Shake & Stir

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Comment by Sevorin on March 5, 2012 at 2:45am

Thanx for the Shapiro interview.

He makes a point that I've argued elsewhere -- often feeling like Vanzetti standing on street-corners talking to scorning man -- that whatever other experience or background one attributes to Shakespeare, he must have been a professional playwright -- a guy who worked with actors day in and day out, even inserting the names of members of his cast, which a lordly snoot like Oxford would never have done.

Comment by Ando on March 5, 2012 at 1:58am

Columbia University Professor James Shapiro on "Who Wrote Shakespeare?":

Comment by Ando on March 3, 2012 at 8:32pm

Could Shakespeare have been a woman? Viginia Woolf considers that possibility:

 

Comment by Ando on March 3, 2012 at 2:31pm

Akira Kurosawa's Hamlet film, The Bad Sleep Well, (another good one, JS!) jettisons the narrative details of the play but stays true the character's central dilemma.

 

 

Kurosawa & his crew discuss the making of the film:

 

Comment by Ando on March 1, 2012 at 12:40pm

Currently on Showtime (On Demand as well) -

Comment by Just Gus on February 29, 2012 at 5:04am

Comment by Ando on February 26, 2012 at 8:36pm

When you're considering a writer as prolific as William Shakespeare and the relatively small number of films that claim to be adaptations the only "must see" is "must see more". I tend to like the more imaginative takes on his plays like Peter Greenway's Prospero's Books, Akira Kurosawa's Ran and Peter Brook's King Lear. One of the best of the filmed stage plays in the BBC/Ambrose Video Shakespeare series, as Sevorin alluded to, is their Henry VI trilogy: with hilariously cheap set designs and clunky direction the ensemble nevertheless manages to give an incredible performance (similar to what The Globe performances must have been like) of this seldom produced triad.

Comment by Sevorin on February 26, 2012 at 5:20pm

Olivier's Richard III and Othello are definitive, though the latter is more a filmed stage play.

 

His Henry V is enjoyable if you're in the right mood, but a lot of it has not stood up so well. The final moment -- when we're thrust from the real world back into the Globe -- is still a joy, however.

I have come to despise Branagh's Shakespearean productions, but part of his Henry V is worthwhile.

Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing suffers from his wretched hand, but Emma Thompson is a wonderful Beatrice.

Nigel Hawthorne is an adept Malvolio in Twelfth Night. And if you're not too demanding when it comes to cuts and edits, Zefferelli's The Taming of the Shrew is a glorious testament to the screen power of Burton and Taylor.

I enjoyed the Mel Gibson Hamlet, though so much of it was cut and re-arranged that I wondered whether i was getting Hamlet at all. He delivers some nifty line readings, though, such as, "Words, words, words . . ."

Really, though, you'd be better off chasing down the television productions on DVD that are available through your local library. The BBC did all the plays, some better than others. I especially recommend its version of Much Ado About Nothing  with Robert Lindsay and Cherie Lunghi.

Comment by don on February 26, 2012 at 3:02pm

I've been reading your comments on the Anonymous thread and you guys really know your stuff. I love the English language well written and spoken. Please give me a few Shakespeare movies-must see. I am not looking for an exhaustive list as my time is limited. May I have a few most important to watch?

Comment by Ando on February 26, 2012 at 1:54pm

The 1936 Czinner production of As You Like It (with subs, thank heaven):

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