Greer Garson on "Caesar"

New Zealand Listener, Volume 30, Issue 770, 23 April 1954, Page 8

Greer Garson on "Caesar"

A DISGRACE Hollywood will never be allowed to forget is its production of a film entitled "The Taming of the Shrew, by William Shakespeare, with additional dialogue by Sam Taylor." But even Hollywood has grown up a little since it perpetrated that one, and a recent M.G.M. production of Julius Caesar has been greeted by critics as good film and competent Shakespeare. The filming of Julius Caesar was not, however, without its problems. In a recent lecture at London Universityher own Alma Mater — Greer Garson, who plays Calpurnia, outlined some of them. There is, for instance, a gentle-

men’s agreement among studios about the use of titles. M.G.M. was well down the list for the Shakespeare play. and was forced to wait some years. It was finally. obtained somewhat earlier tHan anticipated, only because David O. Selznick agreed to exchange his right to it for the right to the title Teenager, which he needed for Shirley Temple. In the casting, too, not everything was straightforward. Marlon Brando’s most notable success had been his playing of the male animal Kowalski in Streetcar Named Desire. "There was a good deal of eyebrow lifting," said Miss Garson, "when it was announced that he would play. Mark Antony. People seemed to think the dialogue would become a sort of Stanley Kowalski variation on a theme of Shakespeare, and that he might say: ‘I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him, ain’t dat right, Blanche?’" Brando’s performance was, however, one of the most successful of the film, and Miss Garson was moved to say: "I think his is one of the most important acting gifts of our generation, and I can only say that I watched with admiration his intense concentration and devotion to this task," A recording of Greer Garson’s talk, given for the King’s College Union Society of London University, will be broadcast by all ZB stations and 2ZA Lat 40 pm. on Sunday, May 2.