William Shakespeare Movies

With William Shakespeare now a hot commodity at the box office (and his body of work conveniently out of copyright), the usual trickle of film adaptations of the Bard's work is becoming a small flood, and director Michael Hoffman has assembled a cast of leading stage and screen actors for this whimsical film version of one of Shakespeare's most popular comedies. This interpretation of A Midsummer Night's Dream moves the action to Tuscany near the turn of the 20th century, as both mortals and enchanted creatures deal with romantic problems. Among the flesh-and-blood crowd, Duke Theseus (played by David Strathairn) is preparing for his wedding to Hippolyta (Sophie Marceau), while having to counsel Egeus (Bernard Hill), who has promised the hand of his daughter Hermia (Anna Friel) to Demetrius (Christian Bale). Hermia, however, wants to elope with her true love, Lysander (Dominic West), while her best friend Helena (Calista Flockhart) is mad about Demetrius. Meanwhile, fairies living in the forest are watching these romantic misadventures. Puck (Stanley Tucci) serves up love potions that mix and match the already confused lovers, while the Queen of Fairies, Titania (Michelle Pfeiffer), and her King, Oberon (Rupert Everett), have to deal with a group of hapless actors rehearsing a play in the forest -- one of whom, Bottom (Kevin Kline), has fallen under Puck's spell and becomes Titania's new lover. Will anyone end up with the person they really love? Who will get hurt riding their bicycles in the woods? Will Helena sit down and eat a square meal? Director Hoffman, a longtime Shakespeare buff, appeared as Lysander in a production of the play while a college student, and has since spearheaded a campaign to build a new $3 million theatre for his alma mater in Boise, ID. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Renowned theatrical director Adrian Noble directed the Royal Shakespeare Company's mid-'90s stage production and helmed this film adaptation of that version. Its 1999 video release was apparently to coincide with Michael Hoffman's higher-profile feature of the same year. The setting is very theatrical in nature, with nearly all of the scenes taking place on a theater stage. The story is also bookmarked by a child (Osheen Jones), who is apparently dreaming all of the events, and also appears frequently in most of the scenes. Hyppolyta/Titania (Lindsey Duncan) and Theseus/Oberon (Alex Jennings) drive the plot with their romantic bickering, which stems from the romantic foursome of Demetrius (Kevin Doyle), Hermia (Monica Dolan), Lysander (Daniel Evans), and Helena (Emily Raymond). Lysander and Hermia are in love, but Hermia is promised to Demetrius by Hermia's father, Egeus. Helena, who is Hermia's best friend, is in love with Demetrius, but Demetrius loathes her. As one would expect, Lysander and Demetrius are very hostile towards one another. Hyppolyta feels strongly for Hermia and Lysander' case and becomes angry with Theseus when he takes Egeus' part in the predicament. Lysander and Hermia flee, Demetrius pursues, and is, in turn, pursued by Helena. The foursome then encounter the fairy kingdom, led by Oberon and Titania. Oberon orders his lackey, Puck (Barry Lynch), to cast a spell on Titania as a form of retribution for an argument the royal pair are currently having. Oberon also commands Puck to place the same spell on Demetrius, whom he has witnessed scorning Helena. However, due to miscommunication, Puck enchants Lysander instead. The scene becomes hectic, with enchantments and miscommunication abounding. At one point, Helena becomes the focus of love from both Demetrius and Lysander, while Hermia assumes the scorned woman role. Meanwhile, Titania has been forced to become infatuated with a mortal named Bottom (Desmond Barrit), whom Puck has enchanted with an ass head. By movie's end, however, all is straightened out. The fairy rulers reconcile and the mortal couples are united in marriage. At the wedding party, Theseus and his minions are entertained by the Pyramus and Thisbe play as performed by the rude mechanicals headed by Bottom. The Pyramus and Thisbe play-within-a-play is traditionally one of the highlights of the piece, but seems to lack some focus in this treatment. As films go, this is standard fare, technically speaking. In relation to other filmed versions of A Midsummer Night's Dream, however, few are more enjoyable. ~ Ryan Shriver, All Movie Guide

British director Peter Hall's 1968 filmization of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, starring the Royal Shakespeare Company, is faithful to the text and to the main plot, which involves the "bewitching" of several groups of mortals by a covey of mischievous invisible fairies. So why did critics complain? Hall's handling of Shakespeare's prose and iambic pentameter didn't bother the purists as much as the director's visual choices. Hall was criticized for staging the film in a typically rainy British winter rather than the mid-Summer alluded to in the play's title. The director responded by pointing out that the fairies, led by Oberon and Titania, were deliberately toying with the expectations and sensibilities of the Mortals -- thus, it made sense to confuse the "human" characters by playing havoc with the weather. Other stylistic alterations included updating the story to the 19th century, and the near-nudity of Judi Dench as Titania. Most of the film is shot in close-up (most effectively during the soliloquies of Diana Rigg, as Helena), not so much to hide budgetary deficiencies as to play better on television. Also featuring Ian Holm (as Puck) Barbara Jefford, Helen Mirren, Michael Jayston, Paul Rogers, Ian Richardson and David Warner, this Midsummer Night's Dream premiered in the U.S. on the CBS TV network on Sunday evening, February 9, 1969. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

