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?
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