Shakespeare Films - S and D

Predictably, I thought this said "Tits". Comedy bedlam may now ensue.

Dakatin, what's your new name mean? I get sad when people don't return my emails; do you not answer to Erik anymore?

Dan, do you read with your penis too?

Hamlet - um, Branagh. although I like Olivier's calmness and Gibson's antics.

Gertrude - they're all bags! Except Glenn Close. And the one from Hawke's.

Claudius - Kyle MacLachlan was interesting, but nobody is Derek Jacobi.

Ophelia - [Insert nubile hot babe here.]

Fortinbras - Rufus Sewell, by default!!!1

Laertes - who?

various lords, attendants, maids and servants - Billy Crystal.

The Ghost - Paul Scofield, in Gibson's

Osric - am I alone in thinking Robin Williams was okay in that role? Just okay, mebbe, not atrocious.

Polonius - lots to choose from here: Ian Holm, Bill Murray. Tough to do on film, methinks.

did I miss anybody?

Note: I have not seen the Russian version alluded to, but I have seen the Russian Lear (translated by Pasternak), and that's probably as good as Lear will get on film, imho.

http://www.starkecounty.com/hamlet_statistics.gif

ADDENDUM: Godard's Lear WAS atrocious. All that time wasted waiting for Woody as the Fool? Gaaaagh! Burgess Meredith was good, but, aieeeee, total monkey business.

http://www.shakespearemag.com/images/lear1.jpg

I like that phrase!

Welles' Othello is even better than Chimes at Midnight.

The best Hollywood Shakespeare is likely the Julius Caesar with James Mason, Gielgud and Brando.

The Branagh Much Ado About Nothing isn't bad, esp Denzel, Emma and Keanu.

The best Olivier film I've seen is Richard III. (major source for Johnny Rotten)

I really hate Greenaway's Prospero's Books.

What's the verdict on Scotland, PA?

Total lurve for Branagh everything.

Michael Almereyda, who made a splendid modern corporate Hamlet film w/ Ethan Hawke no less, has done Cymbeline in a biker-gang world.

http://www.slantmagazine.com/house/article/film-comment-selects-2015-cymbeline

I'd like to see Godard's King Lear and also Peter Brook's version from '71.

10 Things I Hate About You is clearly a vast improvement on the original.

I like 10TIHAY. That said, in my opinion it's a close second to the Pickford-Fairbanks Taming of the Shrew (1929).

Can anyone recommend a version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream"?

have only seen the deHavilland-Cagney-Rooney one from the '30s, which is a mixed bag but worthwhile

I need to see that anyways, that's the one Kenneth Anger says he was a child actor in.

love Chimes at Midnight

I've still never seen any of Welles's Shakespeare films.

Titus rocks. The Shakespeare scholar at my university agrees. I like Olivier's Hamlet a lot too.

And, not to be a killjoy, but it looks like we have reached a point where Ten Things I Hate About You is officially Overrated. It's far from awful, but c'mon.

Cymbeline gettin divisive press

http://www.metacritic.com/movie/cymbeline

I'd like to see Godard's King Lear and also Peter Brook's version from '71.

― xyzzzz__, Wednesday, March 4, 2015 5:15 PM (1 week ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Paul Scofield is good in the Brook, but on the whole it's maybe a bit too chilly and spare (though it's been nearly 20 years since I saw it). def worth seeking out

Thanks, I like the idea of Peter Brook but I've yet to explore either his Shakeapeare or stuff like "Marat/Sade"

Saw Godard's King Lear on its one week run in London at the old Cannon Swiss Centre cinema, back in the day. Only things I can remember about it are Woody Allen unexpectedly turning up (and having his speaking voice obscured on the soundtrack), Burgess Meredith (the quasi-Lear) saying, "Are you making a play for my daughter?" to the 'Shakespeare' character, and Godard wearing dreadlocks in his hair and playing 'Pluggy', "an eccentric professor obsessed with Xeroxing his own hand." (The whole wiki entry is worth a read - "The film earned $61,821 against an estimated budget of $2,000,000.") Now that Love Streams has been given the Criterion treament, maybe this will follow.

Ha, I (mis)read about this upthread and figured it had to be some joke post. (How could Molly Ringwald and Peter Sellers be in a movie together?

It's Peter Sellars the American theatre director, rather than Peter Sellers the English comic actor (who died in 1980).

Yeah, I read up on the facts after seeing the film's second mention upthread

Only things I can remember about it are Woody Allen unexpectedly turning up (and having his speaking voice obscured on the soundtrack)

Woody has got to talk about this someday. Hopefully he'll be doing so from jail

Almereyda's Cymbeline is pretty good! Hawke, Dakota Johnson, Ed Harris, Leguizamo, Delroy Lindo all fine.

also Milla Jovovich sings Dylan's "Dark Eyes"

Terrific production of KING LEAR on BBC4 last night. It's from 2018 I see.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Lear_(2018_film)

Missed it, I should pay more attention to BBC4's schedules.

it'll be on iplayer, i noted it was on but i was watching Wolf Hall at the time

saw it on amazon prime last year, really fantastic

Yes!

I wish to watch all of WOLF HALL again soon.

Was that BBC4 King Lear from 2018 the one with Anthony Hopkins?

Yes.

Caught the end of it last night. The guys in military uniforms seemed a bit too obvious an update.

Thanks!