'Forbidden Planet' for sure.

Does anyone else have to stop themselves exclaiming:

"The Mighty TIM!"

when watching Helen Mirren producing that ring of fire ...

(Great big pointy teeth ... )

My choices are ether



My own Private Idaho (Henry IV)

10 Things i hate about you (The Taming of the Shrew)



the reason i choose these is basically because as far as i can remember these are the only two films based on shakespeare story that i have seen beyond the films mentioned by kermode in his video. and i remember liking both at the time. Anyone suggest something else/better that i should watch?



Also helen Mirren sounds great doing the shakespeare dialogue in the tempest. ashame the rest of the film looks abit poor. Maybe they should have made it in 3D :p

Dr. K



There are a couple of adaptations that I wish to mention, both equally good for very different reasons.



First, there is Kenneth Branagh's version of Hamlet. Probably the best film adaptation of that play and the best in terms of a straight classical adaptation of the text.



Secondly is the film O directed by Tim Blake Nelson, an adaptation of Othello. Successfully managing to transport the setting to a american university and college basketball this film works on so many levels and still manages to maintain the darker elements of Shakespeare's text, showing the timelessness of the bard's themes and writings, whilst making them work in a contemporary setting. A truly underrated film and a great Shakespearean adaptation.

Forbidden Planet is one of my all time favourites so that's my choice. I also remember watching the Samurai Macbeth the night before my English Lit O level.



Other highlights must be Richard III set in 30's when his jeep is blown up. But the most shocking scene must be from Kenneth Branner's Hamlet when Brian Blessed actually starts whispering!!

I always had a soft spot for Titus (starring Sir Antony Hopkins). It made me feel all the glee a imagine groundlings felt during the original performances.



The Baz Luhrfilm adaptation I found really obnoxious, though excellently parodied in Hot Fuzz.



Where did this idea come from that teens like The Tempest. I read it for Advanced Highers (Scottish A-level) and found it rather dull and turgid, as did all of the class and even the teacher.

*that should be "I imagine" in the first paragraph. Sorry.

My favourite is probably the fantastic Midsummer Night's Dream with Anna Friel, Callista Flockhart and Kevin Kline. One of the few performances to make use of the fact that in film you can switch scene DURING a line, and the only one I've seen where Bottom's character is actually sympathetic rather than annoying.

I am an uncultured individual and have fallen foul of a schools method of teaching Shakespeare where, for me, they make it as boring as possible. So as a result I have watched/read very little Shakespeare. However as I have grown up since GCSE English I’m going to start give it a try and hopefully appreciate his works.



I never liked Baz Luhrmann’s modern day adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, the Shakespearian language does not work in a modern environment, just as modern language would not work in film set in 14th 15th centuries etc. I appalled Luhrmann’s attempt to get more of the younger generation interested in Shakespeare’s work but it had no effect on me.

without a doubt it's Kenneth Branagh's 5 hour HAMLET. It's production is the most impressive, the acting communicates the intention of the film and it's one of those rare movies that gets better in the second half than it was in the first, which always makes for a great film in my book i.e. October Sky or The Crucible.

Branagh's willingness to go over over the top gives the complete text new emotion, wit and joy, as in the scene where Charlton Heston chews the massive sets to pieces as the main Actor. Branagh also proves to be a master of understatement in my two favorite scenes: When Ophelia is insane and begins humping the air, which really disturbed and shocked me after reading the text, and afterwards when she sings that song in one slow closeup. Hamlet's monologue to Yorick. The Queen's news that Ophelia killed herself. I love it.

Kurosawa adapts Shakespeare like some of us devour pringles. THE BAD SLEEP WELL and RAN are fascinating adaptations of Hamlet and King Lear, respectively.

I read that the lion king, whilst not a direct adaptation of Hamlet, was 'inspired' by it. So... The Lion King

I'm not a big fan of Musicals myself Mark, but for some reason I've always enjoyed West Side Story, which seemed to me to be a much better interpretation of the Romeo and Juliet story, regardless of the end being changed compared to its original source material.



Although I must ask whether Mark was put off by the fact the two leads are not singing their own parts, knowing there's been discussion on this blog before about actors not playing musical instruments being a problem?

