Julius Caesar - 1953 movie

I had my to-do list all ready about 10:00, got up to start a load of laundry, and noticed on TV guide channel that Julius Caesar was on the Turner channel. I flipped it on, and for the next hour and a half I stood transfixed in front of the TV. I thought I had seen this movie before, but I must have been mistaken.

Since then I've spent nearly an hour fighting the pop-ups on my computer, which are determined to sell me a spyware system. Also sold another book, which makes three I've got to go pack and mail.

Julius Caesar is Brutus's play, although in this movie, Brando's brief appearances as Mark Antony may seem to be the highlights. James Mason excels as Brutus, John Gielgud is Cassius and Louis Calhern a rather moth-eaten Caesar.

Brutus's excuse or self-justification for killing Caesar was fear that Caesar would become emperor, thus ending the Roman republic. It was sort of like, "If you had known in the 1930s what Hitler would do, and if you had the chance, would you kill him?" But by killing Caesar, the conspirators ensured what they most feared: Octavian and Antony took over, and when Octavian had got rid of Antony, he made himself emperor (Augustus Caesar), and goodbye Republic.

Added at 5:45 p.m.: They ended the movie with Antony's speech, "This was the noblest Roman of them all" and left off his final comment: "let's away, /And part the glories [divide the spoils] of this happy day." Otherwise, as far as I could tell without the book, it was true to Shakespeare's play. So, the best writer of all wrote the original screenplay for one of the best movies of all.