Julius Caesar

Synopsis: Abbreviated version of the play. At the Capitol Julius Caesar leaves with Mark Antony while Caesar is seen plotting with another man. In the arena Antony offers Caesar the crown three times. Cassius persuades Brutus to join the conspiracy and they meet in Brutus’ garden. Calpurnia tells Caesar of her dream and tries to persuade him not to go the Capitol. A soothsayer warns Caesar to beware Brutus and stay away from Cassius and Casca but Caesar ignores it. The conspirators murder Caesar and Brutus addresses the people followed by Mark Antony. At an army camp Brutus and Cassius argue and then resolve their differences. The ghost of Caesar comes to Brutus in a dream. The conspirators lead their armies into battle. Cassius makes his servant kill him and Brutus falls on his sword. Antony has Brutus’ corpse burnt on a pyre.
Country: United States
Medium: Film
Technical information: Black-and-white / Silent
Year of release: 1908
Duration: 9 mins; 836 feet

Director

William V. Ranous

Producer

J. Stuart Blackton

Screenplay

Theodore A., Jr Liebler

Cast

Notes: The film was copyrighted November 8 1908.
General: Identification of the actors is difficult as many are heavily made up.

The set design in the assassination scene is strongly influenced by Jean-Léon Gérôme’s painting ‘The Death of Caesar’ (1867).
Reviews: Ball, Robert Hamilton. Shakespeare on Silent Film: A Strange Eventful History. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1968 (pp48-50, 312). Ball notes that a dog wandered onto the set during Mark Antony’s funeral oration speech and destroyed 200ft of film.

William Urrichio and Roberta E. Pearson, Reframing Culture: The Case of the Vitagraph Quality Films (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993).

British Universities Film & Video Council