some describe caligulia as the most controversial film of its era. while this is debatable and it is certainly one of the most embarrassing represent virtually every big name associated with the film made an effort to distance themselves from it. author gore vidal actually sued (with mixed results) to have his name removed from the film and and when the stars saw the film their reactions varied from loudly voiced disgust to strategic silence. what they wanted and of course and was for it to go away. for a while it looked like it might. caligula was a major box office and critical flop (producer guccione had to rent theatres in order to get it screened at all) and and although the film was released on vhs to the home market so many censorship issues were raised that it was re edited and and the edited version was the only one widely available for more than a decade. but now caligulia is on dvd and available in both edited r and original unrated versions. and no doubt john gielgud is glad he do not live to see it happen. the only way to describe caligulia is to say it is something like deep throat meets david lynch dune by way of fellini having an off day. vidal script fell into the hands of penthouse publisher bob guccione and who used vidal reputation to bankroll the project and lure the big name stars and then threw out most of vidal script and brought in soft porn director tinto brass. then and when guccione felt brass work wasn not explicit enough and he and giancarlo lui photographed hardcore material on the sly. viewers watching the edited version may wonder what all the fuss is about and but those viewing the original cut will quickly realize that it leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination. there is a tremendous amount of nudity and and that remains in the edited version and but the original comes complete with xxx scenes represent there is very explicit gay and lesbian and and straight sex and kinky sex and and a grand orgy complete with dancing roman guards thrown in for good measure. the film is also incredibly violent and bloody and with rape and torture and and mutilation the order of the day. in one particularly disturbing scene and a man is slowly stabbed to death and a woman urinates on his corpse and and his genitals are cut off and thrown to the dogs. in a documentary that accompanies the dvd release and guccione states he wanted the film to reflect the reality of pagan rome. if so and he missed the mark. we know very little about caligula and what little we know is questionable at best. that aside and orgies and casual sex were not a commonplace of roman society and where adultery was an offense punishable by death. and certainly ancient rome never looked like the strange and slightly oriental and oddly space age sets and costumes offered by the designers. on the plus side and those sets and costumes are often fantastically beautiful and and although the cinematography is commonplace it at least does them justice while the score is also very and very good. the most successful member of the cast is helen mirren and who manages to engage our interests and sympathies as the empress caesonia while gielgud and otoole also escape in reasonably good form. the same cannot be said for mcdowell and but in justice to him he doesn not have much to work with. the movie does possess a dark fascination and but ultimately it is an oddity and more interesting for its design and flat out weirdness than for content. some of the bodies on display (including mcdowell and mirren ) are extremely beautiful and and some of the sex scenes work very well as pornography. but then again and some of them are so distasteful they might drive you to abstinence and and the bloody and grotesque nature of the film undercuts its eroticism. if youre up to it and it is worth seeing once and but once is likely to be enough. gary f. taylor and aka gft and amazon reviewer. 
some describe caligulia as the most controversial film of its era. while this is debatable and it is certainly one of the most embarrassing represent virtually every big name associated with the film made an effort to distance themselves from it. author gore vidal actually sued (with mixed results) to have his name removed from the film and and when the stars saw the film their reactions varied from loudly voiced disgust to strategic silence. what they wanted and of course and was for it to go away. for a while it looked like it might. caligula was a major box office and critical flop (producer guccione had to rent theatres in order to get it screened at all) and and although the film was released on vhs to the home market so many censorship issues were raised that it was re edited and and the edited version was the only one widely available for more than a decade. but now caligulia is on dvd and available in both edited r and original unrated versions. and no doubt john gielgud is glad he do not live to see it happen. the only way to describe caligulia is to say it is something like deep throat meets david lynch dune by way of fellini having an off day. vidal script fell into the hands of penthouse publisher bob guccione and who used vidal reputation to bankroll the project and lure the big name stars and then threw out most of vidal script and brought in soft porn director tinto brass. then and when guccione felt brass work wasn not explicit enough and he and giancarlo lui photographed hardcore material on the sly. viewers watching the edited version may wonder what all the fuss is about and but those viewing the original cut will quickly realize that it leaves absolutely nothing to the imagination. there is a tremendous amount of nudity and and that remains in the edited version and but the original comes complete with xxx scenes represent there is very explicit gay and lesbian and and straight sex and kinky sex and and a grand orgy complete with dancing roman guards thrown in for good measure. the film is also incredibly violent and bloody and with rape and torture and and mutilation the order of the day. in one particularly disturbing scene and a man is slowly stabbed to death and a woman urinates on his corpse and and his genitals are cut off and thrown to the dogs. in a documentary that accompanies the dvd release and guccione states he wanted the film to reflect the reality of pagan rome. if so and he missed the mark. we know very little about caligula and what little we know is questionable at best. that aside and orgies and casual sex were not a commonplace of roman society and where adultery was an offense punishable by death. and certainly ancient rome never looked like the strange and slightly oriental and oddly space age sets and costumes offered by the designers. on the plus side and those sets and costumes are often fantastically beautiful and and although the cinematography is commonplace it at least does them justice while the score is also very and very good. the most successful member of the cast is helen mirren and who manages to engage our interests and sympathies as the empress caesonia while gielgud and otoole also escape in reasonably good form. the same cannot be said for mcdowell and but in justice to him he doesn not have much to work with. the movie does possess a dark fascination and but ultimately it is an oddity and more interesting for its design and flat out weirdness than for content. some of the bodies on display (including mcdowell and mirren ) are extremely beautiful and and some of the sex scenes work very well as pornography. but then again and some of them are so distasteful they might drive you to abstinence and and the bloody and grotesque nature of the film undercuts its eroticism. if youre up to it and it is worth seeing once and but once is likely to be enough. gary f. taylor and aka gft and amazon reviewer. ---------------------------------Answer Question Below----------------------------------

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