The 1980 film “Caligula,” though a reasonable success in the U.S. (and a bigger one in Europe) was met with derision by film critics. Roger Ebert called it “sickening, utterly worthless, shameful trash.” Now, 44 years later, a new edit is being screened as the “Ultimate Caligula.” A team led by Thomas Negovan has restored the film, discovered hours of never seen footage, re-edited it to stay closer to the original script and added a new soundtrack. The result is a radically different film, one that is highly watchable. It received critical applause after premiering at last year’s Cannes Film Festival. It opens in the U.S. today, August 14 at the Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas in Manhattan and Brooklyn. Producer Negovan be present for a Q&A at the lower Manhattan Alamo Drafthouse Cinema on August 14. Go here for tickets and showtimes.

I didn’t see “Caligula” when it was first released. Penthouse publisher Bob Guccione, like Hugh Hefner before (Polanski’s “Macbeth”), wanted to produce professional films to enhance his brand. He asked Italian director Lina Wertmuller to write a screenplay about the Roman emperor Caligula, with explicit sex scenes. He rejected her script and hired novelist Gore Vidal to write one. He chose Italian director Tinto Brass to make a film with high production values and quality actors. Brass had impressed Guccione with his 1976 film “Salon Kitty,” based on the true story of a Nazi-run brothel in Berlin. Tinto had worked with the great production designer Ken Adam (“Barry Lyndon,” the 1960s Bond films) on that highly-regarded movie. Brass hired talented production designer Danilo Donati to create astonishing, massive sets in the Roman studio where the film was shot. (There are only a couple of exterior sequences in the film.) He was able to assemble an impressive cast: Malcolm McDowell, Helen Mirren, Peter O’Toole and Sir John Gielgud.

The film, however, was beset by problems. Guccione asked Brass to add more sexual elements to the film, prompting Vidal (whose version bothered the producer by having too many homosexual acts portrayed) to ask for his name to be removed from the credits. Then, disappointed with Brass’s first edit, the producer took the film from him, re-editing it and inserting unsimulated sex scenes he had shot after hours in the studio using Penthouse Pets as performers. Brass and many of the actors disowned the resulting film, which, though shot in 1976 was not released in Italy until 1979 and in the U.S. the next year.

Like many viewers, I saw it first when it was released in VHS. Bored quickly by it, I fast-forwarded to the notorious sex scenes. The new edit, though, is a fascinating watch. It’s still not a great film, but now it is an enjoyable one, one worth watching for its great art direction, acting and a semi-successful attempt to portray a brutal historical episode in all its gory and raunchy realities.

The key parts of the story are mostly historically accurate, though much poetic license has been taken. The young Caligula (McDowell) orchestrates the murder of his great-uncle Tiberius (Peter O’Toole) and becomes the new Roman Emperor. The only person he trusts is his sister (and sex partner) Drusilla (Teresa Ann Savoy). He chooses a famous prostitute Caesonia (Mirren) as a wife, only to be disappointed when she births a daughter for him instead of a son. Though Caligula’s political and military minions follow his cavalier requests to kill each other for often imagined offenses, he mocks them as sheep for not opposing him, even though that would ensure their arrest for treason, punishable by horrid executions. A fever tempers his insanely cruel ambitions for a bit but surviving it he declares war on Britain, leading his soldiers on a ridiculous assault on a patch of papyrus reeds only a few hours away from Rome. His financial minister Longinus (an excellent performance by John Steiner) and Chaerea (Paolo Bonacelli) eventually plot his assassination.

My only complaint–and this goes for both versions–is that the depiction of the Emperor’s tyranny and madness is still psychologically simplistic. (Go here to learn more about the historical Caligula.) Vidal’s and McDowell’s Caligula goes from feigning innocence to mad, murderous dictator too quickly, and but for one brief fugue state epiphany, his evil has few challengers or let up. One wonders how even a single Roman citizen could make it through a day during his four year rule when obviously most did. This is a dramaturgical choice, of course. Even though the film has a three-hour running time (22 minutes longer than the original), it would take a multi-season length production (think “Game of Thrones”) to portray the full contours of this tyrant–the hours and days between his acts of evil, boredom and tenderness. 

Malcolm McDowell has reported being pleased with the new version saying “one of my best performances has finally come to light after 47 years!” Helen Mirren’s scenes were mostly cut in the original version but they are greatly expanded here, restoring her brilliant interpretation of an emperor’s wife who must compete with his preference for love and sex with his sister.

The major actors’ willingness to appear unashamedly full or partially nude for much of the film was remarkable at the time and, with the real sex scenes removed, make it more possible to appreciate their excellent performances and dedication to period realism.

Even in the 1980 version Danilo Donati’s art direction was breathtaking, giving the film a Fellini-esque appearance. (He was production designer for Fellini’s “Cassanova”) He also designed the costumes and jewelry. Sequences were designed to play out on a single large, theatrical set with intricate choreography and lighting. Negovan has used more of the master shots than before to emphasize this. One of most frighteningly memorable one involves a three-story beheading machine that today we would recognize as a “steam-punk” fantasy. Another is the imperial brothel scene (now missing the 1980 unsimulated sex scenes) in which the Senators’ wives are required to become prostitutes to fund a military campaign. Caligula was known as a boy as “little boots” because of a dance he would perform for his military leader father’s enjoyment. He later adapts it and teaches it to his military regiments, who join him in performing the portentous movements as they symbolically launch a new boat to war. (Caesonia has her own, more interesting dance moves.)

The title scene adds a new, beautiful, animated sequence (created by Dave McKean) to set the tone of the film. And the film features a new score by Troy Sterling Nies that gives the work an almost Kubrickian sense of heightened suspense that was not present in the original.

Finally, there is the issue of authorship. This is not Tinto Brass’s film now (and he is taking legal action against Penthouse Films). Most of us are unfamiliar with his body of work so I doubt many U.S. viewers will care but film historians and critics should consider it. But to do that I need to watch the original again. And that’s why I look forward to the blu-ray release. Distributor Unobstructed View will soon release several boxed set editions of “Ultimate Caligula” with a huge array of extras, including the original 1980 version of the film. A Limited Edition Numbered UHD Boxed Set, Two-Disc Blu-ray Set and a DVD version will be available September 17, 2024. (The VOD release date is October 18, 2024.) You can pre-order it here and below is a list of the extras.

Disc 1: The Ultimate Cut

• Caligula: The Ultimate Cut
• Cannes 2023 Teaser
• English Closed Captions
• French Canadian Subtitles
• Audio Commentary with editor Aaron Shaps and producer and reconstructionist Thomas Negovan
• Audio Commentary with author Grant Morrison and producer and reconstructionist Thomas Negovan

Disc 2: 1980 Theatrical Version

• Caligula: Restored Original 1980 Theatrical Version
• Restored Original Theatrical Trailer
• English Closed Captions

Disc 3: Caligula: The Bonus Materials [Blu-ray]

• “The Orgy of Power” interview with Tinto Brass
• The Making of Caligula
• The Guccione Scandal

Disc 4: Audio Soundtrack [CD]

• Caligula: The Ultimate Cut Soundtrack