| # | Person/s Primarily Responsible | Comments | Status | Length |
| (N/A) | Tinto Brass | Rushes. | Most survived in some form or other, and, barring deacetylation, most might still survive. | 96hrs approx |
| (N/A) | Elsa Armanni | Preliminary assembly. This is not an edited or even viewable version of the movie. It is simply every potentially usable moment of every camera angle of every take, hammered together in screenplay sequence. It is not a movie. It is just a lot of raw footage from which an editor would later sculpt a movie. Ready by third week of January 1977. | This, of course, was further trimmed. A second and third color copy seem to have been made. One was secretly made by Tinto, to keep it safe from Felix/Penthouse. Another was secretly made by Felix/Penthouse, to keep it safe from Tinto. Despite all precautions by both sides of the dispute, all copies of this preliminary assembly are presumed destroyed. | 9hrs approx |
| (N/A) | Unknown | Second assembly. Again, this is not a movie. This is just the preliminary assembly with some of the fat trimmed away. Date unknown. | Dismantled in the process of editing. | 254min54sec |
| (1) | Tinto Brass | This included everything through to the end of the stadium scene |
Survives, incomplete, in a disassembled 16mm b/w copy.
A few brief portions of 1984’s Io Caligola |
84min |
| (2) | Russell Lloyd | Rough cut completed by first week of September 1977. This seems to have been constructed from copies of the raw rushes, not from the preliminary assembly. | Dismantled. | 140min approx (no credits) |
| (3) | Russell Lloyd | Revised rough cut completed by 9 November 1977. | Dismantled. | 140min (no credits) |
| (4) | Russell Lloyd | Included the consulship of Incitatus (in the wrong place), the massage, and the Temple of Jupiter in its entirety. The pastoral idyll was used as a prologue. Ready 30 Jan 1978. All the scenes in the Temple of Jupiter, along with several other scenes (“You don’t exist!”), were deleted at Jack Silverman’s insistence. | Dismantled. A b&w dupe copy seems still to survive. | 151min20sec (no credits) |
| (5) | Nino Baragli | First half adapted partly from (1) above and partly from (4) above.
The remainder slightly modified from (4) above, minus the scenes deleted by order of Jack Silverman.
A temporary music track was later added, consisting of excerpts from Khachaturian and Prokofiev ballets.
The music was not separated, but included on the same reels of fullcoat as the duplicate of the production audio.
Mysteriously, random portions of the production audio were erased.
(For the supplementary section of the DVD and |
Dismantled. Only fragments survive. | 160min? approx (no credits) |
| (6) | Nino Baragli | Baragli’s final version, with the bedroom scene (did you see their faces, guards, dispute over land) in sequence and complete except for the ending back in bed, which is missing everywhere except in the recent DVD supplements. Massage deleted. Consulship of Incitatus deleted. The momentary shot of Cæsonia silently gloating when Caligula slaps Drusilla was deleted. Included the temporary music cues used in (5). It was probably for this version that the Sacred Dance of Isis was first abridged severely. Prepared by June or early July 1978. | Survives on a series of three battered |
152min approx (no credits) |
| (7) | Peter Krook | Dubbing print adapted from (6) above, minus all the Guccione/Lui hardcore footage. When screened privately for Malcolm McDowell and Masolino d’Amico prior to dubbing, it included the temporary music cues used in (5) & (6). Prepared by early July 1978. The dubbing script suggests that the massage scene was dubbed as well, even though it was never to be reinstated in the workprints. | Dismantled. | 147min approx (no credits) |
| (8) | Peter Krook | Same as (7) above, but fully dubbed and with the Guccione/Lui hardcore put back in. An earlier, much longer version of Sacred Dance of Isis was undoubtedly reinstated for this version. At Malcolm McDowell’s suggestion, the momentary CS of Cæsonia gloating was reinstated. At Masolino d’Amico’s suggestion, a few more lines of dialogue had been written, rewritten, and dubbed (“What’s it like with Marcellus?” rather than “What’s it like with your husband?” “Now send the rest to Livia,” etc). The sound was on fullcoat reels. Franco Mannino’s incidental music was isolated on separate fullcoat reels. Privately screened in September 1978 and instantly rejected. | Does not survive. | 153min approx (no credits) |
| (9) | Giancarlo Lui, Peter Krook |
Slightly amended version of (8) above, minus the massage and with the pastoral idyll interrupting the bedroom/veranda scene (“she is to be banished to Gaul”/“you must have an heir”). This version used the scrambled/abridged Sacred Dance of Isis from (7). Finished print, but with the sound on separate fullcoat reels. The temporary music cues used in (5) above were probably reinstated. If not, then this print had little or no music. Trade screened in London 13–17 Nov 1978. | Cut into several pieces for the subsequent |
152min approx |
| (10) | Giancarlo Lui | Basically the same as (9) above, but with the pastoral idyll moved back to the beginning as a prologue.
