what I have seen so far, I doubt you will get a better charachterisation of Tiberius . He is portrayed ( in his early elevation to the Purple) as a tremendously subtle person in a very tricky situation , aware of his historical role , sceptical of human foibles , stoic , measured , vastly intelligent. I look forward to seing his later years portrayed.

The series is full of intrigue and is much more "talking heads" than HBO but as an attempt at the claustrophobia of power it works well. You have top notch British actors delivering un mannered but controlled dialogue. So far Andre Morell (Tiberius -previously Prof Quatermass) is outstanding but a young Freddie Jones (Thufir Hawatt to you ) is amazing as Claudius.It has a very English class consciuos feel to it (which I thought was reflected in the class divisions in HBO) but this works perfectly with the dramatisation of Tacitus.

I have watched "Augustus" , showing his last days as Emperor and the "disposal" of Aggripa , Tiberius' rise and most interestingly his use of Auguries and "the exact science of Astrology".I have started to watch "Germanicus" which is an interpretation with some similarities to Marcus Antoninus in HBO .More reprts to follow.

I would add if you dont want to read but want history on a DVD this might do the job for you.

[phil25]

Glad you like it, Pertinax.

 

I'm also pleased that I am not alone in thinking Andre Morel's performance superb.

 

And i agree, the black and white pictures, the subdued performances and the very "realistic" feel of the politics, make this almost like watching documentary footage of say the 1930s. You are there!!!

 

Hope you enjoy the rest as much. And that what both of us have said will encourage others to buy this series.

 

Phil

[Furius Venator]

Just ordered my copy.

 

There are (for the time being) only 3 more available.

 

I have dim recollections of this series. I think between it and Goldsworthy's bumper book of Caesar, I've got the next fortnight's entertainment sorted...

 

Thanks for pointing this out Phil.

[Pertinax]

I must add that the patrician women, in this series (so far), are every bit as vindictivley poisinous and deadly as in the HBO series. If I was an old sceptic id say someone has perhaps cast an eye over this collection prior to the charachter development writing of Servillia and Julia .

 

edit: Livia and Agrippina are reptilianly splendid

Edited May 3, 2006 by Pertinax

[Pertinax]

I have now also watched "Germanicus" and "Tiberius" -the continuity is direct through these episodes. The producers have been very cunning in selecting the actor to platy Germanicus, (Eric Flynn) , someone with a superficial handsomeness but lacking in true weight , square jawed , courageous but not a maker of "events" rather a fortunate passenger (somewhat like Pompey Magnus perhaps?). Morell continues to impress , someone has tried very hard to write the contradicitons of Tiberius into a coherent "imagining" and Morell brings him to life: irritatingly difficult to work for ( sometimes fatally so) but always a lucid intelligence in his own centred self.

I suggest that any members under 30 may find the production serious/sombre (in some ways ) but I think this is a real lifetimes achievement by Philip Mackie who wrote and produced it.

Sejanus is very well done, a real corporate climber invisible and indispensable but ever present.

 

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0533524/

 

the "naked civil servant" is probably his best known work but I personally found it a bit "overwrought" .

 

also good advice to new Emperors everywhere: have your Mother strangled as soon as decently possible .

 

edit: Ive just got Hopkins in "Titus Andronicus" dirt cheap ill see what I make of that.

 

http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?&autom...&cmd=si&img=705 heres an outtake.

Edited May 4, 2006 by Pertinax

[phil25]

I hadn't realised (until your link, for which many thanks) that philip mackie was responsible for two other historical series that I covet!!

 

Neither were successes - but "The Cleopatras" covered a little known period and would be an excellent dvd link between Stone and Farrell's recent "Alexander" and the various treatments of Cleopatra. I recall the enormous actor from Harry Potter and "Pie in the Sky", Richard griffiths, and Robert Hardy as Caesar. It had, if memory serves, a slightly surreal set - all pillars and gauze, but a shrewd political intelligence. I'd love to see and own it on dvd.

 

Napoleon in Love had Ian Holm (LOTR Bilbo) and Billie Whitelaw as Napoleon and his "not tonight" lover, Josephine. The series had superb production values, sets and costumes, and was a great visual feast, even if panned by the critics and laughed at by many. probably deservedly in the latter case - a friend still remembers the David "Napoleon crossing the Alps" reproduced with Ian Holm's features. But it was lavish.

 

They have re-done "Fall of Eagles" so let's hope these two will follow sometme!!

 

Thank Perty,

 

Phil

[Pertinax]

I have square eyes from becoming engrossed in this DVD. Sejanus and Caligula are the next two subjects,Ralph Bates as Caligula is loathsome, and this is achieved with a minimun of porno-pyrotechnics as in the later eponymous film. Tiberius gathers all my sympathy as man overwhelmed by a job that requires charm above any other factor , such as integrity and intelligence -and he has no charm at all. His story as seen here is "tragic" in a real sense. Sejanus and Macro are portrayed as intelligent opportunists , Germanicus and Drusus as good looking lightweight and boorish dullard respectivley. Vitellus (the Syrian Governor) is the steely,shrewd political animal sans pareil(Gerald Harper).Freddie Jones holds the narrative together as the shambling, intelligent survivor of a moral shipwreck.

 

Very, very good.

 

http://www.unrv.com/forum/index.php?act=mo...&cmd=si&img=706

 

If you wish to see a range of screenshots from the series go to my album "Roma Victor! " on my blog.

 

http://spaces.msn.com/triclinium/

Edited May 5, 2006 by Pertinax

[phil25]

I was afraid it was just nostalgia that made me rate this series so highly in my earlier post. You reassure me, Pertinax, that my instincts weren't wrong.

 

I do seriously URGE all younger posters here, even if you LOATHE B&W films, to try to see this series. Inevitably history is truncated and dramatised, but I don't think you'll ever see anything that will make you THINK so much about the period it covers.

 

The later "I CLAVDIVS" had rather buried my memories of this series (I was about 16/17 when I saw it first, an adult when I saw Claudius. But certain performances outshine anything in the later series (in my humble view) - particular Andre Morell (Tiberius) - like Pertinax i could wax lyrical for ages about the "truth2 of this performance. Morell understood the man and made him a breathing whole - notwithstanding the unlikeableness of the character. Barrie Ingham's Sejanus is less flashy than Patrick Stewart's interpretation, but the former is the one I have always carried in my mind's eye - and his end is superbly real (politically) and understated.

 

Freddie Jones' Claudius won awards at the time, as I recall, and is every bit as good as Jacobi in less time. Perhaps even better as a psychological portrait - though I wouldn't die for the statement.

 

Ralph Bates' Caligula is unshowy and believable as a monster and looks like some of the busts. Frightening too. His murder lived in my mind all those years.

 

Can two of us be wrong? If you haven't thought about acquiring this set - please do. That way they might be encouraged to bring out other old series of equal quality.

 

For instance, again early 60s - the BBC did a series called "Spread of the Eagle" with Shakespeare's Coriolanus, Julius Caesar and Antony and Cleo done as a connected trilogy on one set. Robert hardy was Coriolanus; David William octavian, Keith Michell (later Henry VIII) as Antony, I think.

 

It was a follow-up to the "Age of Kings" the wonderful series of the History Plays from Richard II-Richard III.

I'm sure there would still be interest in the Roman version.

 

Phil

[Pertinax]

This is probably a good place to ask if anyone has ever been able to get hold of any sort of copy of the "Eagle of the Ninth" TV series from many years ago?