Shakespeare Movies

Branaugh's "Henry V" and "Much Ado About Nothing" are at the top of my list.

Agreed wholeheartedly, although his Hamlet all-star cast never quite gelled together. That said, it was nice to see Hamlet played as a "who gives a f--k" tough guy with problems and not the usual vacillating, spineless neurotic.

I enjoyed the "Shakespeare in Central Park" production of "A Midsummer Night's Dream," but I understand a recording of this production is rather hard to find.

I've seen that one, purely by chance, a million years ago, and still remember it very well. Excellent production.

My favorite Shakespeare play is "King Lear." The best version I've seen of this play is Kurosawa's "Ran."

Agreed wholeheartedly. IMHO, this is Kurasawa's best movie--which is saying something. Absolutely stunning.
 
We'll throw in another vote for Branagh's Henry V....great stuff.

I quoted the bit "The French are in their battles set, and with all expediency do charge upon us" on my WWII online boad (our unit is fighting in France) and only one guy recognized it.

How about a little gem, "A Winter's Tale"? It's about an amateur company putting on Hamlet, with all the backstage intrigues and such...lots of fun.
 
OK, for weird ones, somebody has already mentioned Forbidden Planet. Which, apart from being a great adaptation of The Tempest also had some nice animation and really paved the way for Star Trek.

But anyway....

King LearRan, by Akira Kurosawa
Hamlet: Strange Brew

Can't think of any more right now.
 
How could I have forgotten...."Titus", the recent Titus Andronicus, is an amazing piece of work. Watch it on DVD, then with the director's commentary. There is not one visual image, not one pause, not one noise that the director had not had completely planned. None of this "let's try another take, but this time let's..." crapola.

Loved "Rosencrantz and Guildernstern are dead", there was another short film that was paired with that on PBS, a 10-minute Hamlet (I think) that was marvelous.

Loved Branagh's "Much Ado". So many great lines, so well delivered.

There was a recent "Twelfth Night" that was really good, with Helena Bonham Carter and Ben Kingsley (and others I did not recognise)...

Lastly....I have had one person seriously recommend "Tromeo and Juliet" to me...knowing what (little) you know about me, should I see it?
 
Brown said:
My favorite Shakespeare play is "King Lear." The best version I've seen of this play is Kurosawa's "Ran." I cannot recommend any other movie version of this play, but I hear that the version with John Hurt as Fool is quite good.
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That is the 1984 version made for British television. It starred Laurence Olivier (who must have been in his late 70s) as Lear. It also had Diana Rigg as Regan. If your video store has it, try to rent it - I think you'll enjoy this one.
 
Mercutio said:
Lastly....I have had one person seriously recommend "Tromeo and Juliet" to me...knowing what (little) you know about me, should I see it?
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Any serious fan of Shakespeare and the Toxic Avenger should see it. It has: girl on girl action, mutants, pornagraphers, juliet chained naked in a plexiglass box and A HAPPY ENDING! How many versions of Romeo and Juliet can say that?
 
Hexxenhammer said:

Any serious fan of Shakespeare and the Toxic Avenger should see it. It has: girl on girl action, mutants, pornagraphers, juliet chained naked in a plexiglass box and A HAPPY ENDING! How many versions of Romeo and Juliet can say that?
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yeah, but should I watch it with my kids, that's what I want to know...I mean, culture is good, right?

...actually, it was a friend of my 14-yr-old son who recommended it to me. She's...unique...
 
Mercutio said:
yeah, but should I watch it with my kids, that's what I want to know...I mean, culture is good, right?

...actually, it was a friend of my 14-yr-old son who recommended it to me. She's...unique...
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Uh...no. Don't watch it with your kids. Watch it at your bachelor friends house.

She sounds unique. Kinda girl I would've liked in high school.
 
Mercutio said:
yeah, but should I watch it with my kids, that's what I want to know...I mean, culture is good, right?

...actually, it was a friend of my 14-yr-old son who recommended it to me. She's...unique...
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It's pure schlock. Do you like schlock? Do you like to share schlock with your kids?
 
arcticpenguin said:

It's pure schlock. Do you like schlock? Do you like to share schlock with your kids?
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My son loved the Carnosaur series--I think that was Troma, or folks formerly associated with them. I have not, as yet, let him see the Toxic Avenger. Frankly, though, I watched it a couple of times (it was on cable at a friend's house a long, long time back).

I just hear they've done ...interesting things with my character...
 
Mercutio said:
My son loved the Carnosaur series--I think that was Troma, or folks formerly associated with them. I have not, as yet, let him see the Toxic Avenger. Frankly, though, I watched it a couple of times (it was on cable at a friend's house a long, long time back).

