Page 116 - Shakespeare in the Movie From the Silent Era to Shakespeare in Love

A Tide in Men's Lives I 105

the speaker of any soliloquy. Such an approach is theatrical rather
than cinematic; a director ought to cut away the moment any char-
acter begins speaking to fully exploit the camera's remarkable abil-
ity for nonsynchronous sound, letting us hear one thing while seeing
another. More significant, this Julius Caesar lacked what critic
Parker Tyler referred to as a "lucid idea"—some organizing principle,
on the order of Olivier's "a man who could not make up his mind"
approach to Hamlet, which, however debatable, endowed Olivier's
film with its sense of a central purpose.
The film lacked modern topicality, but one way to ensure moder-
nity, despite period trappings, would have been to take the film's
cue from Brando and acquire an ultracontemporary cast of talented
Americans, with Montgomery Clift a natural for Brutus. The audi-
ence would quickly adjust to Romans with idiomatic American
voices, which was essential to the film's meaning. On the other
hand, if a more classical reading was the goal, James Mason was per-
fect for Brutus, and Richard Burton was the logical Antony. Simply,
the combination of Brando and Mason was wrong; Mason's exquisite
elocution made Brando's Method mannerisms appear absurd.
The problem, however, stretched beyond the incompatability of
Brando and Mason; Louis Calhern (Caesar) was a veteran of M-G-M.
superproductions; John Gielgud (Cassius) was primarily a stage actor;
Mason, though British, was a bona-fide film star; and Edmond
O'Brien (Casca) was a veteran of film noirs. Even the women
clashed; Greer Garson (Calpurnia) was a holdover from the golden
age of studio fabrications; Deborah Kerr (Portia) was one of the
emerging realistic actors. The result was a hodgepodge of talents that
did not belong together in the same picture.
Despite his supposed genius, Marlon Brando appeared intimidated
by Shakespeare and came across as stiff, seemingly frozen with fear
that he might make a wrong move. Nowhere is this problem so evi-
dent as in Antony's funeral address. Antony must begin softly, sens-
ing he is at odds with the crowd, then slowly but surely seduce
them, his voice growing ever more self-assured as listeners waver,
finally building, crescendo like, toward a fever pitch, sending them
off to kill. Brando offers a one-note recitation, the entire speech
tense, angry, shrill; there's no variety to his half-dozen deliveries of
"honorable men."
The film, does have its champions, among them Bennet Cerf, who
hailed it as "one of the most impressive—and exciting—movies I've
ever seen." To be sure, this Julius Caesar is not without merit. One