While a student at Northwestern University, David Bradley produced, directed, and acted in the first sound film version of Julius Caesar. Shooting in 16mm, the resourceful Bradley turned Chicago's neo-classical landmarks into an ancient Roman background, and the sand dunes of Lake Michigan's shores into the site for the Battle of Philippi. Writing in 1978, L.A. Times critic Kevin Thomas called Julius Caesar “a film of striking, portentous imagery.... It remains one of the most visual Shakespearean films.” Winner of the Grand Prize at the 1953 Locarno Film Festival, the film features a forceful performance by David Bradley as Brutus, and Charlton Heston (who nine years earlier, at the age of 17, starred in Bradley's Peer Gynt) as Marcus Antonius. On the strength of Julius Caesar, which contemporary reviews compared favorably to the films of Orson Welles, both Bradley and Heston moved on to long-term Hollywood contracts. Playing Decius is the Bay Area's Frederick Roscoe, longtime proprietor of Discovery Books in San Francisco.
Mr. Bradley brings with him tonight a brand new print of Julius Caesar.