Dr K,



I love the blog and as an English Literature University student feel that this particular one is right up my street. This year I am doing a module on Shakespeare's Afterlives and have come across a few gems. My personal favourite is Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing (although the less said about Keanu Reeves the better). I remember being introduced to the play by one of my professors and I was hooked. Although there is nothing cutting edge or innovative about it, it still manages to tell the story and capture our imaginations.



I would also like to stick up for Baz Luhrmann's film. Although not one of my favourite films, I feel it has certain qualities which are appealing. The postmodern use of intertextuality and a variety of referenced sub-genres adds to what is a full on, but well researched adaptation.



Any that was my two-pence worth.



Regards



Unky

Off Topic:



Dr K,



I was sent these and thought of you -ah, aint I sweet!





https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bDhoXcrbks&playnext=1&list=PLB2D11CA4EA750E98



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7N6DR7xD1s&playnext=1&list=PL516C7A7ABA98BB98

Forbidden Planet is a classic hands down best adaptation of any Shakespeare play that has ever been put on to film.



The one that comes close to Forbidden Planet, isn't much an adaptation but an inspiration, and that is, Vincent Price's Theatre of Blood, in which he plays a vengeful Shakespearean actor, who sets out to murder his critics inspired by the deaths of Shakespeare's characters.



It is a fantastic movie, with its tongue well firmly place in its cheek, if you've not seen it, you are in for a real treat.

10 Things I Hate About You wins hands down.

When I worked as a volunteer usher at my local arts cinema and I tried to sit through Greenaway's Prospero's Books but (for the only time ever) I fell asleep! Monumentally boring and pretentious.



However, in the main I like Shakespearean adaptations. Branagh's Henry V and Hamlet were brilliant, with former making a great companion piece to Olivier's version. The way the depiction of the war in both reflects the age in which they were made (World War II and post-Falklands) reinforces the oft-stated "relevance" of the Bard.



In addition, and like Unky Chunk, I loved Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliett - opening scene is stunning. Forbidden Planet is good (replete with Freudian undertones) though presence of Frank Drebin is a distraction!



Finally, and with latest version of The Tempest in mind, I liked Julie Taymor's Titus. Now that's how to put the blood and gore in Shakespeare!!

Mirrorbus reminds me that I REALLY like Richard Loncraine's Richard III. the transposing of the story to a Fascist, Thirties Britain could have been cheesy but worked really well. In particular check out the use of locations, such as the then empty Bankside Power Station (now Tate Modern) as the Tower of London and Battersea Power Station for climactic battle. A neglected gem I feel.

Franco Zeffirelli delivered two that I love... "Romeo and Juliet" in 1968 with the lovely and talented Olivia Hussey... And the aforementioned 1990 version of "Hamlet". Nuts or not, Mel Gibson made Shakespeare understandable to me for the first time.



But, by far, my favorite adaptation of Shakespeare is Kurasowa's "Ran". It was one of the first 'foreign flicks' that I ever saw and it held my interest from the very beginning. Seeing Shakespeare play out in Japan with samurai combat was far cooler to my high school mind than the traditional trappings of Shakespeare. It features all of the things that, for me, make Shakespeare great. Drama. Comedy. Tragedy. Betrayal. Bitterness. Fathers and sons. Sins of the past. Angst. Murder. Love. Infidelity. Deceit. Fits of insanity. General impending doom. Tatsuya Nakadai's descent into madness is haunting (as are the other performances), but the onscreen killin'... Wow! It's Braveheart before Braveheart. The war scenes are as impressively choreographed and staged as any in film history. And they are intense. One violent scene in particular that sticks in my mind is one that is apart from the chaotic battles in the film: the character Kurogane doling out punishment to Lady Kaede for all of her vengeful scheming. It's one of those visuals that cannot be erased. Many years after seeing that, that scene still uncomfortably rattles around in my brain.



Great story. Great visuals. Great acting. As artistic as it is dramatic, Ran is just a great film.

Throne of blood - Ran - Chimes at midnight - which has recently come out on DVD - Stunning battle scene on a shoe string budget.

I don't care that it's a teen film, '10 Things I Hate About You' is a BRILLIANT adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew.

Heath Ledger and Julia Styles have great chemistry plus it is laugh-out-loud funny.

Enough said!

I know it's a hugely conventional choice but... Roman Polanski's Macbeth. I remember being shown the sleepwalking scenes in GCSE English and being unable to sleep because Francesca Annis was so damn creepy. Polanski takes the violence and madness of Macbeth and cranks it right up in everything from Banquo's bleeding ghost to the graphic murder of Duncan. For my money - and this will be controversial - bits of Polanski's Macbeth make The Devils look like Pingu.

