Shakespeare on film.

[crispini]

So for some reason I'm watching a lot of Shakespeare movies lately. I watched "Titas" last night, which was quite possibly one of the most depressing, hair-raising, but excellent films I've ever seen. Starting Anthony Hopkins. Tonight, for a change, "Midsummer Night's Dream," the one with Stanley Tucci and Kevin Kline and Michelle Pfeiffer and a bunch of other megastars. It's fun, it's a romp.

But I have to admit, my all time fave film adaptation of Shakespeare was John Cleese in "Taming of a Shrew." Laugh out loud funny.

So, what's your fave film adaptation of Shakespeare?

(edited for spelling)

[brainshrub]

1. Titus was an excellent movie.

Shakespeare's Titus makes most Hollywood slasher films look tame. Will was a sick puppy.

[crispini]

4. It doesn't get produced much, I've never seen it live.

And now I know why. It was totally gutwrenching.

[Jesus H. Christ]

6. Actually regarded as Shakespeare's worst play

by most.

[crispini]

9. Really? Jeez.

It was PAINFUL to watch. Totally gripping. The hand thing? Ewwwww. And the head thing? Double ewwwww.

[brainshrub]

27. I can see why Titus might not be the best,

but the worst would be: The Winter's Tale

I love going to see Shakesphere's plays, but this one bores me to tears.

[Jesus H. Christ]

2. For some reason I liked...

Much Ado About Nothing.

Branaugh and whatshername, Arnold's baby's daddy, had some real chemistry.

[RevolutionaryActs]

5. Emma Thompson.

I love that movie. :)

[Jesus H. Christ]

8. That's the one.

And it's got Neo.

[Merlot]

20. Me to!

It's an absolute feelgood movie. Emma Thompson was at her best.

For a much more depressing Shakespear, I'll take Hamlet. There is a Kevin Branaugh version that is very overdressed and 2 hours long. Better is the modern version where the family fights over a corporation instead of a kingdom. I think Ethan Hawke played Hamlet, with Clair Danes - but don't hold me to that.

Oh, but Laurence Fishbourn as Othello! Not to be missed.

[saltpoint]

3. Zefferelli's ROMEO AND JULIET.

Absolutely sublime.

[crispini]

7. Haven't seen that one, I'll have to look it up....

[saltpoint]

16. Cancel all events this weekend --

-- and rent this film. You'll swoon.

[tuvor]

10. A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935)

Except for Mickey Rooney as an annoying Puck, all I really recall is the gorgeous cinematography, which as it turns out, won an Oscar.

Oh, yeah. James Cagney's in it, too. Not on DVD yet, as far as I know.

[crispini]

13. Damn, not on DVD?

Why does it take them so long to get these old, cool movies out?

[tuvor]

23. If I hadn't seen it on TV (CBC Late Movie) I never would've known about it

I'd buy the VHS if I ever found it.

Oh, look. I just did. Not cheap, either!

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/6302804655/qid=1104897126/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/103-2267273-0617407?v=glance&s=video

[crispini]

25. It has dance numbers?

Are they all Busby-Berkley-esque?

[tuvor]

32. It's been a long time, but I'm pretty sure they weren't.

Busby Berkley numbers kind of stand out in your mind. :)

I think it was pretty true to the fact that it's a stage play. Honestly I don't recall much dancing, just being mesmerised by the atmosphere of the film.

I just wish you could edit Mickey Rooney out of it.

[crispini]

35. That's funny, one of the amazon.com reviewers

was raving about how good Mickey Rooney is. :P

[tuvor]

43. Well, at least you're prepared.

Now I'm jonesin' to see that movie again!

[BigMcLargehuge]

11. Throne of Blood

the best MacBeth ever made.

[crispini]

14. Couldn't find it on IMDB?

Who's in it?

[BigMcLargehuge]

31. Toshiro Mifune

directed by Akira Kurosawa

[crispini]

34. Ooooo, cool.

(Adds to Netflix queue)

[BigMcLargehuge]

38. I want a review posted once you've viewed it!

:)

[crispini]

44. check, will do! :)

aye aye cap'n! :evilgrin:

[Rabrrrrrr]

12. Welles' Macbeth - incredible

And I thought Gibson's (was that Mel Gibson? I can't remember) Hamlet was spot-on and Henry IV (or was it the V?) that came out a year or two later was excellent as well.

Titus is awesome, isn't it? Anthony Hopkins is such a fantastic actor.

And the Rosenkrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead movie, while obviously not Shakespeare, was a very nicely done version of the play.

[Rabrrrrrr]

15. And Welles' Othello

also fantastic

[crispini]

17. Yep, Mel Gibson's Hamlet.

You didn't think that Ophelia did a bit too much scenery-chewing in that film? I usually like Helena Bonham Carter, but for some reason IIRC she was kind of over the top.... jmho....