The incidental music was by Bruno Nicolai who worked under a pseudonym.
Completed in March 1979.
Shown at 1st Cannes screening in May 1979, and maybe 2nd and 3rd screenings as well.
Reviewed by the US Department of Justice and the US Attorney General’s Office (New York Eastern District) in April 1979.
Most prints were optical monaural, but a few were |
Released in the US 1 Feb 1980. Released in Vancouver BC in July 1981.
|
155min52sec (14,029'+07fr) (1984 |
| (11) | Giancarlo Lui | Caligola. Same as (10) above, but dubbed into Italian.
Ready by June 1979.
Ten years later, in 1989,
Felix Cinematografica issued PAL VHS screeners to potential |
Never released. All 35mm prints and masters seem by now to have been destroyed — except probably for two, which are in private hands and unavailable for inspection. Some VHS screeners might still be around somewhere; bootleg copies are rare. | 155min52sec (14,029'+07fr) plus part titles |
| (12) | Franco Rossellini et al | Caligola. Same as (11) above, but with about 90 seconds (135') deleted at Rossellini’s instructions. | Presumed lost. | 154min23sec (13,895') plus part titles |
| (13) | Franco Rossellini et al | Caligola. Same as (12) above, but with a further deletions. Ministero del Turismo e dello Spettacolo then ordered a further 16m (35sec) deleted from the lesbian scene. Submitted on 9 Jul 1979. | Presumed lost. | 151min19sec (4151m) including part titles |
| (14) | Franco Rossellini et al | Caligola. Same as (13) above, but with the further 35 seconds (52.5' or 16m) deleted from the lesbian scene by order of the Ministero del Turismo e dello Spettacolo. Registered 24 Jul 1979. | Presumed lost. | 150min44sec (4135m) including part titles |
| (15) | Franco Rossellini et alia | Caligola. Same as (14) above, but with a further 3min20sec (300') deleted as precaution. Premièred at the Cinema Nuovo in Meldola on 14 Aug 1979 and released throughout Italy on 10 Nov 1979. | Presumed destroyed, though DVD’s were made of prints that seem to have vanished. | 147min24sec including part titles |
| (16) | Unknown | Expanded from (10) above. Special print for trade shows, with a further 14 minutes of hardcore additions. Possibly shown at 2nd and/or 3rd screenings at Cannes in May 1979. Dates undetermined, but it could have been shown in the US at least as early as May 1979 and there was at least one showing in Hollywood sometime between January and April 1980. | Presumed lost. | 169min51sec (4,650m) |
| (17) | Unknown | Same as (10) above, dubbed into German, but with six minutes deleted by order of the state censor. | Released on 25 Apr 1980. | 149min36sec (4104m) |
| (18) | Unknown | French dub of (10) above. | Never released to cinemas. Released on VHS and DVD but with a few errors. | 155min52sec (14,029'+07fr) |
| (19) | Unknown editor under the supervision of Paul Rassam |
Abridgment of (18) above, shortened partly to avoid the extra VAT charged to violent programs, but mostly to squeeze in a fourth daily screening. | Released 2 Jul 1980. | 136min22sec (3741m) |
| (20) | Unknown editor under the supervision of James Ferman |
Adapted from (10) above. Fourteen minutes were deleted by order of the state censor. Much of that footage was replaced by tamer material. (20) and its derivatives including (23) contain a few moments not included in any other version. | Released in the UK 30 Oct 1980. | 149min35sec (13,462') |
| (21) | Unknown | Same as (10) above, dubbed into Japanese, but with about 350 foggings. | Released in Japan 21 Nov 1980. | 155min52sec (14,029'+07fr) |
| (22) | Unknown | Québec version. Same as (10) and possibly (18) above, but with three minutes cut. | Released in a French dub and later in English with French subtitles 20 Feb 1981. | 153min |
