Caligula: The Imperial Edition

A (Penthouse) pet project of producer Bob Guccione, this infamous 1979 pornographic epic is, by any standard, appalling. That's not necessarily a bad thing, according to no less than Helen Mirren—the Oscar-winning Queen herself—who stars as Caesonia, Caligula's third wife and "the most promiscuous woman in Rome" (which, in this film's salacious vision of Pagan Rome, is saying something). In her very gracious, thoughtful, and candid audio commentary that is alone worth the price of this set, she remarks, "it has an awful lot of bottoms." Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange) gives a brave and fearless performance as Caligula, the hated and feared emperor corrupted by absolute power. The film unflinchingly charts both his plummet into madness and the brutality of his reign in scenes of hardcore sex and violence ("I can't watch," Mirren cries to her interviewers over one scene in which unfortunate characters are beheaded by a blade-spinning combine. "I can't even listen to it"). Caligula is also a career curiosity for author Gore Vidal, who wrote the original screenplay, but later demanded his name be removed from the credits, and venerable actors Peter O'Toole, appearing briefly as the syphilitic Emperor Tiberius Caesar, and John Gielgud as Nerva, a Senator who'd rather take his own life than "live with this reptile." This controversial film's tortured history is untangled in a very helpful booklet packaged along with the three discs, which feature both the original uncut theatrical version and a re-edited alternate take with footage added and (the smut) subtracted. The copious supplementary material includes an hour of deleted footage, a pretentious archival "making-of" documentary, and three new featurettes (including a new interview with director Tinto Brass, whose softcore tendencies clashed with Guccioni's more extreme vision of the film), as well as DVD-ROM features, including Vidal's original screenplay. In addition, McDowell also contributes his own lively audio commentary ("God help us," he groans as the film begins). Caligula, Mirren maintains, is "an irresistible mix of art and genitals," and while the film itself is a cinematic belly flop of Showgirls-size proportions, the illuminating extras on this set make this a fascinating look at an infamous film. With the caveat that—as noted—the film contains explicit sexual material, this is still a strong optional purchase for cinema history (and more adventurous) collections. (D. Liebenson)[Blu-ray Review—Jan. 20, 2009—Image, 2 discs, 156 min., not rated, $29.98—Making its first appearance on Blu-ray, 1979's Caligula (The Imperial Edition) sports a solid transfer and a DTS-HD Master Audio 5.0 soundtrack. Blu-ray extras are identical to the previous 3-disc DVD set, including both the uncensored feature film, and an alternate pre-release version of the film, three audio commentaries (the first with star Malcolm McDowell; the second with costar Helen Mirren; and the third with uncredited on-set writer Ernest Volkman), 76 minutes of behind-the-scenes footage, a 72-minute “making-of” documentary, 48 minutes of deleted scenes, a “Tinto Brass: The Orgy of Power” featurette on the director (34 min.), “Caligula's Pet: A Conversation with Lori Wagner” with the costar (29 min.), “My Roman Holiday with John Steiner” with the costar (25 min.), a stills gallery, DVD-ROM features (including Gore Vidal's original screenplay, three Penthouse features, and an interview with filmmaker Bob Guccione), trailers, and a booklet. Bottom line: like the DVD set, the Blu-ray release of Caligula is notable more for the excellent extras than for the wretched film.]