I've always detested Baz Luhrmann's Romeo & Juliet, but then I've never liked anything he's done, something about his work irks me...



Whilst it's not a true adaptation of Hamlet I love Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead.

Simple choice:



The Lion King.



Stunning.

I was 11 in 1955.....Still remember being terrified by. Laurence Olivier......"Now is the Winter of our discontent"!!!......Richard 111...and still watch.

Forbidden Planet, hands down. 50s sci-fi meets Shakespeare meets Freudian psychoanalysis. Impossible to beat that.

Forbidden Planet featuring who, who, and who?



So not the one with Walter Pidgeon, then?



Don't think I've seen that one.

'Forbidden Planet' is one of my favourite films, so its a foregone conclusion for me. For a more recognisable take, it would have to be Zeffirelli's 'Romeo and Juliet'.

Stuart Hanson, I completely agree, Romeo + Juliet has one of the most original adaptations of an Shakespeare scene in its opening scene. In addition to the postmodern aspect, I also think it has great performances especially from Miriam Margoyles, who really is quite comic as Nurse.



Another Shakespeare film which includes Kenneth Branagh which I enjoyed at GCSE was. Directed by Oliver Parker and starring Laurence Fishburne, it really opened up the original text for me and helped me get a decent grade for the essay.

Dr Kermode,



As a 20 year old student it seems natural that i would select some obscure or tenuous arthouse film in order to appear ridiculously intelligent to appeal to you, but I would have to say the best Shakespeare adaptation is to return to my youth, The Lion King.



It's one of the few adaptations that is loved by both children and adults, and has the vocal talents of Darth Vader being best friends with Blackadder. One of the few flawless films in history.



David Bruce, University of Nottingham

The Lion King, obviously. For introducing Shakespeare to kids without them even noticing.

I worked on the set of Prospero's Books (filmed in Amsterdam to evade British union regulations). Sadly the result is a total snoozefest.



I much prefer adaptations than screen performances of Shakespeare. Without a doubt the best adaptation is Forbidden Planet, with its ground breaking effects and score.



Honourable mentions go to Kurosawa's Ran (King Lear) and Basil Dearden's jazz adaptation All Night Long (Othello). If I'm not mistaken All Night Long was the first film version not to use blackface and the overall cast is excellent, including Dick Attenborough, Dave Brubeck, Charles Mingus and Patrick McGoohan, who learned to play drums specially for the film.

gotta be the lion king for hamlet. most because you can hardly tell that its hamlet which isnt the best description ever but still... its the lion king.

I love Shakespeare on film and any adaptation.



However, my favourite straight text, albeit abridged, is definitely Kenneth Branagh's version of Henry V. Beautiful anti-war movie.



Foreign language adapation is RAN by the late, great Kurosawa. Simply stunning. A true Cecil B DeMille cast of thousands.



For modern adaptations, I really love the musical, Kiss Me Kate with the wonderful Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson.

Am I the only one who loves 'She's the man', a great version of Twelfth Night? I guess so, but it cracks me up every time.

There are so many criptic quasi-adaptations of the Bard it is impossible to list - 'My Own Private Idaho' being the most famous I would guess, as far as 'straight' adaptations go 'Throne of Blood' & 'Ran' are sublime as is Orson Welles 'Chimes at Midnight' although perhaps the most pure, and most well cast, is for me, Roman Polanski's 'Macbeth', John Finch's voice being perhaps the most beautifully scary and memorable component of a strikingly inventive and subtle film.

My own personal favourites, in no particular order:



Julius Caesar - 1953.

Despite the rather lacklustre Louis Calhern as Caesar, this is the definitive version of Julius Caesar on screen. What could have been a disaster with the great Gielgud scheming as Cassius rubbing shoulders with the young Brando, turns out to be inspired. With James Mason as a dignified and thoughtful Brutus, and wonderful staging of the funeral orations, it's a clash of acting styles and performances that shouldn't work, but does.



Chimes At Midnight - 1965

Orson Welles' previous Shakespeare adaptations, though arresting and visually inventive, were as nothing compared to his ultimate portrayal of the role he was born to play: Falstaff. The film suffers from sometimes indecipherable dialogue but the battle scene, for a film of its time, and even now is astonishing in its brutality and economy. As for Welles, it was perhaps his greatest screen role, and certainly his most moving.



