British actor Charles Laughton was one of the greatest
actors of the 20th Century.
Sadly he isn't as well known today as Sir Laurence
Olivier but in some ways Laughton could be just as
good as Olivier if not better in some of his acting
performances.
What brought this to mind is this past weekend, my dad
and I watched the 13th installment of the BBC television
series I, Claudius.
I, Claudius was a famous BBC television series of the
late 1970s which gained enormous popularity and a large
following in North America when it was shown on American
PBS television back in the early 1980s.
We got the DVD back in December and we've been
watching it on and off- 1 or 2 episodes a week ever
since.
Last Thursday, we watched the final installment- Episode 12-
where Claudius eats poisoned mushrooms fed to him by
Agrippina (the psychotic mother of the equally psychotic
Emperor Nero) and promptly kicks the bucket.
But there was a bonus on the DVD- a thirteenth episode- if
you will - a documentary that was done on BBC television
back in the mid-1960s.
The documentary was about British filmmaker Sir
Alexander Korda's forgotten and unfinished epic
movie of 1937- I, Claudius- the first time they
attempted to film Robert Graves' famed 1934 novel
I, Claudius.
The movie starred Charles Laughton as Claudius,
Merle Oberon as Messalina and Flora Robson as Livia.
Surprisingly this was one London Films production (London
Films was the name of Sir Alexander Korda's studios) that
Korda did not direct himself.
He was just the producer.
Instead he hired a German-American director named von
Sternberg (the man who directed Marlene Dietrich in her
breakthrough film in America, The Blue Angel) to direct
his production of I, Claudius.
Only a few scenes were shot in the film and then the
project was scrapped.
Coincidentally shooting on the film began on February 15th,
1937.
And it was the wee morning hours of February 15th, 2009 (exactly
72 years later) that my dad and I watched the documentary about
the making of this unknown and unfinished virtually forgotten
epic.
The film it turns out was Charles Laughton's most
difficult role. He was having a hard time trying to figure
out how to bring Claudius to life.
For Charles Laughton was one of those method actors who
wanted to totally immerse himself in the character and become
that character. It was this that made him such a great actor of course.
But he was having a heck of time trying to capture Claudius- trying
to become Claudius- trying to bring Claudius to life.
In a 1965 interview with Merle Oberon for the documentary, she
said that during the month of shooting for the flim, Laughton would
enter her dressing room and start crying on her shoulder for hours
saying, "I can't find Claudius. I can't find Claudius. I can't bring
Claudius to life."
Needless to say, this caused numerous setbacks in the
shooting schedule. And it lead to much bitter fighting
between von Sternberg the director and Laughton the actor.
Laughton was depressed.
von Sternberg was depressed.
And there was a feeling of tension and unease on the
set.
What finally killed the film was that Merle Oberon had a
car accident after about a month of shooting into the film.
It turns out Miss Oberon had a crazed chauffeur and
the jerk blew through a traffic intersection crashing into
another car and sending poor Miss Oberon flying
through the windshield of the car (remember there were
no seat belts in those days).
Anyways Merle Oberon's face was badly cut
and they didn't know if her scars would ever heal
and since Merle had shot so many scenes as Messalina
it would have been impossible to bring in a replacement for
her (not that Korda would have allowed them to anyways
since his purpose in making the picture was to make an epic
greater than the Hollywood epics of the day with his beloved
Merle as the star).
And since the picture was behind schedule anyways because
of Laughton's anghst and the tensions between Laughton and
von Sternberg, it was decided to just scrap the picture.
Of course, Merle Oberon's facial scars did heal but by the
time they did, the chilling winds of impending war were already
blowing across Europe so no effort was ever made to finish
the picture.
I remember as a young kid, I had a tremendous crush on
Merle Oberon.
There was one night a week when the local TV station every summer
showed what they called a Korda Film Festival in which they ran one
of Sir Alexander Korda's great London Films movies from the 1930s.
The first film I ever saw Merle Oberon in was called The Divorce of
Lady X and starred both Miss Oberon and the young Sir
Laurence Olivier.
I went to bed that night having pleasant dreams.
I dreamed that I was busy kissing Merle Oberon.
But my favourite Korda film of all with Merle Oberon in
it was the 1934 The Scarlet Pimpernel in which she
played Lady Blakeney and Leslie Howard played the
eccentric English nobleman and seeming fop Sir Percy
Blakeney (it was just an act for he was actually
the courageous intelligent and brave Scarlet
Pimpernel who saved thousands of Frechmen
and women and children from their deaths at the
hands of Madame Guillotine during the French Revolution).