[Rabrrrrrr]

19. I've only seen it once, and that was when it came out

So the memory is dim. And I might not have been as critical as normal, since if memory serves, I went in assuming I would hate all of it and that it would suck, and it didn't, so I might be giving it more credit than it deserves.

I really need to watch it again some time.

[crispini]

24. IIRC, Mel was great.

All broody and dark-prince, very good. But I haven't seen it in a while myself.

[Rabrrrrrr]

26. That's about all I remember, is how good Gibson was

and then I remember with the later Branagh films how really good he was! Very much surprised me that he was so good at it, and then turns out that Branagh is a very good actor. I had dismissed him before Henry V.

[crispini]

33. Oh, yeah, I believe that Branaugh is a graduate of

the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts..... and they don't take pikers. :D

[coeur_de_lion]

18. All of the movies by Kenneth Branagh

Henry V
Much Ado About Nothing
Hamlet

[kodi]

21. Olivier/R III, and oddly enough, Mckellen's too

But dammit, when i watch zefferelli's R&J i cry when the prince says "all are punished" as it closes.

best adapted shakepeare has to be kurosawa's "ran"

[crispini]

29. Oh, yeah, "Ran" is great.

Saw the re-release last year. MUST be seen on the big screen IMO.....

[Rabrrrrrr]

22. Oh, shit, I forgot - Bob and Doug MacKenzie's movie is HAMLET!

It's totally Hamlet.

And hilarious.

[crispini]

37. It is?

[Rabrrrrrr]

39. Yep

Elsinore, the father's ghost, all sorts of Hamlet stuff. And beer, eh.

[crispini]

42. It's been a looooong time since I've seen it.

I may have to see it again.

I always liked their version of the 12 days of Christmas. "And a beer! In a tree.."

[sundog]

28. I loved that version of Midsummer Night's Dream

a lot of people bashed it, but I thought Michelle Pfeiffer as Titania was sublime :loveya:

[Jack Rabbit]

30. Viewing Shakespeare on film

There are two separate elements to a film version of Shakespeare: first, it is Shakespeare; second, it is cinema.

Some films do one element better than the other. The Stuart Burge film of Othello (1964) did the Shakespeare beautifully. It featured the cast of the contemporary Old Vic production: Laurence Olivier in the title role; Frank Finlay as Iago; Maggie Smith as Desdemona; and a very young Derek Jacobi as Cassio. What Burge did to "direct" the film was to place three cameras in front of a sound stage that recreated the set at the Old Vic and let the actors do their thing. While the Shakespearean element is superior to most films based on the Bard's work, it is in cinematic terms a very difficult film to watch.

On the opposite end of the scale is Bas Luhrmann's 1998 Romeo and Juliet. This is a very good film, cinematicly speaking. I especially liked the way Luhrmann used water as a leitmotif to death. Unfortunately, as Shakespeare, this picture is awful. The actors didn't know what to do. Claire Danes' performance is particularly embarrassing; it's painful to listen to her trip over the verse as she does. Furthermore, it is apparent that Luhrmann instructed the actors to deliver their lines with everyday inflection. This is a mistake with any Shakespeare -- imagine an opera where nobody sings -- but it is an especially bad mistake with Romeo and Juliet. This play may fail as tragedy, but it contains some of the finest love poetry in the English language. This film is a lot better watching it with the sound off, but that defeats the purpose of Shakespeare.

I wouldn't list any one particular Shakespearean film as my favorite, but I do like some more than others. Among my favorites are Olivier's Hamlet, Henry V and Richard III; Branaugh's Hamlet, Much Ado about Nothing and Henry V; Richard Loncraine's film of Richard III starring Ian McKellan in the title role; Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnight, based on the two Henry IV plays (Welles cast himself as Falstaff) and Othello; Zefferelli's Romeo and Juliet and The Taming of the Shrew; Polanski's Macbeth; Joseph Mankiewicz' Julius Caesar (forget Brando's Antony, what makes this film worthwhile is James Mason's Brutus); and Trevor Nunn's film of Twelfth Night, with Nigel Hawthorne as Malvoliio and Ben Kingsley as Feste, which came out at the same time as Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet and is much better on balance.

[crispini]

40. Ooo, nice post.

I feel like I've been edumacated. :D I may have to bookmark this for future reference.

[CanuckAmok]

36. Brannaugh's Richard III is amazing.

Set in a post-war fascist England. It's excellent!

On edit: Ian McKellan is Richard, if you weren't already convinced.

[Nikepallas]

41. Ken Brannagh's movie versions have always been great...my opinion

[Aristus]

45. You want an interesting image? Picture an Army barracks

dayroom, filled with tough macho tank crewmen, watching in amazed astonishment Branagh's 'Henry V'.

"This is SHAKESPEARE, man?"

"Yup."

"Cool!"

:-)

[Nikepallas]

46. That would be cool to see. Funnier is the fact that Ken doesn't fancy

himself to be a Shakespeare nut or anything like that.

[lib_1138]

47. West Side Story (Romeo and Juliet)