Henry V - 1989

Branagh's first, and arguably best, Shakespeare adaptation. Cast, performances and Patrick Doyle's wonderful music all gel in this down and dirty, more gritty and realistic meditation on the sins, the horror and the pity of war. With such a wealth of talent such as Derek Jacobi as the Chorus, Paul Scofield as the French King Charles and almost every role filled by top British theatre and film stars it could have been a 'spot-the thespian' borefest, but Branagh's central performance, as both star and director holds the whole thing together. A remarkable debut film by any measure, and a truly great Shakespeare adaptation.



Honourable mentions to Peter Brook's King Lear with Paul Scofield, Oliver's wonderfully pantomime-villainesque Richard III, Branagh's epic 4 hour Hamlet, Julie Taymor's barmy Titus Andronicus adaptation, Welles' strange Macbeth and Polanski's own horror movie Macbeth, and Ian McKellan's wonderfully entertaining turn as Richard III.

I remember loving Richard Locraine's Richard III when I saw it years ago, the most memorable scene of course being where Ian McKellen's Richard's jeep gets stuck in the mud and he screams with wicked irony "a horse, my kingdom for a horse!"

My favourite Shakespeare film is definitely A Midsummer Night's Dream with Kevin Kline, Sophie Marceau and Stanley Tucci. Although it isn't very unconventional. I remember I literally spent years finding it on DVD because it was next to impossible to get it from Hungary...

Kurosawa and Shakespear were as one, although Branagh's Much ado about Nothing is a little treasure.

As many other people have said, The Lion King, Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet, and 10 Things I Hate About You are all great, but there's one more debatable choice for me;



The Ling King 3! It's based on Tom Stoppard's play Rosencrantz and Guildernstein are Dead, which seems like an odd choice at first but then makes sense given that The Lion King was based on Hamlet... anyway, it's surprisingly very good, and I'm sad that so few people have seen it. It's not the best by any stretch, but I like to think it's an enjoyable sidenote in the history of Shakespeare adaptions.

It has to be the lion king, as hamlet didn't have "hakuna matata"

This film is coming at a good time for me as I'm dusting off some of the bard's plays and giving them a reread. Hamlet and King Lear are two of the greatest things written in the English language.



As for movie adaptations, I think Throne of Blood is my favourite. Even though not a single line is used from the play, Kurosawa completely nails the themes of insanity, desperation and lust for power. Toshiro Mifune's break down and final stand against a wall of arrows is one of Japanese's cinemas most vivid images.



More recently I watched Rupert Goold's Macbeth on BBC4 with Patrick Stewart and Kate Fleetwood. Fleetwood is probably the best Lady Macbeth I've ever seen. It's a real stand out performance in a film full of stand out performances. I really enjoyed the Soviet setting as well. Brilliant imagery.



Finally, one that hasn't been mentioned yet, is Xiaogang Feng's The Banquet. It's only a loose adaptation of Hamlet but it certainly deserves merit for bringing wushu choreography and lyrical dialogue together better than anything Yimou Zhang could do. Also features the point when Ziyi Zhang stopped playing young, restless, innocent girls and started playing cold-hearted women.

I'm surprised that nobody has yet mentioned the TV show 'Sons of Anarchy.' It's a drama about a motorcycle club loosely based on Hamlet with the main character (obviously) playing a version of Hamlet and many supporting characters playing King Claudius, Gertrude etc.



Since I haven't seen too many Shakespeare adaptations that I have liked, this would be my favourite.

How about "Kiss me Kate", starring Howard Keel. A wonderful version of Taming of the Shrew, made all the better for having Catherine Grayson and Ann Miller in it too. And the song where Keenyn Wynn and James Whitmore ask us to "Brush up your Shakespeare" is truly hilarious. One of the great films of all time.

Well 'Prospero's Books' wasn't too bad, but a gender inverted P only begs the question who could be androgynous enough to play Ariel? A dehydrated Danny Dyer?

Ian McKellen version of Richard III

My Own Private Idaho

As The Tempest is my favourite Shakespearen drama and I'm a long-time devotee of science fiction Forbidden Planet does tick both boxes - I still think it's a hard adaptation to beat. Saying that I do like Jarman's film, with good performances from both Toyah Wilcox and Heathcote Williams.



