St. James Theatre

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Uploaded on: October 31, 2026

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The U.S. Commonwealth United Corporation, a short-lived production/distribution firm, set up offices in Australia and made several ‘B grade’ features here. Their major international release was Charlton Heston’s “Julius Caesar” (featuring John Gielgud as Caesar). In a spoiler response, MGM imported new prints of their classic 1953 Brando B & W version (a tinted 35mm print and a 70mm blow-up). A compromise was reached, the newly struck prints remained on the Chalmers Street shelves, and Metro screened the new rival version at the St James – almost certainly the only ‘ring-in’ title MGM ever showed there. It opened Thursday 29 May 1970 and ran six weeks.

(The earlier MGM “Julius Caesar” production, which world premiered at the nearby Liberty 8 May 1953, had featured Gielgud as Cassius.)