This 1961 adaptation of Shakespeare's magical comedy of errors was performed entirely by puppets. Let's qualify that: the puppets are of the stop-motion variety, expertly manipulated into "humanity" by Czech animator Jiri Trnka. The adaptation is faithful to the text, while the technique allows a wider range of visual delights than any previous movie Midsummer--and an eminently convincing man-to-jackass transformation for vainglorious amateur thespian Bottom. The English-language version of this Czech animated feature was directed and adapted by Howard O. Sackler, best known for his Pulitzer Prize-winning play The Great White Hope. Richard Burton provided the narration for this version, which was issued in 1963 and is still in circulation. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The earliest surviving screen version of William Shakespeare's romantic comedy, this Vitagraph production managed to cram most of the play into its one-reel running time. The Duke of Athens decrees that Hermia (Rose Tapley) shall forsake Lysander (Maurice Costello) in favor of her father's choice, Demetrius (William Ackerman). The lovers elope into the woods, quickly followed by Demetrius and his love, Helena (Julia Swayne Gordon). The town tradesmen, meanwhile, rehearse a play in honor of the duke's betrothal to Hippolyta. Back in the forest, Titania, Queen of the Fairies (Florence Turner), quarrels with Penelope, who avenges herself by sending Puck (Gladys Hulette) away with a magic herb, which, dabbed on the eyes of a sleeping person, shall make the "victim" fall in love with the first person to appear after awakening. Soon, Lysander and Demetrius are smitten with the wrong girls and Titania has fallen in love with Bottom (William V. Ranous, the egotistical leader of the tradesmen, whom Puck has turned into an ass. When Penelope discovers all this mischief, she lifts the spell and the wedding of the duke and Hippolyta can proceed. ~ Hans J. Wollstein, All Movie Guide

This production of the ballet based on Shakespeare's play and Mendelssohn's music stars the Pacific Northwest Ballet. Choreographed by George Balanchine, the two-act performance was accompanied by the BBC Concert Orchestra as conducted by Stewart Kershaw. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide

Julian Caesar, the board chairman of a large company deals with jealousy and treachery among his underlings as he fights to maintain control and power in this reworking of Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar." The duplicitous directors are led by the ruthless R. Cassius who after much badgering convinces the one honest director left, Brutus Smith, to join up and vote Caesar down. Upon losing his position, poor Caesar dies of a heart-attack, leaving Mark Anthony to take over and immediately toss out all the bad apples on the board. The despondent Brutus then takes his own life. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide

Director Kenneth Branagh tackles the works of William Shakespeare for the fifth time in his career as a filmmaker with this adaptation of one of The Bard's most accessible works. Rosalind is the daughter of a banished duke, and lives among a community of Westerners living in 19th century Japan. When her father, the duke, is suddenly banished, the frightened girl is forced to flee for the Forest of Arden lest she risk being executed by her malevolent uncle. Joining Rosalind on her flight to the forest is her sympathetic cousin Celia, who helps to pass her incognito kin off as a man in order to avoid detection. Later, Rosalind's clever ruse begins to serve a dual purpose when she determines to use the disguise to gauge the devotion of Orlando, yet another exile, while making her way to the Forest of Arden. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

The second presentation of the BBC/PBS 37-installment project The Shakespeare Plays was the Bard's As You Like It. The plot, borrowed from Thomas Lodge's romance tale "Rosalynde", takes place in the forest of Arden. Rosalind (Helen Mirren) is forced by various political intrigues to disguise herself as a man. She loves Orlando (Brian Stirner), but of course can't declare herself in her "male" state. Meanwhile, Phebe (Victoria Plucknett) pines away for Rosalind, who she assumes to be a very good-looking man. Other romantic entanglements involve Rosalind's friend Celia (Angharad Rees), the buffoonish Touchstone (James Bolan), the toothsome Audrey (Marilyn Le Conte) and Silvius the shepherd (Maynard Williams). Taped on location at Glamis Castle in Scotland, As You Like It mades its American TV debut on February 28, 1979. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

The multi-million dollar film extravaganza Cleopatra was too convenient a target for Britain's "Carry On" funsters to ignore. The plot of Carry on Cleo, if one can discern a plot amidst the sight gags and outrageous puns, involves the attempts by a bungling slave (Kenneth Connor) to rescue Julius Caesar (Kenneth Williams) from assassination. Instigators of the plot are Cleopatra (Amanda Barrie) and Mark Anthony (Sidney James), who comport themselves like a couple of Liverpool pub owners. The best bit involves Mark Anthony's "beheading" of the legendary asp. Filmed on a tight 160,000 pound budget and utilizing leftover sets from the Taylor/Burton epic, Carry On Cleo's reputation rests chiefly on a legal brouhaha involving its advertising artwork, which was deliberately patterned after the ads for the "real" Cleopatra. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

In this lively horror film, a number of young women have mysteriously vanished and now Inspector Doren is assigned to find them. He goes to the village where the seven murdered maidens lived and ends up assisted by the town witch who leads him to a strange laboratory located in the deepest dungeons of an abandoned castle, where they find the blood-chilling solution to the mystery: the slain women have been rendered undead by their ruthless bloodsucking master, a psychotic professor. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide