Shakespeare film adaptations?
Picking up the conversation where it left off at /r/books/
What are you favorite film versions of Shakespeare plays?
Posted Jun 9, 2010, 12:05 AM UTC
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Branagh's Hamlet, while a bit long, was very good.
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I watched it in 2-hour chunks over 2 days. It is indeed very long, but worth it. I admire Branagh for opting to make an unabridged version.
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Kenneth Branagh's Henry V is excellent. Much Ado About Nothing has been mentioned, but I'll mention it again cause it's just that good. Actually, anything Shakespearean that involves him is worth watching. He just gets it.
I didn't mind the latest Midsummer Night's Dream too much from what I remember. I liked Kevin Kline as Bottom, although I could not handle Stanley Tucci as Puck.
I liked Baz Luhrman's Romeo + Juliet. Like all his movies, the first half hour is a little nuts, but it settles down later, and they stayed true to the language.
While obviously not written by him, Shakespeare in Love has about a jillion references to his works that made it fun to watch.
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Midsummer is totally worth it for a pre-fame Sam Rockwell.
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I had no idea! Now I'll have to watch it again.
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Seconding Shakespeare In Love - also check out Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead (more intellectual and considerably darker, but equally witty)
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The Lion King is a no-brainer.
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Haha. I wouldn't really count it since it's pretty loosely based, but it's a great film nonetheless.
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Scotland, PA is good fun.
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Olivier's Othello
the recent iteration of Macbeth from Australia
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Anyone know a decent adaptation of Twelfth Night?
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Yes, the one with Ben Kingsley is excellent.
Edit: Link. Also: Helena Bonham Carter does a great job with Olivia. And I should mention, the editing in the film is very poor at times, and I don't know why that is, but I was still able to overlook it and enjoy the film.
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Thanks. :)
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I really liked the 1968 version of Romeo & Juliet mostly because it has Olivia Hussey in it.
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What about Pacino's documentary "Looking for Richard"? It's an interesting doc about the difficulties of adapting Shakespeare (especially Richard III) to the stage and the screen.
Captivating doc if you're at all into Shakespeare!
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I'd like to nominate McKellen's King Lear. Although the production value is low, McKellen's performance is outstanding, and I particularly like their interpretation of the Fool.
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Akira Kurosawa did two masterpiece Shakespeare adaptations:
Ran based on King Lear
Throne of Blood based on Macbeth
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Michael Radford's The Merchant of Venice is one of my favorites.
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The ones set in a southern California high school. Because the only way to improve on Shakespeare is to strip out all that prissy dialogue and put a bunch of beautiful teenagers in it.
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McKellan's fascist Richard III is great
Olivier's Hamlet
Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing
I recall the old Warner Bros. A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) as being good, but I sometimes like old movies because they're old.
I also recall liking Polanski's Macbeth, but that was a long time ago, too.
Forbidden Planet? Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead?
I second Much Ado About Nothing, definitely my favorite.
Polanski's version of Macbeth was incredible, but in light of his arrest, I can't help but think that he put that naked kid in there just to get some sort of jolly.
???
Regardless of one's take on Polanski's arrest, no one should be claiming he's a pedophile - he had sex with a post-pubescent but underage girl, not a little kid.
it was a joke...