(4) Mixed in the scene on Tiberius' pleasure grotto are shots of an orgy, some of which were filmed through mirrors. These were meant to act as establishing shots for the scene in the hall. Also, several scenes later, bodies are shown being taken off crosses and servants clearing the pathway. The fragments of people being tortured several scenes later were meant to be intercut with the scene of Caligula and Nerva in the hall. (3) When Caligula and Nerva walk down the path to Tiberius' pool, people are heard being tortured behind a curtain, which Caligula looks through at one point. The second half of the scene (where Caligula and Drusilla fool around and are caught by Macro) now immediately follows the opening credits. In the final cut, the first half of this scene (which depicts Caligula expressing to Drusilla his worries about Tiberius killing him) occurs between Caligula's tour of the grotto and Nerva's suicide.
![penthouse caligula full movie 1979 penthouse caligula full movie 1979](https://media.movieassets.com/static/images/items/movies/posters/360/85/caligula-80de1c0221fc8fafce8761104a771c37.jpg)
(2) The scene that was meant to be the opening is cut in half and moved around. The scene is almost certainly shorter than it was intended to be, and thus is now a meaningless fragment. It was supposed to depict Caligula and Drusilla enjoying their new freedom as they no longer need to worry about being seen by Tiberius' informers. A few examples of scenes made fragmented in editing: (1) The opening is a fragment of a scene that was meant to occur immediately following Tiberius' death (this is why Caligula is clean-shaven in this scene, but has a beard in the next). When editor Nino Baragli and producer Bob Guccione cut the movie together, several scenes were truncated and cut into the movie seemingly randomly. The rumors of a three hour and thirty minute version screened at the Cannes Film Festival in 1979 are untrue. (5) The second (and current) R-rated version was released in 199, and used no alternate footage or angles, with the same shots repeating several times to mask the cuts in the movie. When released on home video, some of the hardcore footage shot by Bob Guccione was reinserted into the movie. It ran two hours and thirteen minutes and was cut to two hours and three minutes by the Italian censors. (4) In 1984, the movie was re-cut and re-released in Italy under the title "Io, Caligola". (3) The official "uncut" version runs two hours and thirty-six minutes, and includes about six minutes of re-shoots by producer Bob Guccione. This version also used alternate footage and angles in the hardcore sex scenes and during scenes of graphic violence. (2) A one hour and forty-five minute R-rated version was released in the U.S. The original two hour and twenty-nine minute cut is now highly sought after.
![penthouse caligula full movie 1979 penthouse caligula full movie 1979](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BYzI2ZGQwZjYtMGM3OS00MDU4LThlMWMtZWU3ZmQzYWZmZTQxXkEyXkFqcGdeQXVyNDkzNTM2ODg@._V1_.jpg)
release (and now legal version) has a PAL running time of one hour and thirty-eight minutes (approximately one hour and forty-two minute movie/NTSC) and is the same as the older R-rated version in the U.S. with a running time of two hours and twenty-nine minutes, with the hardcore sex replaced by alternate footage inserted by the distributor. Several different versions of this movie have been circulated: (1) It was originally released in the U.K. A prime example is Caligula's nightmare scene with Drusilla, which now occurs in a part of the movie that would have been quite impossible dramatically, and is actually the first half of an earlier scene, which occurs just after the credits (together, the two scenes were meant to be the opening of the movie, and the current opening in which Caligula and Drusilla enjoy a romp through a forest was intended for an entirely different purpose altogether, and was meant to occur much later). Guccione then proceeded to edit the movie, but he often chose shots that were never meant to be included (the many zooms, out-of-focus shots, et cetera), and also cut up certain scenes and put them in the wrong order. Brass disowned it because Guccione locked him out of the editing room (some in the industry suspect it was because Brass didn't want to use Guccione's hardcore inserts) after assembling the first forty minutes (which was probably disassembled shortly afterward). Vidal disowned the movie because Brass and Malcolm McDowell changed the point of view of his screenplay. In reality, only five or six minutes of the two hour and thirty-six minute version of the movie were part of Guccione's re-shoot, that five or six minutes consists of the lesbian tryst in the secret room, and several inserts in the Imperial Bordello scene. Contrary to popular belief, Gore Vidal and director Tinto Brass did not disown this movie because producer Bob Guccione inserted hardcore sex and graphic violence sequences, and changed the point of the movie.