As Sid James once memorably quoth:

Puer...O puer...O puer. :P



Rough specs (garnered from all over the place, but mainly dvdtalk and Alan Jones' blog):

Disc 1:

Anamorphic 1.85:1 remaster from original negative of full uncut version. 5.1 Audio.
Commentary by on-set writer Ernest Volkman.

Disc 2:

Alternate pre-release version of the film with never-before-seen footage, removing Bob Guccione's hardcore porn inserts and conforming more to Tinto Brass' original cut.
Commentaries by Malcolm McDowell; Helen Mirren w/ moderator Alan Jones.

Disc 3: Supplements

2 docus on The Making of Caligula (both made by Penthouse Films at the time of release, only 1 of which appeared on the previous region 1 DVD)
Interviews with Tinto Brass and actors John Steiner (25 mins) and Lori Wagner (29 mins)
Photo gallery (Never-before-seen images from the set)
DVD-ROM content (Press kit notes)
DVD-ROM content (Interview with Bob Guccione)
DVD-ROM content (Gore Vidal's original screenplay)
DVD-ROM content (Three Penthouse magazine features)
Trailers (TBC)

Disc 4: Soundtrack CD

Bonus CD containing the full released soundtrack plus 40 minutes of film score never before available.

I never thought I'd need another DVD of CALIGULA, but it seems I was wrong...

EDITED TO ADD:

Thanks very much to Bruce Holecheck for his invaluable corrections and addenda to the specs - these have been incorporated into the above.

I'll stick with my original R1 release. The free bonus "Penthouse Pets" disc has seen more action than the feature presentation which I find to be a bit too hammy for my liking. Can't sit through it.

Victor

Dear me. That is one extravagant set. I'm really curious about the version that tries to restore the Tinto Brass cut. The hardcore scenes always looked liked inserts, anyway. I'm assuming that everything else is intact and that this cut could be considered to be the closest to the intended version?

And is this McDowell's first commentary? I don't recall any others, though I hear he did one for A CLOCKWORK ORANGE.

Should I be concerned that I know which movie that Sid James quote is from: CARRY ON CLEO. Please correct me if I'm mistaken.

He's on the just out Criterion IF.

I think he's on TIME AFTER TIME too.

A few notes (assuming nothing has changed since I last spoke with the disc's producer about the project):

There is no "edited version" of the film included in this set; it will contain a new hi-def transfer of the uncut theatrical release version taken from a newly-found interneg (Disc 1) along with a never-before-seen pre-release edit that eliminates the Guccione footage, restructures to film to conform with the shooting script, and contains alternate Brass-filmed footage, different edit rhythms and previously unseen deleted material (Disc 2). The Channel 4 version will not be on the disc, nor will the "R" rated abomination.

As I mentioned in THE LAST HUNTER thread, the Mirren and McDowell commentaries were recorded separately and will be presented as such, over the pre-release version. The Volkman track will be over the theatrical edit. (Volkman was a writer hired by Penthouse to chronicle the making of the film, and was present on set for the majority of the shoot.)

Disc 3 contains the rest of the supplements. There were two Penthouse-produced Making-Of documentaries that appeared on their home video magazine VHS releases as promotion for the film when it was new. One was on the prior DVD release, the other one wasn't. The interview segments are all new and presented separately. Nathaniel Thompson and I took care of the John Steiner (25 minutes) and Lori Wagner (29 minutes) segments, while David Gregory handled the Tinto Brass chat. There's also a ridiculously large stills collection including a ton of behind-the-scenes stuff and shots from never finished segments. I assume the trailers and DVD-Rom material will also be on this disc.

Disc 4 will be a new and improved soundtrack CD, with a ton of never published music and cues.

It's a pretty amazing and comprehensive package, especially for the relatively low price, and really dissects the film and its controversy from several perspectives.

-- bruce holecheck

I'm very interested in seeing the pre-release version. I hope it's in good shape, and not just a workprint.

