NR | 1 h 46 min | Drama | 1950
David Bradley is probably better known for having directed former First Lady Nancy Reagan in “Talk About a Stranger.” But he’s also the one who helped Hollywood discover Charlton Heston as a natural in the sword-and-sandal world of epics.
Bradley doesn’t deviate from the overly familiar Shakespearean storyline of “Julius Caesar.” Yet, he uses his camera to offer an unassuming, thought-provoking study of power. Shorn of the glamor and finesse of Roman epics that followed, Bradley’s black and white movie examines how morality shifts and shapes relationships between citizens and their state.
Rome’s citizens plan to crown Caesar (Harold Tasker) king, as he returns triumphant from military campaigns in Gaul. But some in the Roman Senate, notably Cassius (Grosvenor Glenn) and Brutus (David Bradley), cook up a coup built on the idea that Caesar’s ambition, not their private political projects, endangers Rome….