Cinema & Movies: Shakespeare, history & literary

[Under development: 27 May 2005]

I greatly enjoy watching movies of Shakespeare’s plays. I often rewatch the video recordings (mostly VHS) I have, partly because I enjoy them, and partly because I frequently find that my understanding grows a little each time. Some people I have encountered believe that to profess an interest in Shakespeare is merely affected, and intended to assert one’s superiority. The loss is theirs.

I have made a point of collecting films of different productions. Whilst this sounds somewhat anoraky, the reason is simple: I admire the acting of Lawrence Olivier, but find the low-budget productions somewhat distracting. The Leonardo di Caprio / Clare Danes Romeo and Juliet is sumptuous despite the fact that few US actors seem able to speak Shakespeare in a manner that can be heard by British Shakespeare enthusiasts (Kevin Kline being an exception, in A Midsummer Night’s Dream).

In contrast to my high regard for the some television productions of British ‘social awareness’ cinema of the 1950s and 1960s (Cathy Come Home, Poor Cow, Up the Junction), I do not enjoy usually enjoy television productions of Shakespeare plays. I have not managed to fathom out the reason for this, although it might be something as simple as the budget.

Title	Version	VHS
Romeo and Juliet	Dir: Franco Zefirelli	ü
Romeo and Juliet	Starring: Leonardo di Caprio and Clare Danes	ü
Macbeth	Dir: Roman Polanski	ü
Hamlet	Starring: Lawrence Olivier	ü
Hamlet	Starring: Kenneth Brannagh	ü
Henry V	Starring: Lawrence Olivier	ü
Henry V	Starring: Kenneth Brannagh	ü
Richard III	Starring: Lawrence Olivier	ü
Richard III	Starring: Ian McKellen	ü
Much Ado About Nothing	Starring: Kenneth Brannagh and Emma Thompson	ü
A Midsummer Night’s Dream	Starring: Michelle Pfeiffer and Callista Flockhart	ü
Twelfth Night	Starring: Helena Bonham Carter	ü
Loves Labours Lost		ü
Othello	Starring: Lawrence Fishburn, Kenneth Brannagh	ü

I have not yet watched the Othello, I believe because I find the story so sad. I should like to see the new Merchant of Venice, although I feel uneasy about it because of its blatant racism. The only film of a Shakespeare play I have been unable to watch was Derek Jarman's A Midsummer Night's Dream, about which I feel a little ashamed because I believe that Jarman was a film director who tried hard to push the envelope. (I did find Jarman’s Blue interesting.)

I enjoy movies that rework Shakespeare's plays. In particular, I adore Shakespeare in Love, not least for its playful reverence of Shakespeare’s creativity; its working in of Romeo and Juliet and of Twelfth Night; the play-within-a-play (as in A Midsummer Night’s Dream); the gentle mimicry of amateur dramatics (the apothecary); the psychotherapy scene; the Shakespeare-type devices (e.g. cross-dressing and magical resolutions) and humour (‘the bit with the dog’). What a tribute!

Title	Comment	VHS
Ran	Dir: Akira Kurosawa; based on King Lear	DVD
Shakespeare in Love	Based, in part, on Romeo and Juliet	ü
Prospero's Books	Dir: Peter Greenaway; based on The Tempest	ü
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead	A film of the Tom Stoppard play, looking at aspects of Hamlet	ü

I have several other history films that I have watched only once or twice. I shall inevitably watch them again.

Title	Comment	VHS
The Lion in Winter	Starring Kathryn Hepburn and Peter O'Toole	ü
A Man for All Seasons	Dir: Fred Zinnemann	ü
Elizabeth		ü
Cromwell	Starring Richard Harris and Alec Guinness	ü
Restoration	Starring: Robert Downey Junior	ü
Ghandi	Starring: Ben Kingsley	ü

I have various movies on video based on literary works. Most relate to English literature

Title	Author	Comment	VHS
Tom Jones	Henry Fielding	Starring: Albert Finney	ü
Sense and Sensibility	Jane Austen	Starring: Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Kate Winslett	ü
The Woodlanders	Thomas Hardy	Starring: Emily Woof	ü
Far from the Madding Crowd	Thomas Hardy	Starring: Julie Christie	ü
Tess	Thomas Hardy	Director: Roman Polanski	ü
Jude	Thomas Hardy	Starring: Christopher Ecclestone, Kate Winslett	ü
Lady Chatterley	D.H. Lawrence	Starring: Joely Richardson, Sean Bean	ü
The Rainbow	D.H. Lawrence		ü
The Age of Innocence	Edith Wharton	Starring: Daniel Day Lewis, Michelle Pfeiffer	ü
Wings of the Dove	Henry James	Starring: Helena Bonham Carter	ü
A Room with a View	E.M. Forster	Starring: Helena Bonham Carter	ü
A Passage to India	E.M. Forster		DVD
The Remains of the Day	Kazuo Ishiguro	Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Emma Thompson	ü
The Go Between	L.P. Hartley	Director: Joseph Losey Starring: Alan Bates, Julie Christie	ü
Nineteen Eighty Four	George Orwell (Eric Blair)	Starring: John Hurt, Richard Burton	ü
Keep the Aspidistra Flying	George Orwell (Eric Blair)	Starring: Richard E. Grant, Helena Bonham Carter	ü
Lord of the Flies	William Golding	Director: Peter Brook	ü
Doctor Zhivago	Boris Pasternak	Director: David Lean Starring: Omar Sharrif, Julie Christie, Tom Courtenay, Geraldine Chaplin, Rod Steiger, Rita Tushingham, Alec Guinness,	ü
The Name of the Rose	Umberto Ecco	Starring: Sean Connery	ü
Captain Correlli’s Mandolin	Louis de Bernieres	Starring: Nicholas Cage, John Hurt	ü
The Trial	Franz Kafka		DVD
Cabaret	(Christopher Isherwood)	Starring: Liza Minelli and Michael York	ü
Brighton Rock	Graham Greene	Starring: Richard Attenborough	ü
The End of the Affair	Graham Greene	Starring: Ralph Fiennes	ü
The Quiet American	Graham Greene	Starring: Michael Caine	DVD
The French Lieutenant’s Woman	John Fowles	Starring: Meryl Streep, Jeremy Irons	ü DVD

p.g.h@btinternet.com

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Peter Hughes: Introduction