I hope some day for a 6-disc "Excesses of the Roman Orgy Edition."

Yeah, who knew I would ever buy Caligula again, but it looks like I will.

Mark me down as a buyer of this fabulous "hot walnuts" set!

I've never understood why CALIGULA gets such a bad rap. Endlessly rich film from pre-production, filming and into post production. No other film boasts such high levels of smut and celebrity in equal measure. Dip into it as one would a seven course meal. When you've had your fill, simply come back later! There's plenty more at the table - it's a huge incontinent banquet of a film.

With regard to the Channel 4 version, I can only say that this was one of Mark Kermode's restoration mis-fires: claiming in the intro to the film, that it was a sort of director's cut [read: ersatz].

If you want make your own Channel 4 version, simply take the uncut version, pretend your looking through James Ferman's eyes and start cutting very judiciously.

Well done all round if this set comes out as promised. It's about time CALIGULA was re-mastered. The old Image disc has ropey picture quality and "will scare [y]our customers away!" :P

While I do agree that the Channel 4 version of CALIGULA is hardly a 'director's cut', at least by removing the Bob Guccione inserts and keeping the narrative intact (the awful UK DVD edition only runs about 90-odd minutes) the film plays something closer to a film Tinto Brass would have made at the time (such as SALON KITTY).

I would hardly call this version a 'savage masterpiece' as Mark Kermode described it, but perhaps this new pre-release cut may come closer to it... :huh:

Tinto Brass' director's cut of the film IS on DVD in Italy as IO CALIGOLA. Unlike the other Brass releases that came out at the same time (LA CHIAVE and MIRANDA), IO CALIGOLA has no subs. I suppose the "director's cut" on the new set would be an English language reconstruction.

Well Bruce's expansion of the contents (assuming they are indeed finalised) alters my perspective. I do have the original R1 release but it is very grainy and the hardcore inserts make it impossible for me to suggest it for viewing with my other half. I dismissed this release because

I'm not all that crazy about sitting through the uncut original film again

I'd seen the C4 edit and while I completely understand it's raison-d'etre (a landmark broadcast of a film long prohibited/truncated in that market), it really is just a re-framed censored variant.

I assumed the two "making of" pieces were simply censored/uncensored variants of the same production (and I already have the uncut one on my old disc)

I'll probably get this now for all the reasons listed in Bruce's post: a new unseen variant (that omits the redundant h/c inserts), a better print of the original uncut version (for the completist in me) and the potentially fascinating interviews and commentaries. At the suggested price, it's a steal.

Victor

Cheers Bruce. Your corrections have now been added to the original post in the interests of clarity, and also to make me appear frighteningly well-informed.

Correct! :P

Hyah Hyah Hyah!

What a time to realise I need a Sid James emoticon...

My true avocation...straight man.

I'm really not sure about this, but didn't the Film 4 version also remove material that might impinge on UK child protection laws (eg. the brothel 'trainees' seen in close proximity to phallic shaped practice dildos).

I think you're right Neil. I have seen the uncut version of CALIGULA but I couldn't say what's missing from one version to another apart from whole sequences which are notable in their absence (like the silly lesbian romp crudely inserted into the scene where McDowell is running around in the rain - if you look closely you can even see one of the woman has nicotine-stained fingers!). However, I do recall discussion of the material you mention in the book Censored in reference to James Ferman supervising a BBFC-approved version of CALIGULA for the UK theatrical release.

I don't believe that this image appears in any version of the film. God knows how these rumors get started. The actual BBFC X version of CALIGULA was released on video in the UK by Electric Blue back in the early 80s. Essentially, Film Four cut out everything that had been removed from that version by the BBFC: all the hardcore imagery, as well as several moments of violence that were shot by Brass. The scene in which Caligula rapes a couple on the day of their wedding was heavily abbreviated. Shots of a genuine childbirth were also removed (though clearly not because of the child protection laws).

