100 Shakespeare FilmsFrom Oscar-winning British classics to Hollywood musicals and Westerns, from Soviet epics to Bollywood thrillers, Shakespeare has inspired an almost infinite variety of films. Directors as diverse as Orson Welles, Akira Kurosawa, Franco Zeffirelli, Kenneth Branagh, Baz Luhrmann and Julie Taymor have transferred Shakespeare's plays from stage to screen with unforgettable results. Spanning a century of cinema, from a silent short of "The Tempest" (1907) to Kenneth Branagh's "As You Like It" (2006), Daniel Rosenthal's up-to-date selection takes in the most important, inventive and unusual Shakespeare films ever made. Half are British and American productions that retain Shakespeare's language, including key works such as Olivier's "Henry V" and "Hamlet", Welles' "Othello" and "Chimes at Midnight", Branagh's "Henry V" and "Hamlet", Luhrmann's "Romeo + Juliet" and Taymor's "Titus". Alongside these original-text films are more than 30 genre adaptations: titles that aim for a wider audience by using modernized dialogue and settings and customizing Shakespeare's plots and characters, transforming "Macbeth" into a pistol-packing gangster ("Joe Macbeth" and "Maqbool") or reimagining "Othello" as a jazz musician ("All Night Long"). There are Shakesepeare-based Westerns ("Broken Lance", "King of Texas"), musicals ("West Side Story", "Kiss Me Kate"), high-school comedies ("10 Things I Hate About You", "She's the Man"), even a sci-fi adventure ("Forbidden Planet"). There are also films dominated by the performance of a Shakespearean play ("In the Bleak Midwinter", "Shakespeare in Love"). Rosenthal emphasises the global nature of Shakespearean cinema, with entries on more than 20 foreign-language titles, including Kurosawa's "Throne of Blood and Ran", Grigori Kozintsev's "Russian Hamlet" and "King Lear", and little-known features from as far afield as "Madagascar" and "Venezuela", some never released in Britain or the US. He considers the films' production and box-office history and examines the film-makers' key interpretive decisions in comparison to their Shakespearean sources, focusing on cinematography, landscape, music, performance, production design, textual alterations and omissions. As cinema plays an increasingly important role in the study of Shakespeare at schools and universities, this is a wide-ranging, entertaining and accessible guide for Shakespeare teachers, students and enthusiasts. |
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Page 166
... Desdemona's funeral processions along battlements . A chained figure is thrown into a cage and winched aloft : lago . Then we fade to Venice and Othello's plot unfolds with a speed unimaginable in screen versions that do not decimate ...
... Desdemona's funeral processions along battlements . A chained figure is thrown into a cage and winched aloft : lago . Then we fade to Venice and Othello's plot unfolds with a speed unimaginable in screen versions that do not decimate ...
Page 178
... Desdemona , telling interviewers that the play was ' an erotic thriller ' , and insisting that previous screen adaptations had lacked passion . He shows Irène Jacob's Desdemona and Laurence Fishburne's Othello making love after the ...
... Desdemona , telling interviewers that the play was ' an erotic thriller ' , and insisting that previous screen adaptations had lacked passion . He shows Irène Jacob's Desdemona and Laurence Fishburne's Othello making love after the ...
Page 179
... Desdemona reflected in the blade of lago's knife , an image shamelessly stolen from Yutkevich's 1955 Othello ) and its crudest moment : he ends a soliloquy by grasping a smouldering log and wincing slightly at the pain , like a slasher ...
... Desdemona reflected in the blade of lago's knife , an image shamelessly stolen from Yutkevich's 1955 Othello ) and its crudest moment : he ends a soliloquy by grasping a smouldering log and wincing slightly at the pain , like a slasher ...
Contents
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA play synopsis | 1 |
As You Like It Christine Edzard 1992 | 8 |
The Boys from Syracuse A Edward Sutherland 1940 | 14 |
Copyright | |
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actors Akira Kurosawa Antony Ariel audience Bianca Brian Blessed Capulet Cassio castle characters cinema Claudius comedy costumes daughter David death Demetrius Desdemona dialogue Dir/Scr director Duke DVD and VHS Editor father film's Franco Zeffirelli genre adaptations Gertrude Gielgud Guildenstern Hamlet Henry hero Heston Hidetora Hollywood Illyria John Julie Taymor Kenneth Branagh kills King Lear Kozintsev Laertes lago Laurence Olivier lovers Macbeth Main Cast Makibefo marry Mercutio Michael Midsummer Night's Dream mins B&W Miranda movie murder NTSC Oberon Olivier's Omkara Ophelia original-text Shakespeare Orsino Orson Othello Paul performance Peter Petruchio play synopsis play's plot Polonius Prince Prod production Prospero Puck R2 DVD Richard Richard III Roderigo Romeo and Juliet Rosencrantz scene Score screen screenplay Sebastian Shakespeare film shot Shrew soliloquies Souli stage studio Tempest theatre theatrical Throne of Blood Titania Titus Toby Twelfth Night Venice VHS NTSC VHS Pal Video Viola Welles's wife young