| (23) | Unknown | “Modified Version.” Same as (20) above, but with one shot deleted from the Imperial Bordello scene. (23), like (20) and its derivatives, contains a few moments not included in any other version. | Released in Australia 19 Jun 1981. | 149min30sec |
| (24) | Unknown | Alberta version. Same as (20) above, but with one minute cut. | Released 9 Oct 1981. | 148min |
| (25) | Unknown | Ontario version. Same as (20) above, but with several cuts. | Released 9 Oct 1981. | 148min? |
| (26) | Nino Baragli | Abridgment of (10) above for general US release, with replacement footage not seen in any previous version. See “Marketing Sanitized Caligula as an ‘R’ in 170 Situations,” Variety (weekly), 21 Oct 1981. | Never released. Lost. | 117min approx |
| (27) | Nino Baragli | R-rated version. Abridgment of (26) above for general US release. Cut by the simple expedient of deleting everything between Cæsonia’s dance and the birth of Julia — except for one shot, namely, the crowd holding vigil in the Baths of Caracalla. That originally introduced the scene of Caligula deathly ill in bed. Now it inexplicably introduces the birth of Julia. Missing are Caligula’s illness (stable and bedroom), ratifying legislation in Longinus’s office, and the execution of Proculus. Some or all of the unique replacement footage from (26) is retained, never to be used again in any other version. | Opened beginning 16 Oct 1981 in the Eastern States, and beginning 5 Feb 1982 on the West Coast. Several 35mm prints are in the hands of private collectors. | 105min47sec (1984 |
| (28) | Unknown | Manitoba version. Same as (20) above, but with two minutes cut. | Released 22 Jan 1982. | 147min |
| (29) | Franco Rossellini, Enzo Natale, Enzo Micarelli | Io Caligola, adapted from (1) and (10) above, with some footage restored, many deletions, and a few attempts to repair the editing. Presumably all of the Guccione/Lui “additional” footage was deleted, but that is not certain. Newly dubbed into Italian, with mostly different music. Ready by late 1983. Never released. | Destroyed. | 147min38sec (4050m) including part titles |
| (30) | Franco Rossellini, Enzo Natale, Enzo Micarelli | Io Caligola. Same as (29) above, but with further deletions. All of Guccione/Lui’s “additional” footage was deleted. According to ANICA this was released to cinemas under visa number 79492. | Released in Rome and Milan 31 Mar 1984 and the rest of Italy at the beginning of Apr,
but was almost instantly sequestered. After court clearance it was |
124min43sec (3421m) including part titles (overspeeded to 119min for video) |
| (31) | Franco Rossellini, Enzo Natale, Enzo Micarelli | Io Caligola. Same as (30) above, but with further deletions ordered by the state censor. To all appearances this was appealed, and (30) was released instead. | Never released, possibly never even completed. | 118min15sec (3243m) including part titles |
| (32) | Unknown | Mida Film (subsidiary of The Universal Video Srl) VHS version, unlicensed.
Same as (30) above, but with portions of the sequestered (11) and/or (12) above illegally reinstated.
Unusually, this video includes part titles, though not the genuine ones. These part titles were |
Released sometime in 1987. | 135min overspeeded to 130min including part titles |
| (33) | Unknown | Felix Cinematografica Srl prepared a new internegative of the uncut English-language version by May 1987,
which was ready for delivery within a few months of that.
Interestingly, this had altered credits that deleted every mention of Guccione and Penthouse.