Film Four made some additional cuts in order to remove everything Brass had not shot, notably the whole of the lesbian scene (which the BBFC had shortened but not entirely removed).

Just for reference, McDowell does a ROYAL FLASH commentary as well, so he's on more than a couple...

It more than likely come from the book Censored by Tom Dewe Mathews, which is where I read about these shots. It's been a few years since I read it, but I seem to recall the book goes into much detail about the BBFC's reaction to CALIGULA and how James Ferman supervised a re-editing of the film for British release. An interesting read overall, but some of the information about specific cuts made to films seems inaccurate. Still worth checking out for anyone interested in British film censorship and the politics that went, and presumably still goes, on.

Right, I've checked my Dutch Region 2 PAL DVD of the film and such images certainly DO appear in the film - just not in the context suggested earlier. During Peter O Toole's first scene there are two images (one [at 9 mins 34 secs] is a pan across a group of women each holding two babies, the other [at 12 mins 49 secs] a static shot of one woman holding a baby) that briefly, but clearly, show the infants in close proximity to dildo-like objects. In the latter shot, the baby can be seen stroking the said implement.

A few more notes:

Writer Nick Redman moderates the Malcolm McDowell commentary. The Ernest Volkman commentary track is presented as an interview by Nathaniel Thompson.

The pre-release version is *not* of workprint quality; it is a finished print. However, Disc 3 will also contain a ton of deleted scenes, trims, workprint footage, etc. that don't appear in either edition of the feature.

The shorter Making Of segment contains some different interview footage than the longer edition; it is not simply an edited-down version.

As far as I know, the Italian disc can't really be a "Director's Cut;" no one else has been in the Penthouse vaults to access this material until work began on this Imperial Edition. Any reconstruction done for the Italian DVD would have only had footage from the theatrical release version to utilize.

-- bruce holecheck

According to the Internet Movie Database...

'In 1984, Franco Rosselini hired the editor Enzo Micarelli to re-edit a longer, pre-release version of the film for release in Italy, which he re-titled "Io, Caligola." This version ran 133 minutes until the censors forced Rossellini to cut it down, first to 87 minutes, then back to 123 minutes. The ten minutes worth of cuts may explain some of the abrupt changes in music during the most explicit scenes. It contains some alternate angles and a few additional bits not found in the better-known 156 minute "uncut" version. As well, some of the music has been replaced with a new score by Renzo Rossellini.'

...Perhaps this is the version on DVD in Italy? Whatever the case, this upcoming edition of the film sounds like a must.

Bruce, can you confirm or deny any standards-conversion, flagging, or other over-arching video-based issues in the transfer? Avoidable flaws from crossing video formats, or lazy authoring are my main bugaboos these days.

I'd like to pre-order this thing, but if it turns out to be, say, a nice digital restoration undone by PAL speed-up, it'll pretty much end up tossed aside and unwatched.

What's this set look like?

I notice that this now being advertised as a three disc edition by most online sellers. What happened to the fourth disc (presumably the soundtrack CD)?

The soundtrack CD seems to have been dropped due to rights clearance issues, from what I've read elsewhere. Not sure if the price has been adjusted accordingly - it still seems pricey everywhere...

I believe DVDBeaver (never was a website more appropriately named) has screen grabs from the new disc. I haven't read the review, but word has it they're unimpressed - which points to the likelihood that the original film was just shot in an ugly style, as this is a new transfer.

A more enthusiastic review from DVD Talk

I have to get this. The whole package sounds too fascinating to not pass up, and while I prefer the longer version, I've never cared for the hardcore inserts. I'm interested in seeing how the pre release version plays, in comparison.

I just took a look at the Amazon listing for this set, and I present here the list of "plot keywords" from the site.

# Plot Keywords: Evil | Box Office Flop | Female Rear Nudity | Critically Bashed | Roman | Sexual Promiscuity | Desire | Libertine | Pubic Hair | Husband Wife Relationship | Licking | Testicle

Say them over and over again in that order and try to keep a straight face.

