The gamecock. (Columbia, S.C.) 1908-2006, October 30, 1981, Page Page 9, Image 9
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An Artisti
By DOUG BELL
Urn Critic
One of the most bizarre figures in history,
the Roman emperor Caligula seems a likely
subject for screen dramatization.
? Especially now, it would seem, when
? debauchery, nudity, bloody murder and
similar themes have a wider audience than
a r
ever uexure.
Hie film that was finally made about
Caligula, financed by Penthouse magazine
and produced by Bob Guccione, contained
all these elements and more ? so much
more that the X-rated film's first run in
theaters was disastrous. (I didn't see it.)
Caligula is back now in a modified R-rated
version that I did see this week. And, artistically
speaking, it's still pretty much a
jpjisaster.
THE SCREENPLAY, by none other than
Gore Vidal, is stale. It isn't as much an
interpretation of history as a graphic,
i i i_ _# ? ?
vuigorizeu renasn 01 me Diooay Caligula
legend.
This account follows Caligula's (Malcolm
McDowell) career from Emperor Tiberius'
last lecherous days to his murder (A.D.
41). McDowell is weak in the title role.
His Caligula proceeds from innocence to
madness with no transition. His performance
offers no insight into the nature of
4he emperor's dementia.
IP Comparison with the BBC-TV production
of Robert Graves' I, Claudius points up
1 many weaknesses in the Guccione Him. In
I it, John Hurt as Caligula, gave a disturbing,
ffuriflll Fflrtfiir
I VMB VI ^
A faculty recital featuring cello by 6
Robert Jesselson on cello GasparCassi
and Charles Fugo on piano Jesselson i
will be held at 8 p.m. tonight member i
in USC's Gambrell Hall Department
Auditorium. has performt
' The program will include States, Euro
!$bie Boccherini Sonata in A and has
^jtiajor, the Chipin Cello educational
aBonata, the Stravinsky Suite television pr
Italienne, and a work for solo the country
r? *'
I THE GUARD BELON
SCARNG -1
i Proud USC Stu
TRPDI/IOI a
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i 15 Units in the Columbia Are
$1,500.00 Bonus or
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Pu Additional tauci
Provided by
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South Care
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Contact: Di
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iula# Remains I
ic Disaster I
enlacing Derformanrp that
precarious essence of the emperor's in- I
sanity: at once bold, then frightened, then
gleeful, then cruel. It was an intriguing a
performance that illuminated Caligula's fl
peculiar personality, and made it credible. I
Compared to Hurt, McDowell seems fl
befuddled and uncertain, lacking in all fl
intention and conviction. I
The other characters fare better. Peter fl
O'Toole's lewd, unwholesome Tiberius is fl
played to the hilt. Perhaps the strongest fl
performance is by John Gielgud in a brief E j
role. Gielgud commands deep respect (from fl
this reviewer anyway) as Nerva, one of H
Tiberius' advisers who, sick of Rome's j
excesses, takes his own life. But Giancarlo ]
Badessi's Claudius is pudgy and foolish, fl
never suggesting the intellectual he actually fl
was. fl
EVEN WITH the R rating, there's plenty jv]
of nudity. No one really disrobes, however; | ]
il'c nart ? ? k'
..? |w> v ui uiv v.uoiuiiuii^. oume excruciatingly
bloody scenes made it into this
version as well. Sets and costumes are
vulgarly grandiose.
I don't mind when history is altered in
works by artists with imagination and
vision. For instance, Robert Graves' novels
about the first Roman emperors are
perhaps not accurate to the letter, but are
indeed witty and personal interpretations of
historical events. But the imaginations of
Messrs. Vidal and Guccione never caught j ]
fire (or perhaps were consumed in the I
blaze) and their vision is myopic. As a J j
result, Caligula is a meandering, muddled |
film. j ]
es Cello, Piano I
Spanish cellist participated in the Aspen
ado. Music Festival, Grand Teton
s a new faculty Music Festival and in I
it the USC several European festivals.' J|
of Music. He Charles Fugo is an g
id in the United associate professor of music *
pe, and Africa at USC. He has studied with |
appeared on Joseph Schwartz, Abbey
radio and Simon and Jorge Bolet and
ograms across the Akadamie des MozarJesselson
has teums in Salzburg, Austria.
IGS because... I
ISC - ROTC I
Ha.
dent Members of I
W, Eastover, SC. f j
, AT IT S BEST I
a fl
stance jj
itional Assistance I
State Government.
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>lina Army 1
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f" writer
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WIN:
The following p
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