I, Claudius (1937)

User Rating:

8.5/10   

Director:

Josef von Sternberg

Writer:

Robert Graves (book)

Genre:

Drama

Plot Keywords:

Unfinished Film | Claudius | Caligula | Ancient Rome | Based On Book

Cast

Charles Laughton	...	Claudius
Merle Oberon	...	Messalina
Emlyn Williams	...	Caligula
Flora Robson	...	Livia
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Alan Aynesworth	...	Asiatacus, Senator
John Clements	...	Valente
Leonora Corbett	...	Caesonia
Roy Emerton	...	Octavius
Gina Evans	...	Vestal Virgin
Frank Forbes-Robinson	...	Lupus, captain of the guard
Basil Gill	...	Xenophon, Claudius' doctor
Morland Graham	...	Halotus, master of Livia's household
Everley Gregg	...	Domita, Messalina's mother
Lyn Harding	...	Vespasian
Allan Jeayes	...	Musa, the emperor's physician
Robert Newton	...	Cassius, Capt. of Caligula's Guard

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

London Film Productions

Trivia:

In this unfinished film, Charles Laughton plays the Roman emperor Claudius. In The Sign of the Cross (1932) he played Nero, Claudius' great-nephew, adopted son and successor.

Quotes:

Claudius: Caligula was murdered. He ruled by force, but a state such as I hope to establish cannot condone murder. For violence is an enemy to justice. And in the name of justice, I call upon the murderers of Caligula to step forward.
Capt. of Caligula's Guard: We killed a tyrant, Caesar.
Claudius: But you broke your solemn oaths as Roman soldiers, to protect your Emperor. You didn't strike for your country. You killed in the name of your own private grudges. I was with you Cassius, when the tyrant kicked you, but you were not content with one single murder. You caused the death of Caliguls'a wife and of hundreds at the palace. What fate do you consider you deserve?
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air: I, Clownius (#6.13)" (1996)

Personal connection with 'The Epic That Never Was'

My father Denis Kavanagh, who had been a stunt flyer in Hollywood in the late Twenties, working on such films as William Wellman's Wings, returned to the UK to help edit I Claudius. As everyone knows the film was never made following a car crash in which Merle Oberon was injured. That's always been the official line anyway. Much has been made of Charles Laughton's inability to get into the part and at the time Korda was having trouble with Prudential Corporation who had invested heavily in London Films following the success of Private Life of Henry VIII (1933). Luckily, I have seen some of the rushes from the film which were tacked together for a BBC documentary in 1965 entitled 'The Epic That Never Was' narrated by Dirk Bogarde. The rushes featured many tantrums on Laughton's part. Korda used to despair of Laughton's insecurities and the editors, so my father told me, had a very difficult time putting anything useable together. In many ways, my father told me, it was a good thing the movie never appeared because it was going nowhere and Merle Oberon's accident was the ideal excuse to cancel the picture. Obviously, Derek Jacobi didn't have so many problems when the BBC made a television series of the book many years later.