D.

But, for those who want it, Walmart has the R rated version for a mere $13.95.

Well, that sounds like a positive review to me! :lol:

...Leonard Bernstein'

These are actually the lyrics to an unreleased version of REM's 'It's The End of the World As We Know It'.

Actually, I think Billy Joel MAY have released them as a stanza of "We Can't Stop the Fire"!

I don't know. I picture Bob Dylan standing there with the words printed on a bunch of pieces of posterboard, tossing them to the ground as he sings each one.

D

Kinda like this? :ph43r:

On September 27th of this year, the Ontario Film Review Board (OFRB) - the film and video censor board of the Government of Ontario - rescinded its ban on the commercial distribution within Ontario of the 156-minute version of Tinto Brass et al.'s Caligula.


* * * * *

CALIGULA - IMPERIAL EDITION

Date Classified: Sep 27, 2007
Film Number: 2000069024
Distributor / Submitter / Exhibitor: PARADOX ENTERTAINMENT GROUP
Running Time (min): 156
Format: DVD
Language: ENGLISH
Classification: RESTRICTED

Content Advisories:
- BRUTAL VIOLENCE
- NUDITY
- DISTURBING CONTENT
- EXPLICIT SEXUAL CONTENT

Detailed Observations:
- Frequent, detailed, gory/grotesque images
- Sexual references
- Full frontal nudity in a sexual situation
- Frequent upsetting or disturbing scenes
- Simulated sexual activity
- Explicit sexual activity
- Visually explicit portrayals of sexual violence
- Visually explicit portrayals of violence which may be characterized by extreme brutality, extreme bloodletting and extreme tissue damage
- Visually explicit portrayals of torture


* * * * *

Distributor: Behaviour Distribution
Address: 2221 Yonge Street, Suite 400

Film Seq.: 2000589 - Feature
Date Classified: 2000/02/10
Title: Caligula
Description: Adult Sex Film
Classification: Not Approved
Film Format: 35mm Film Format
Country of Origin: United States
Language: English
Original Length (Min.): 156
Elimination: Y

Eliminations:
Reel 1, Minute 17: Scenes of torture, which include a restrained man's penis being tied and the man forced to drink wine.
Reel 1, Minute 18: Scene of bestiality, including the insertion of a snake into a vagina.
Reel 1, Minute 22: Tortured man in 1:17 above being explicitly stabbed, with portrayals of extreme bloodletting, tissue damage, and brutality.
Reel 2, Minute 34: Scenes of torture, including scenes of bondage, whipping, and spikes stabbed into a vagina.
Reel 3, Minute 49 - Reel 3, Minute 60: Scenes of incest, including explicit sexual activity among siblings.
Reel 4, Minute 72: Scenes of sexual violence, including rape, coercion, and physical abuse.
Reel 5, Minute 99 - Reel 6, Minute 101: Scenes of torture, including bondage, explicit stabbing, and castration. Scenes of explicit urination on another person. Scenes of indignities to a human body, including castration, urination on a dead body, and the feeding of severed genitalia to dogs.
Reel 6, Minute 103: Bondage depiction involving pain.
Reel 6, Minute 110: Scene of necrophilia.
Reel 7, Minute 126 - Reel 7, Minute 136: Scenes of coercion and verbal degradation.

Notes:
Portrayals of debauchery and violence in ancient Rome. This video is not approved pursuant to section 14 of Regulation 1031 under the Theatres Act, subsection 2 as circled below. (2)(a) a graphic or prolonged scene of violence, torture, crime, cruelty, horror or human degradation. (2)(b) the depiction of the physical abuse or humiliation of human beings for purposes of sexual gratification or as pleasing to the victim. More - see file.


* * * * *

To the lions then, I suppose - THUMBS DOWN!!!

Now, THAT's entertainment!