I’ve somehow avoided experiencing any of Shakespeare’s work outside of Hamlet, Julius Caesar, and Romeo and Juliet. I prefer to see plays acted out rather then just reading them so I’m looking for the best film versions of his work to experience.
My personal favorite is Franco Zeffirelli’s Hamlet, I watch it all the time and absolutely love it. I love how accurate it is to the play, as well as the costuming and set design feeling so real mixed with the gravitas and drama of the play.
Please share your favorites and tell me a little about why?
My favorite Shakespeare is Othello and there are some good ones, the Lawrence Fishburn from the 90s is decent, and there is an Olivier floating around that is excellent. But, try the Zeffirelli version of Verdi’s opera Otello for my all time favorite Iago.
Titus (1999), Julie Taymore directs, Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange, DEFINITELY NOT A COMEDY https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120866/?ref_=ext_shr
Macbeth (1971). No matter how you feel about Polanski as an (alledged) human, it’s quite a film https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067372/?ref_=ext_shr. There is also a Michael Fassbinder Marrion Cottiard from 2015 that I havent seen, but am curious about.
Kenneth Branaugh did a bunch of Shakespeare in the 90’s which were mostly pretty good.
If anyone can suggest a good film version of The Tempest I’d love to know about it.
Taymor’s Titus still blows my mind. I recommend it to everybody.
The first Shakespeare I watched was Branaughs Henry V. It actually got me into Shakespeare a bit.
His Hamlet was filmed on 70mm, giving it some great color and depth though I can’t sit still long enough to watch it in one sitting.
In general, you can’t beat The Reduced Shakespeare Companys “Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged.”
Shakespeare Abridged is fantastic, yet it seems like it has zero cultural cachet. Did it completely fall off the internet? Or does it only exist for high school students? In either case more people should see it and more people should talk about it.
“As you know, it is impossible to perform Romeo & Juliet with only three people. So we’re going to use two.”
A few weeks ago, it was still on YouTube
Helen Mirren as Prospero is good: https://youtu.be/lcnp8apSJ1k
I’m kinda shocked how many of these are on YouTube, never even occurred to me to check.
Thanks
Sounds good, I’m in.
There is a version of Macbeth from 1979 with Ian McKellen and Judy Dench. It’s not really a movie but a recording from the Royal Shakespeare Company. It uses minimal sets and just the actors standing in a circle. My wife is a huge Shakespeare fan, but I had no real interest in watching it outside of making her happy. But it was amazing. The acting was absolutely incredible. I’ve never seen anything else like it.
Tromeo and Juliet (1996)
I was going to say the Romeo+Juliet adaptation with
what’s-his-face-from-TitanicLeonardo DiCaprio and it’s set in the modern era.
The Lion King for Hamlet
Better than Strange Brew?
Are you interested in productions or adaptations? Everyone’s recommending great productions but adapting Shakespeare (ripping Shakespeare off) is an industry in itself. My personal favourite adaptation is 10 Things I Hate About You. But to be honest is really on the back of some truly great performances not the retelling of Taming of the Shrew.
I liked “O”(2001) more than most High School dramas.
How would you rate Romeo+Juliet(1996), production, rip off, or homage?
Romeo+Juliet is an amazing production. One of my favourites. If you look at the script is one of the most true to Shakespeare’s. And so beautiful.
I enjoy it too, well acted, cleverly filmed, but they did change the ending which seems a bit presumptuous.
I’m interested in both!
Then check out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ran_(film)
Some of my favourite adaptations of Shakespeare and what they adapted:
Lion King - Hamlet
O - Othello
My Own Private Idaho - One of the Henrys I forget which one
10 Things I hate about You - 12th Night
West Side Story - Romeo and Juliet
And yeah don’t miss out on Ran
10 Things I Hate About You was an adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew.
You might be thinking of She’s the Man?
And My Own Private Idaho was, I think, a multi-source adaptation of Henry IV, Henry IV 2: Die Henrier, and Live V or Die Henry.
Although I can’t stand him as a person, Roman Polanski made an excellent film out of Macbeth.
The version of Richard III staring Ian McKellen is great. The opening scene is a chilling depiction of facism.
Resan till Melonia, which is a cartoon adaptation of The Tempest. In it, two evil capitalists happen upon the island Melonia, untainted by their greed. The inhabitants of Melonia travel to the capitalist society to save Melonia and all the children the capitalists have enslaved. You know, normal childrens’ cartoons :-)
Introduced to many Anglophone millennials via Brows Held High, back when Blip.tv and Channel Awesome were a thing. The kind of review that calls out “and yet he would be king o’er it” as a joke that’s older than Rome.
It’s a re-imagining and not a film of the play, but Scotland, PA is a very good dark comedy about Joe “Mac” McBeth taking over a fast food restaurant through less than ethical means. Christopher Walken appears as McDuff, an investigator looking into the goings on.
I rented that movie once back when Netflix mailed you stuff, and I still think about it on occasion. I really enjoyed it.
Branagh’s Henry V
Joss Whedon’s Much Ado About Nothing - it’s just a bit of fun, much like the play.
I enjoyed Brannagh’s much ado about nothing. I rather enjoyed Mel Gibson Hamlet. Both seem very fresh and contemporary to me
