I saw this film in a version that was a bit over 80 minutes long, with English intertitles (evidently from several sources as the font--and typo ratio--varied, the best being one with long extensions on the b, d, h, k, l so that titles like "Kill him!" and "Murdered!" looked very elegant) and no score. It was evident that at least one subplot, and possibly two, were missing: the character of the Countess Orsini was introduced in one scene, evidently as Cesare Borgia's mistress, but there was no real explanation and she did not reappear; and we see Cesare leer very briefly, in passing on a street, at Naomi (a woman of the people who turns out to be his brother's fiancée), but there was no development of his interest in her despite the fact that it evidently motivates his killing both Naomi and his brother. If these subplots had been developed with another scene or two, we would have a picture of Cesare as man who takes his pleasure with women high and low and considers any woman he has lusted after his personal property. Moreover, we'd see a Cesare who will not kill his brother for political reasons or as revenge for tattling on him to their father (the Pope), but will kill him out of a very casual sexual jealousy over a woman he has hardly met.
There also seemed to be a gap between a moment where Lucrezia tells Juan that Cesare is "at the Circus" and the next scene, in which all three of them are now in the Circus audience.
The production was splendid, with a wonderful Sistine Chapel set (at least that's what it looked like, minus of course the ceiling which would have been painted by Michaelangelo at a later date) for Papal audiences and a spectacular final sequence involving the siege of a castle in which Lucrezia has taken refuge after Cesare murders her husband. There were many extras, many scenes of Cesare's men galloping towards and away from the castle, scaling the walls, etc. There were good, coherent smaller sets too, for Naomi's adventures (a 3-story blacksmith shop in particular). There was also "the Circus", which seemed to be the Colisseum but was not as coherent, and a vast nunnery which I also found confusing as Lucrezia tries to escape from it at midnight or dawn and finds nuns with candles processing in all directions.
Lucrezia, Liane Haid, was quite good. She had to spend a lot of time basically just resisting Cesare's advances, but her character was dynamicfrom relatively passive and dependent on her father (the philoprogenitive Pope) to active, riding her horse around the countryside and escaping from the convent, and finally vindictive in her desire to see Cesare dead. Albert Basserman was also wonderful as the Pope, combining affection for his children, a pious dependence on God, and a political ruthlessness in a way that made sense. The nice men in the story (Cesare's brother Juan and Lucrezia's two suitor-husbands) were well differentiated from each other and from Cesare's three assassins.
Veidt is marvelous as Cesare. His Cesare is of course wicked as can be, but intelligent enough to enjoy duping a prisoner into revealing secret information by making him *imagine* he has been poisoned. He then uses the information to distract his father the Pope from brother Juan's accusations about his general tendency to kill people whom he considers to be in his way. These are his first scenes, and they establishes a Machiavellian Cesare who has more than a little of Shakespeare's Richard III in him one almost expects him to be able to convince Lucrezia to take him as her lover over her husband's dead body, as Richard does with Lady Anne. Although he carries himself like a live Renaissance portrait, strong, straight, and elegant, Veidt conveys the quality of a moral hunchback, born twisted and ready to do what it takes to live with that. His final battle scenes, in which he steps in to lead the troops personally when they are discouraged after several failed assaults, and is slain in a duel but turns out to be hard to kill, also recall that aspect of Richard III.
There also seemed to be a gap between a moment where Lucrezia tells Juan that Cesare is "at the Circus" and the next scene, in which all three of them are now in the Circus audience.
The production was splendid, with a wonderful Sistine Chapel set (at least that's what it looked like, minus of course the ceiling which would have been painted by Michaelangelo at a later date) for Papal audiences and a spectacular final sequence involving the siege of a castle in which Lucrezia has taken refuge after Cesare murders her husband. There were many extras, many scenes of Cesare's men galloping towards and away from the castle, scaling the walls, etc. There were good, coherent smaller sets too, for Naomi's adventures (a 3-story blacksmith shop in particular). There was also "the Circus", which seemed to be the Colisseum but was not as coherent, and a vast nunnery which I also found confusing as Lucrezia tries to escape from it at midnight or dawn and finds nuns with candles processing in all directions.
Lucrezia, Liane Haid, was quite good. She had to spend a lot of time basically just resisting Cesare's advances, but her character was dynamicfrom relatively passive and dependent on her father (the philoprogenitive Pope) to active, riding her horse around the countryside and escaping from the convent, and finally vindictive in her desire to see Cesare dead. Albert Basserman was also wonderful as the Pope, combining affection for his children, a pious dependence on God, and a political ruthlessness in a way that made sense. The nice men in the story (Cesare's brother Juan and Lucrezia's two suitor-husbands) were well differentiated from each other and from Cesare's three assassins.
Veidt is marvelous as Cesare. His Cesare is of course wicked as can be, but intelligent enough to enjoy duping a prisoner into revealing secret information by making him *imagine* he has been poisoned. He then uses the information to distract his father the Pope from brother Juan's accusations about his general tendency to kill people whom he considers to be in his way. These are his first scenes, and they establishes a Machiavellian Cesare who has more than a little of Shakespeare's Richard III in him one almost expects him to be able to convince Lucrezia to take him as her lover over her husband's dead body, as Richard does with Lady Anne. Although he carries himself like a live Renaissance portrait, strong, straight, and elegant, Veidt conveys the quality of a moral hunchback, born twisted and ready to do what it takes to live with that. His final battle scenes, in which he steps in to lead the troops personally when they are discouraged after several failed assaults, and is slain in a duel but turns out to be hard to kill, also recall that aspect of Richard III.