I, Claudius (1976)

It's a mild crowd pleaser for people who are exhausted by blockbusters.

The first must-see film of the year.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

My complaint is that I cannot find a closed captioned version. I have lost my hearing and can no longer enjoy one of my favorite disks.

I Claudius.. Although almost everyone praises this series. There are a few that are less than positive about this truly amazing achievement. Yes I love it. But I am aware that in terms of historical accuracy it does have some short comings. (For accuracy I suggest The Caesars) But I have read the books and like the series I saw it as a kind of sligh black comedy satire. So yes the performances and the casting are larger than life. I have also watched the BBC's excellent documentary on the making of I Claudius and this answers many of its critics questions. Brian Blessed actually thought he'd been miscast. But the director said he wanted Augustus to be a man passed his prime with little to do and he'd become a little pompous. Blessed said that the actors were pretty poor when rehearsing their roles. They just couldn't get the characters until Sean Philips asks is this a Jewish family comedy. Then they all nailed it.. For me I Claudius is still one of the best things to come out of the BBC. All twelve episodes are a masterclass in acting and writing. I love the fact that everything was shot on a sound stage that gives the whole production an intimacy of a stage play and yet it lets the viewer get up and personal with the characters. It's impossible to pick a standout performance although John Hurts scene stealing Caligula is terrifying funny scary and even sad.. Of course this is Derek Jacobi's show. His Claudius is the stuff of acting legend. The so called fool who reluctantly ruled the known world. He runs the gamut of the performance spectrum aging 50 years and evolving from a timid stuttering twithing lame youth to a world weary Emperor who has seen the great the good and the mad and the bad die for the power they craved. I cannot recommend this series highly enough. For me it is the Citizen Kane of Television drama..

There's a rather infamous saying which states, "Fork on the left, spoon on the right, knife in the back", and while I cannot attribute it to its creator, it very easily could have been said by a member of the royal family of the Claudians who were the earliest Roman emperors and certainly as evil as anybody in power ever could be. Yes, there are some good Claudians, but other than a few of the women in that family, there were very few. These women are as power-hungry as the men and many of them use their womanly wiles to get what they want. Ambition can destroy, and certainly, it drives wives and mothers to madness to do things that make them cringe in that part of their brain that tells them right from wrong. Even the mother of the nation, Livia (Sian Phillips), has two sides to her, showing regret from her very first on-screen poisoning (of her son's rival), and dripping subtle tears when her everlasting ambition brings her to go after the man she has loved for more than 50 years.Livia is an unforgettable woman, leering defiantly into the camera as the off-screen narration by Sir Derek Jacobi's title character reveals her to be always plotting, planning the demise of anybody who stands in the way of her goals. Those goals? To keep the Roman republic from returning and to get her son Tiberius (George Baker) on the throne of Rome at all costs. She will kill her own flesh and blood in order to do so, yet isn't above referring to her own great-grandson Caligula as a monster because of a plot he conceived as a child to destroy his own father. Aging from her 40's to her 80's, Sian's Livia never stops her evil schemes, yet you can feel that underneath her plotting, she's secretly regretting what she has to do, as if some compelling demon is demanding she do what she does. Why does she want to be a goddess? It could be ego, but mainly it is because she fears her damnation for what she had to do.Livia is married to the outwardly wise but inwardly naive Augustus (Brian Blessed) whose morals triple those of his wife. He can't stand Tiberius, but Livia's manipulations will be the destiny of the destruction of the empire she so devotedly craves. The death of her son Drucus brings to Rome his wife Antonia (the amazing Margaret Tyzack), a very moral woman torn between her ideals and her disgust with son Claudius's shortcomings. Livia and her daughter-in-law couldn't be any more different, but a shocking plot development has the emotionally destroyed Antonia to take measures against a daughter she considers morally reprehensible. There's not a chance for a reconciliation between mother and son, but the hints of an understanding are obviously there which makes their relationship seemingly come full circle.There is great detail put into the creation of George Baker's Tiberius, especially in a scene where he reveals to his beloved brother his own self-hatred and his fears of becoming as evil as their mother. When the evils do occur, his whole appearance changes, not just through age, but in an almost Dorian Gray like transformation. Check out his head as he ages; It almost appears as if there are holes there which get more disgusting as his lust and evil becomes more vicious. Baker still allows the conflicted side of Tiberius to shine through, although his final scene is more comical even though his demise is truly malevolent. John Hurt's Caligula isn't perhaps as menacing as Malcolm McDowall's in the X-rated version of his story, but he's certainly mad as a hatter, foul beyond words. He even gets to do a drag number, memorable in the story because it introduces the seemingly sweet Messalina (Sheila White who resembles a young Susan Sarandon) who dominates the last quarter of the mini-series as she becomes Claudius's third wife and as notoriously evil as Livia. Her demise is up there with some of the scariest ends of villains in horror movies, and fans of the 1954 epic "Demetrius and the Gladiators" certainly won't confuse her with Susan Hayward's version of Messalina. This version of the character is a very immature girl who felt simply by being the emperor's wife (whether sleeping with him or not), she had the right to live as she chose, even if it was outwardly evil and certainly not hidden like Livia's. By the time you get to Claudius's final days with his obviously evil last wife Agrippinilla (Barbara Young), you are wondering if other than Claudius's mother and a few assorted others if there were any women in Rome who didn't put poison on their grocery list. For a continuation of Agrippinilla's story, check out "Nero's Mistress" with Gloria Swanson playing that part. Such familiar faces as Patrick Stewart and Simon MacCorkindale also pop up, with Stewart the ultra-evil Serjanus who plots against Emperor Tiberius, and gleefully plots the death of his princess lover's husband. The scene where the two schemers stand over the dying man, basically gloating, is filled with sinister undercurrents, and Stewart's sexuality is overwhelmingly lustful. This is a mini-series you really do not want to rush through; It is so literally brilliant that all the murder, mayhem and lustful undertones can best be enjoyed in small doses. If "Upstairs, Downstairs" and "Elizabeth R" put British television on the map with American audiences, it is "I Claudius" which cemented its place in American audiences' minds. This is one TV series which is worth watching again and again, because being so rich in details, there is much more to pick up with each viewing.

Saw this first of all as a 16-year old. As really wanted to know who Derek Jacobi was in Henry V as the Chorus. As he is the lead in this role. Really top class top notch acting! As the stammering but really smart and intelligent lead role. For he sees everybody in his family and the reign of Rome falter in his life and we see everything from his point of view.For Claudius is told that he needed to act dumb as much as it hurts him to in order to survive in Rome. He is the only "normal" one in his family full of schemers and traitors.Supporting Jacobi is Sian Phillips as his ruthless grandma, John Hurt as the mad crazed Caligua, Brian Blessed as Phillips clueless husband, Margaret Tyrius as Claudius mean spirited mom, among others that support him.Great and skilled writing and really shows you how ruthless Rome was in those days.