I just hear they've done ...interesting things with my character...
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Nope, Carnosaur was pure Roger Corman, if I am not mistaken. Let me put it this way, if Roger Corman had never been born, MST3k would have had their pool of bad movies to choose from cut in half. ROger Corman made bad movies, but he made them in quantity.
 
Carnosaur is a great movie.

No one has mentioned "Scotland PA" yet. I have only seen a bit of it, but it's Macbeth at a 70's fast food joint with Christopher Walken as Inspector McDuff.

I love movies based on Shakespeare. For a paper in college about adapting Shakespeare I wrote a few scenes for a sci-fi Macbeth. I'll see if I can dig it up.
 
Okay, I'll admit it. I liked Romeo and Juliet with Decaprio and Danes. It captures what I feel is the central theme of the play, the madness of young love and the impetuousness of adolescents. Teens are still committing suicide over their boy/ girlfriends. They still think that everything that happens to them is something worth dying over. Also, John Leguizamo is utterly underrated as a performer.

The Lion in Winter with Katharine Hepburn is still one of my favourites.

The Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespear in Central Park; is that the one with William Hurt? I saw a video of that in high school. I liked it.

As for Shakespearean themes and references; L A Story is wonderful combination of Midsummer Night's Dream and The Tempest.

Kiss me Kate is always fun.

Several years ago, there was TV version of the Tempest with Molly Ringwald which was neat. I have not seen it since it's original airing so I have no idea how I would see it today.

For the funniest version of Richard III ever, Neil Simon's The Goodbye Girl with Richard Dreyfus is brilliant. His struggling actor forced to play Richard as a flamer is what got him his Oscar.

What about Twelfth Night? There was nice version of that a few years ago. Of course, that is one of my favourite plays so I'll take any version I can get.

Regarding Hamlet, the play is oedipal, and freudian and that is that. I have never seen a version which worked that wasn't slanted that way. Remember, Hamlet is 15. He is whiny child who is afraid to do what he thinks he must do and is trying to act grown up when he is not. He isn't ready for the burden he has been handed. If he were, he would have inherited the throne.

Glory
 
Jeez! How could I forget Prospero's Books? A wacky art-film adaptation of the Tempest. Lots of naked people dancing and posing all over the place.
 
Glory said:
Remember, Hamlet is 15. He is whiny child who is afraid to do what he thinks he must do and is trying to act grown up when he is not.
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But the grave-digger in Act V specifically says that Prince Hamlet is 30 years old. Also, Yorick, whom the Prince remembers well from his childhood, has been dead for 23 years.

I think Shakespeare did not pay too much attention to the age consistency issue. In my opinion, Hamlet can be plausibly played as being anywhere from 20 to 30. But no one would believe the soliloquy came out of the mouth of a 15-year-old.
 
Hamlet suffers from a couple of internal inconsistencies. One of these is the young prince's age. It makes no sense for Hamlet to be the thrity that that scene claims he is. At that time, 30 was old. He would have been king had he been fully grown when his father died. The constant references to his being young make it impossible for him to have been thirty. !5 is, in fact pushing the age ceiling.

Shakespeare often had young characters speaking with wisdom beyond their years. The audience was not supposed to take things as litterally as we do today.

Lastly, Hamlet was pretending he was crazy. His references to being older than he was and to having known someone who died before he was born can be interpreted as part of that charade.

Glory
 
Glory said:
Hamlet suffers from a couple of internal inconsistencies. One of these is the young prince's age. It makes no sense for Hamlet to be the thrity that that scene claims he is. At that time, 30 was old. He would have been king had he been fully grown when his father died.
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But if the literary Danish monarchy of the play had been following Norman traditions of primogeniture, Claudius could not have become king, either. He would have assumed the office of regent (or its equivalent). Also, it's not clear why Fortinbras would have become king.

However, some scholarly sources (the Arden edition among them) indicate that the Danish throne in the play was not hereditary, such that the assumption of the throne by the brother instead of the son would have been permissible with the consent of the nobility. This election would have been feasible for Claudius to arrange, particularly given the fact that Prince Hamlet was conveniently out of the country at the time of King Hamlet's murder.

Also, in one of the French antecedent versions of the Hamlet story (which probably influenced the version of the story that was, in turn, read by Shakespeare), neither the elder Hamlet nor Claudius ruled by birthright, but rather by marriage to Queen Gertrude. Shakespeare may simply have inherited the succession situation from his sources, and he did not make the effort to elaborate or explain the questions it raises.
 
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