idlesuperstar:idlesuperstar:The Epic That Never Was - BBC, 1965This is a fabulous documentary about

idlesuperstar:idlesuperstar:The Epic That Never Was - BBC, 1965This is a fabulous documentary about the - um, shall we say ‘ill fated’ - unfinished 1937 film of I, Claudius, directed by von Sternberg, with Charles Laughton as Claudius, Merle Oberon as Messalina, Flora Robson as Livia and Emlyn Williams as Caligula. All except Laughton were still alive, and are interviewed, as well as author Robert Graves, and other Korda employees who worked on the film. The whole thing is presented with warmth, intelligence and charm by Dirk Bogarde, which inadvertently leaves you wishing that more telly was like this, still. There are as many sides to every story as there are players, and this is no exception; even though I would stand by Laughton in a fight against almost anyone, never mind von Sternberg, it’s plain that a fundamental personality clash was exacerbated by their working methods. Laughton, as Emlyn Williams so beautifully puts it, ‘needed sun, sun, sun and all he got was frost’. Williams comes out the best, in fact he’s a delight; wry, understatedly cutting (‘Mr Sternberg, I beg his pardon, Mr von Sternberg’), personable and perceptive. He speaks intelligently not just about the filming itself, but about acting, and the particular genius of Laughton. I would happily watch an hour of The Dirk and Emlyn Show. Everyone toes the party line beautifully when it comes to discussing Merle Oberon’s accident: even now the waters there are so muddy as to be opaque, although it’s acknowledged that it was much more minor than portrayed, and was really the excuse Korda needed to shut the film down. No-one says, ‘we could have recast Merle’ because that was never on the cards, for Korda. Merle comes out of this looking lovely (and indeed does look lovely), Flora Robson comes across as a little dour, and von Sterberg seems almost disconnected from humanity. Okay I’m exaggerating, but he is unhappy, or possibly just misanthropic. He gives not an inch.It’s actually painful watching some of the rushes where Charles loses his focus, loses his grasp of the character: it’s clear he was still working towards it, rather than coming to set with it locked down. When he says (in that bottom left gif) “I’m sorry, I’ve gone” it’s excruciating to see. He is - especially during the thirties - an incredible actor: naturally talented, instinctive, surprising, affecting. As Williams says, he was ‘a child, a brilliantly gifted child with an instinct for acting’. But he clearly needs space and time, and a director who can accommodate this: von Sternberg is also remarkable, but he is a master of lighting and the visual, and less concerned with the reality of character, or of actors creating for themselves. What’s most poignant about this film is that the scenes (and there are quite a few) where Charles is at his best are some of the best things he ever committed to film. The scene (shown in full) where he berates the Senate is - as Dirk puts it so gloriously -one of the most moving, beautiful, and powerful speeches that I have ever seen on a screen. It ranks in greatness and splendour to my mind, with Olivier’s Crispin’s Day speech in 'Henry V’. And on another plane it has the humour and the honesty and the pain of Judy Garland’s dressing room scene in 'A Star Is Born’. Laughton here proves that he was kissed with genius, and I’m not in the least surprised that he went through such agony and despair in bringing Claudius alive to the screen.  I’m a massive Laughton fan, of course, but even so to hear Bogarde - an excellent, intelligent, literate actor - say such a thing brings joy to my heart. Even if you’re not a fan of Laughton, it’s a fascinating doc about the Korda studio. It ends with a question from Bogarde about whether that is the last we shall see of I Claudius. Of course we know it isn’t, and you can’t take Derek Jacobi (and Sîan Phillips, and John Hurt) away from me, thank god. You can find the doc on the (UK) DVD release of the BBC's I Claudius. Or you can watch it (in parts) on youtube. Well worth an hour or so of your time.updated youtube link here -- source link
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