I remember the dresses Merle Oberon wore in that
film were absolutely gorgeous.
So I'd go to bed imagining that I was the
Scarlet Pimpernel and having spent the day
rescuing people from Robespierre's guillotine
would spend my nights kissing and making out
with the lovely and beautiful Merle Oberon.
In the few scenes that were shot with
Merle Oberon as Messalina in I, Claudius,
she made a priceless and far better Messalina
than the one they cast in the mid-70s BBC TV
production.
And Flora Robson made a far better Livia
than did the one cast in the mid-70s TV production.
Derek Jacobi was of course excellent as Claudius in
the BBC-TV production.
But how did he stack up against Laughton?
Well of course not too many scenes were shot
with Laughton as Claudius because of Laughton's personal
anghst in trying to capture the character.
My godfather a retired high school art teacher
who used to also do set designs for local stage
theatre productions once met Charles Laughton.
My godfather and another man Bob Willis
were doing set designs for a University
Studio Theatre production back in the 1950s
and Charles Laughton was going to be sitting
in the audience on the opening night of the production.
The play was a Greek tragedy and was to be set
in the Temple of Diana of the Ephesians.
Now for those of you who have studied classical
Greek history, the statue of Diana of the Ephesians
was of course a multi-breasted woman.
So my godfather and Bob did a faithful reproduction of
the statue- there was Diana of the Ephesians in all her
multi-breasted glory.
Well of course in Social Credit governed Alberta of
the 1950s, to show a statue of a nude multi-breasted
woman would be verbotten shall we say? 
So the breasts were covered up with gauze and cloths.
My godfather being the meek and mild mannered man
that he is went along with it.
But Bob Willis was fuming.
On opening night before the play began,
Bob stormed out on stage in front of the curtain
and began a long diatribe against censorship to
the audience.
At first the director thought, "oh well. We'll just
give Bob the chance to get it all off his chest
and then the play can begin."
But Bob wasn't letting up in getting it all
off his chest (the way Diana of the Ephesians
had got it all on her chest) and so after
20 minutes with no end in sight, the play's
director sent out a couple of extra strong
stage hands to drag Bob off stage.
Bob had to be dragged literally kicking
and screaming off the stage.
At the end of the play, Charles Laughton
in the theatre auditorium was asked by the local
press what he thought of the play and Laughton
answered in all honesty and seriousness, "Well
I do think the play dragged a bit but I thought
the prologue was positively brilliant. I don't
think I've ever seen a better performed prologue
to this play. That fellow was marvellous.
A marvellous actor. And to have him dragged
kicking and screaming off the stage like that-
with such utter passion. My kudos to the director
for conceiving such a brilliant performance."
As to who was the better Claudius? Laughton
or Derek Jacobi?
Well most of the scenes with Laughton as Claudius,
Laughton did seem a bit unsure of himself.
You could see his anghst in trying to capture the
character.
Ironically on the same day that Merle Oberon had her
car accident, they shot the scene where Claudius
after the murder of Caligula is dragged off by the
Praetorian Guard to the chambers of the Roman
Senate to have Claudius acclaimed Emperor.
The night before, Laughton had spent hours
listening to a grammophone recording of
King Edward VIII's abdication speech
in which Edward gave up the throne "for the woman
I love" (Mrs. Wallis Simpson).
That morning like a child, Laughton excitedly entered
the studio, exclaiming with glee, "I've found him.
I've found Claudius."
And after watching that performance where Laughton as
Claudius had spoken to the Senate and the Praetorian
Guard, my dad and I both sat silent at the end of the speech.
It's what one does when one is in the presence of a
great work of art.
Viewing the Mona Lisa in the Louvre.
Or gazing at Michaelangelo's Last Judgement on
the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.
Or putting down a copy of Shakespeare's or Keats'
sonnets.
Or having just listened to Beethoven's 9th Symphony.
I don't think I've ever seen or probably ever will see
a better speech delivered on a screen by an actor.
It was even better than Sir Laurence Olivier's St.
Crispin's Day speech from his performance as
Shakespeare's King Henry V.
For Laughton had indeed become Claudius.
Sad that the day it happened, Merle Oberon
had a car accident and the picture was shelved.
For what was probably the greatest film performance
in all of motion picture history has sadly been seen by few
as a result.
Only those fortunate enough to watch that scene on
that documentary about the forgotten unfinished epic
of Sir Alexander Korda would have seen it.
And today instead of wondering whether it
was Sir Laurence Olivier or Sir John Gielgud
who was the 20th Century's greatest actor,
there'd be no discussion.
Laughton as Claudius. The silver screen's greatest
performance.
The 20th Century's greatest actor.
