Caligula (film) - Versions

Versions

Caligula was shown in various versions:

• The unrated version, available in the US and mainland Europe, running 156 minutes (NTSC) and 150 minutes (PAL), is the most widely seen cut of the film. It enjoyed a limited, albeit highly profitable, run in North American cinemas. This version contains the unedited sequences of both simulated and un-simulated scenes of sexual depravity and extreme violence and gore.
• The UK version, running 149 minutes. Aside from removing eight minutes of explicit footage, the censors substituted some replacement shots, derived from Brass' principal shoot, as well as some remainder footage from Guccione's reshoots. It seems that the alternate footage was inserted carelessly, resulting in glaring continuity errors (especially obvious during the Rape of Proculus and Livia and the Temple of Isis scenes). This version is out-of-print, and was eventually replaced by the uncut version, which was finally granted classification in July 2008, 29 years after its initial release.
• The rumored 210-minute unreleased version, shown as part of a private trade show for investors and distributors in Cannes, France (not to be confused with the Cannes Film Festival). The extra hour was a behind-the-scenes featurette included during the screening, which created the rumor of an extended cut of a running time of 210 minutes.
• Guccione eventually authorized an R-rated cut, released in 1981, 105 minutes long, which earned the film a wider distribution. In this version the hardcore, bloody and violent footage was either trimmed or replaced with yet another set of alternate shots and angles.
• In 1984, Franco Rossellini, unhappy with Guccione's final edit of the film, re-edited an alternate pre-release print of Caligula and spliced in some minor scenes and shots that were found in the Italian post-production labs that housed the materials before the production moved to England. This new edition of the film, re-titled as Io, Caligola clocked in at 133 minutes and contains material not present in any other versions of the film, but the Italian censors had it cut down to only 86 minutes; after a public backlash, the film was restored to 123 minutes. The missing ten minutes are no doubt responsible for a few jump cuts that occur throughout the film. This version has been released on DVD, albeit available only in Italy.
• When Io, Caligola was released on video, the distributor put back in some of the hardcore material shot by Guccione (it was deleted by Franco Rossellini) in order to boost the sales. This version is available on DVD.
• A second R-rated version was released in 1999. It was released straight to DVD and contained no alternate angles. Various shots simply repeated themselves (instead of using the different takes of scenes seen in the R-rated theatrical release), resulting in continuity problems. Otherwise, this version is based on the 1981 censored release. This DVD version ran a total of 102 minutes and was released with a red cover.
• In 1999, the Film4 channel, frustrated by the lack of any extended version of the film available in the UK (only the low quality 1981 censored version was still in print), released their own cut of Caligula, running approximately 143 minutes (the missing 13 minutes can be mostly attributed to the PAL overspeeding and time compression). It was essentially the same as the 156 minute version, with most of Guccione's explicit sexual material removed, including a lesbian tryst and a handful of sexual inserts during the imperial bordello sequence.
• A 150-minute Italian cut; basically a shortened version of the U.S. edition. It was eventually pulled out of release in favor of Franco Rossellini's re-edited version, but a briefly released VHS tape exists, though it is now out-of print. Raro Video announced that it would release a re-mastered edition of this cut on December 5, 2006, along with an interview by Tinto Brass, in which he would discuss for the first time where the editing of the film went wrong. This release never came to fruition as Raro Video's distributor backed out, and the company replaced it with a remastered print of Franco Rossellini's edit.
• The uncut Twentieth Anniversary Edition DVD was refused classification in November 2005 by Australia's OFLC, effectively banning the film in its uncensored form (although a 102-minute version was passed with an R-rating in 2004). The OFLC deemed the film too sexually explicit to fall within the R18+ classification (despite sexually explicit mainstream films such as 9 Songs receiving this rating). The film could not be accommodated in the X classification (for explicit sex) as it contains depictions of violence (although a 143-minute version of the film had, in fact, been granted an X rating for video release in 1984, when the X rating had only just been introduced and still permitted depictions of violence; the 156-minute version was passed with an X rating in January 1985). Although the film's sexual content was permissible in the X category, the OFLC's classification guidelines unambiguously state "No depiction of violence, sexual violence, sexualised violence, or coercion is allowed in the category." The film was once again refused classification in July 2010; the version was presumably the Imperial Edition, as it is mentioned as having a running time of 930 minutes and many special features.
• In October 2007, Image Entertainment released a 3-disc special edition known as the Imperial Edition. It features two cuts of the film, the 156-minute print and a new edit created from an alternate pre-release version which re-arranges some scenes and does not include most of the explicit sexual inserts added by Guccione (a few shots were left in by mistake and various outtakes from Brass' shoot and a handful of 16 mm behind-the-scenes footage were used to fill in for the deleted material). Both versions have been digitally remastered. Commentary tracks featuring McDowell and Mirren are included on the non-hardcore, pre-release version, and the DVD includes interviews with Tinto Brass, who discusses the film's hectic production and botched editing; and Penthouse Pet Lori Wagner, who discusses the addition of the hardcore footage, including the lesbian sex scene in which she participated. DVD-ROM content includes Gore Vidal's original screenplay, an interview with Bob Guccione, and several hundred production photographs. Other extras include more than two hours of deleted and alternate footage. The DVD set was to carry a fourth disc with the film's complete musical soundtrack, but Penthouse later pulled the soundtrack, along with any mention of the music (and the people behind it) in the behind the scenes featurettes. The 156-minute and 102-minute versions will be released separately in new collectible packaging. The booklet included with the 3-disc set includes a discussion of the many different versions of the film, and states that a significant amount of footage remains unaccounted for; the notes include a plea to viewers to contact Image if they are in possession of any footage not included in the DVD set. The Imperial Edition was released on Blu-ray on January 6, 2009 in the US and Canada.
• The Imperial Edition was released in the UK (Region 2) in September 2008 by Arrow Films. This edition contains four discs, retaining the three from the Region 1 Imperial Edition, and including a newly discovered half hour of deleted and alternate footage not present in the US release, and a fourth disc (third in order of the set) claiming to feature the 1981 R-rated version, but it ended up being the 1999 version. The set does not feature the booklet from the US Imperial Edition; it does, however, include the CD-ROM features on the fourth disc.
• A Japanese special edition was released, containing the newly discovered deleted footage, but without the R-rated release.