This may have been released on video in Greece, Portugal (Filmitalus Ltda), Spain (Civite S.A.),
Brazil (Rede Nacional de Filmes Nacionais Ltda), and Hong Kong (Filmax).
It may have been released to cinemas in India (Shailesh Shah Inc).
It was definitely released in Scandinavia (Scanbox |
Briefly on VHS. 35mm prints presumed destroyed. | 155min52sec (14,029'+07fr) |
| (34) | Unknown | Felix Cinematografica Srl also prepared a “soft” English-language version with the same altered credits.
This was based on (33). It was completed by May 1987 and
seems to have been released to cinemas in Chile in late 1989 (Inter Films)
and México in autumn 1990 (Producciones Carlos Amador S.A.).
It seems also to have been released on video and at cinemas in Scandinavia in autumn 1990 (Scanbox |
Briefly on VHS. Film materials presumed destroyed. | 120min |
| (35) | Unknown | More surprisingly, Felix Cinematografica Srl also prepared an “edited-for-television” edition, which was ready by May 1989. This was apparently based upon (34). | Never released, presumed destroyed. | Unknown |
| (36) | Ira Manhoff | Twentieth-Anniversary “Digitally Remastered & Fully Resorted” version. Same as (10) above, but printed from inferior materials. How Ira Manhoff came to be involved in this, I do not know. He was able to reconstruct this after pulling materials from multiple storage sites, and he was irritated that almost nothing was catalogued and that he could not locate all the masters. The mono of the original release was synthesized to Dolby 5.1. The line “Not enjoying the emperor’s games?” became almost inaudible. Guccione’s promise to restore about 12 minutes of previously unseen material could not be fulfilled, as the soundtrack had never been prepared. | Released in the US 17 Sep 1999. | 155min52sec (14,029'+07fr) |
| (37) | Alan Roberts, Mark Kermode | FilmFour version. Same as (10) above, but with overscanning to remove objectionable images and with the hardcore footage deleted as well as some softer material. | Exists only on video. First screened on cable television 31 Oct 1999. | 142min overspeeded to 137min |
| (38) | Ira Manhoff | “Rated Version,” released on DVD in Nov 1999
and transmitted by Cinemax beginning in February 2000.
Same as (10) above, with cuts approximating (27) above.
When it came to (27), the 1981 |
Later released under the erroneous appellation “Theatrical Version” for the UK Imperial Edition in Sep 2008. | 102min |
| (39) | Unknown | Newly certificated edition for the Province of Ontario, derived from (10) but with 10 cuts. | Certificated 10 Feb 2000. | Unknown |
| (40) | Unknown | 35mm print shown at MALBA (Museo de Arte Latinoamericano de Buenos Aires).
Here is what a correspondent told us: “The version screened appears to be the 156' edit, albeit with some audible differences (which are also in the R-Rated edit): • Further laughter from Tiberius when he leaves the pool. • Claudius’s grimace before Tiberius’s murder is almost inaudible. • Chærea shouting ‘guards!’ before Claudius is crowned is almost inaudible. And although the print is very splicy, some changes appear to be intentional, as some explicit content (homosexual guards, Ennia’s slaves, Anneka’s big scene at the ship, etc) is cut. It’s bewildering, since the lesbian scene, Proculus’s death, the killing machine and other such moments are left untouched.” |
Unknown | |
| (41) | Nathaniel Thompson | Supplement to the “Imperial Edition” includes what is called the “Pre-Release” version.
This began as a restoration of (9) above.
Once the restoration was largely complete, an attempt was made to correct a few of the mistakes
that had been present in all previous release versions,
and a further attempt was made to delete Guccione/Lui’s footage wherever identifiable,
some of which was replaced by previously unseen footage.
Because much of the sound was degraded or missing,
it was largely jettisoned and the image was synchronized with the mag master of (10) above as best as could be done.
The mag master of (10) was two-channel in reels |
Exists only on video. Released on DVD in 2 Oct 2007. Some additional materials that could not be reinstated into the movie in time for the deadline were included as supplements. | 153min |
| (42) | Nathaniel Thompson | Exists only on video. Released on |
153min |