I put this miniseries in my Netflix queue. I don’t know much about it, but I believe I’ll probably like it. I enjoy epic movies. Should I go with **Rome **instead?
Go with both. They are so different.
I saw *I, Claudius * in it’s first appearance on Masterpiece Theater.(Yeah, I’m that old). Derek Jacobi is one of the better actors in the English language, and this series shows it. Many other prominent actors and actresses too, in stnadout performances. John Hurt, John Rhys-Davies, Patrick Stewart(a consumate villian!), Brian Blessed. Sian Phillips as Livia is the role I’d love to play. She gets to age from 40-ish to 90.
When you’ve seen it come back and let’s discuss! So many good scenes and lines. Some were shocking for their day, especially Caligula’s murder of his sister.
Perhaps my favorite moment is when the older Claudius is addressing the Senate, after the Praetorian Guard has proclaimed him Emperor.
I, Claudius is worth it for the acting. The production values - not so much. It’s really obvious that the sets are just that, sets on a soundstage. There’s something about the sound when people talk that doesn’t sound right. There are no mass scenes, they cheat by having the actors being indoors and walking into something brightly lit, simulating sunlight, and we hear big cheers, as if there were thousands of people outside.
Also, from what I know now of Octavian/Augustus, Brian Blessed’s take on the character doesn’t ring true.
By all means, watch it. The plotting is good and the acting (in most cases) superb, but expect a lingering feeling that you’re watching a stage play, not a movie.
Really? Would you care to elaborate?
I won’t answer for Chalie Tan, but will note that the miniseries is based on a specific novel, or rather two novels: I, Claudius and Claudius the God, by Robert Graves. So the performances reflect his versions of Augustus, Claudius, etc., rather than being based on independent historical research. The books are great, but Graves, being a novelist, took some liberties with history where it made the story work better.
It’s hard to go wrong with Robert Graves. I, Claudius, Claudius the God, Good-bye to All That and others, eminently worthy reading and those made into film translate reasonably well.
(On review, what Baldwin said.)
I’ll have a go at this. I always felt that Brian Blessed played Augustus as a sort of overgrown schoolboy; likeable, but totally incapable of the kind of ruthlessness that any real-life Roman emperor needed. It’s hard to square this with the historical Augustus.
Apparently, quality of wit is more important than quantity.
One of the Praetorians is played by Bernhard Hill, later to play King Theoden in a little known movie about a place called Middle-Earth.
I have seen it but not since it was shown originally years ago.
I remember it as being quite good, but a bit slow. If I recall correctly John Hurt did an excellent turn as Caligula. Of course Derek Jacoby was fantastic as the stammering Claudius.
Can’t remember Brian Blessed’s part, don’t know whether that says anything or not. I haven’t seen much of Rome, but it seems to be faster paced and with higher production values. I Caudius was more like a televised play than a full dramatisation IMHO.
Well worth watching though, enjoy.
Brian Blessed played Augustus – and if you’ve been reading about the real Octavian, or just seen HBO’s “Rome”, it’ll hardly seem like the same person. Can’t fault Blessed for that; he gives a great performance, and embodies the version of Augustus in Robert Graves’ novel.
(Just for looks, my favorite movie Octavian might be Roddy McDowall in Cleopatra; at the time he was a dead ringer for a famous bust of Octavian.)
If you end up reading the novel, and like it, I’d also recommend Count Belisarius – based in large part on Procopius, but with lots of novelistic flourishes. Again, fascinating events and characters.
ETA: And if, like me, you absorbed “I, Claudius” as a teenager, it’ll startle you in HBO’s “Rome” when you see Octavian humpin’ the bejesus out of Livia, then slappin’ her around.
I don’t know about Rome but I Claudius, like way totaly rules (she said in an intellectual manner). I also saw it on Masterpiece Theater…although I saw as a very young girl…which is not to say Baker is terrible old 
.
But it was the first time I saw naked tits on TV. :eek: Not that it was a big deal…I’d seen tits…my goodness I used to suck on a couple of them. But on TV??? Well.
But the point is it’s an excellent…miniseries? But it’s worth remebering that the version of Claudius, that the film and Robert Graves made him out as was not quite accurate. Now, he was no Caligula and no Nero but he wasn’t exactly benigh either He did give Rome a whole bunch of water which can’t be bad. But he could be a bastard too. Although I don’t think you can be an emporor of Rome without being a bastard…
But having said all that, yup, it’s a really cool film and I highly recommend it.
I, Claudius is watched today entirely because of the quality of the acting and writing. It is brilliant - I remember sneaking over to a friend’s house in town every Sunday that summer just so I could watch it. (We didn’t have cable on the farm, so PBS was strictly a ‘town’ thing.)
It’s interesting that the quality of the production is horrible - it was shot directly to video in the early '70s, and had no special effects at all. (Looks a bit like old ‘Doctor Who’ episodes.) In fact, many of the scenes have only one stationary camera! I don’t think the BBC considered for a second that people would still be watching this series 30 years later.
And yet, think of how much well produced, visually stunning crap we have on TV now…
I loved I, Claudius. I read the book after, and I would never have been able to follow the names without either making copious notes (a thing I hate to do when reading) or having watched the miniseries. Derek Jacobi was awesome.
The production is less than important to me. I m ean, I watch Bollywood, so I can’t really scrape any lower in the barrel! It’s high-quality drama, it’s got very good acting and good script-writing.
I always recommend it. As Le Ministre de l’au-delà points out, people are still watching this, whereas so many other shows have gone by the wayside.
Fantastic series, well worth watching. The comments above about the small-scale production values are valid, but, not unlike watching a stage play, you just accept it and move on.
Look for Patrick Stewart as Sejanus in the later half of the series.
Also, the aging makeup in I, Claudius is as good as any I’ve seen anywhere. When I first watched it, I started in the middle, with Augustus middle-aged. When I rewatched the series from the beginning, I could not believe that he was in fact that young!
"People are awwwwfuuuullll - said by John Hurt as Caligula, and one of my favorite lines from the series.
As others have said, the sheer quality of the acting and writing make this series stand out. Think of it like seeing a play.
What is really interesting is seeing how really excellent actors and a strong script make what would otherwise be a laughably low-budget affair compellingly watchable.
I really liked Rome too, and the two form an interesting contrast - Rome has the big budget; Rome deals with an earlier period …
So, Rome is worth seeing, too? How long is that?
wanders off to Netflix
Bear in mind that Graves based his portrait of Livia as a scheming poisoner on Cassius Dio and Tacitus, who in turn based it on rumor, and there is no other historical evidence for it.
He really was excellent in that role. A smoother villian you could not find. Quite a contrast to captain Picard! 
My favorite scene with him was when he was having a senator beaten in front of his desk by one of his thugs (I think to force him to sign a confession). The senator was, during the whole vicious beating, delivering an oration on the diseased state of Rome as represented by Sejanus … after he collapsed, Sejanus, totally unmoved, says something like “bring him around, let’s start again”. The way he said it - just another job - was a perfect banality of evil moment.
[Claudius’ reaction on hearing the eventual fate of Sejanus’ children was one of the more moving parts of the film - “Rome! You are finished!”]
John Hurt will always be Caligula to me. I can’t watch him in any other role without hearing, “What makes you think a filthy, smelly old woman like you could become a god-dess?”