THE EPIC THAT NEVER WAS

It must be rare when a major film production gets shut down and terminated after only

a month. But that's what happened back in 1937 after a brief few weeks of shooting of

what was planned to be an epic production of I Claudius. But unfortunately the whole film

project came to a sudden end after the film's leading actress Merle Oberon was involved

in a car accident.

And headlining the cast of the doomed project was one of our greatest actors Charles

Laughton. And it was Laughton who struggled to get into the part while also not getting

along with it's Director Josef von Sternberg, one of the last of the old fashioned Hollywood Directors. But it seems that Laughton found his inspiration after listening to a recording

of King Edward VIII's 1936 Abdication speech.

So what came out of the existing film footage was a 1965 tv documentary titled 'The Epic

That Never Was' with Charles Laughton giving what some say might have been his finest

ever performance.

And although in history Claudius was the Uncle of the tyrant Emperor Caligula, the

Roman Senators saw him as a stuttering buffoon and certainly didn't want to see him

follow Caligula and become the new Emperor.

But what is interesting about the build up followed by Laughton's great speech is

how Claudius quickly transforms from a stuttering and much mocked clown, and into

a strong and decisive leader ready to take on the responsibility of Emperor.

Much of the video above shows the build up to Laughton's speech but I've set it to go

straight into the speech itself.

THIS VIDEO WAS KINDLY UPLOADED TO YOUTUBE BY TINNED TEA