I might try the new version at the cinema, but I'd be happy to wait until the DVD.



An early Heath Ledger film, 10 Things I Hate About You, was, I recall, a reworking of Taming of the Shrew aimed at teenagers. And very enjoyable too.



Along with DaleCooper I'd started to wonder whether Sons of Anarchy had pretensions toward Shakespearean grandeur; it certainly has more depth than is immediately obvious. Perhaps there are quite a few more adaptations out there, but either subtley hidden or so mangled they're hard to spot.

I have to add Kurosawa's version of King Lear 'RAN', the colour of the film itself is always worth talking about,but the themes of Shakespeare's text to me leap out of the screen in a way that few other films ever have. British cinema has a massive thing for period pieces, we seem to be in love with the representation of bygone ages, which can produce film which are all style and no substance.

For me, Kurosawa has nailed the essence of the thirst for power in RAN with even more power than he did in 'Throne of Blood' another great piece of work



Long and heady but always worth the wait

I've always preferred the Comedies to the Tragedies - so my personal favourite is Much Ado About Nothing, with Ken & Em. It looks beautiful and is fun and ridiculous - just as it was supposed to be.



But I also love Baz Luhrmann's Romeo & Juliet. It's full of energy and shouting and screaming and crying. Which is entirely appropriate for a teenage love tragedy! And I think the original language in a modern setting works really well. I always forget it's not in modern English after about 5 minutes.

"She's the Man" :oP https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/She%27s_The_Man

Roman Polanski's interpretation of The Tragedy of Macbeth by far is my favourite. Obviously I'm being biased since I consider Polanski a great filmmaker. Even though Polanski takes a few libertes with the source material, I find the film compelling. A great underrated film.



On another note, does anyone know where one can get hold of a copy of Orson Welles's film of Othello? I remember seeing the opening many years ago in a Literature class and I always wanted to see it in full.

I think this question has to be separated into the texts that are straight adaptations and the ones that are inspired by the stories but drop the language, like "O" and "10 Things I Hate About You."



Of movies that actually retain the Shakespearean text I'd say Ian McKellen's Richard III is up there in terms of making the play cinematically alive, full of invention and wit (Richmond smiling ambiguously at the camera after Richard dies is a particularly wonderful touch). The first proper Shakespeare I ever saw was Branagh's Hamlet, in 70mm at the Filmhouse in Edinburgh, and though it may have its imperfections it is a splendid epic (and, like Richard III, truly cinematic).



The Zeffireli version of Romeo and Juliet is better than Luhrman's in every regard, starting with the two stars. Much as I like Dicaprio now he never sold the dialogue to me.



The 1999 Midsummer Night's Dream is inferior to the 1935 version; both are flawed but the '35 version has some wonderfully inventive visuals and a terrific performance by James Cagney as Bottom. I too have a soft spot for Taymor's own "Titus," with its everything-but-the-kitchen-sink aesthetic.

Abel Ferrara's CHINA GIRL was interesting, if not wholly successful. Were there any Looney Tunes adaptations of the Bard?

As other people have mentioned, 10 Things I Hate About You and O are both great adaptations that use the stories rather than the actual texts. Forbidden Planet also.



As much as I adore Hamlet (and I've seen over 20 live productions of it) the Branagh film just doesn't do it for me. He is simply too old and too OTT in the lead role. The random casting of famous faces in tiny roles is distracting and weird, instead of listening to Marcellus you're too busy thinking "WTF is Jack Lemmon doing guarding a palace at his age?".

Not strictly a movie but I thought the recent BBC adaption of the RSC's Hamlet was a wonderful adaption - cinematic and theatrical at once.



Strictly a movie, for me it's Forbidden Planet. I had no idea it was Shakespearian when I first watched it, finding out made me love the movie and watch it over and over. While adaptions that retain the language can be successful, I find that the plots and themes of his plays far outshine the work of most screenwriters today.

For a straight adaptation I'd go for Kenneth Branagh's Henry V and, for an updated version, Richard Locraine's Richard III. I also feel that Xiaogan Feng's The Banquet - based on Hamlet - is under-rated. As well as including all the martial arts fights that Shakespeare inexplicably omitted, the film makers up the ante by making the 'Gertrude' figure, played by wonderful Zhang Ziyi, a teenage lover of 'Hamlet's' who married his father and then his uncle. Yes, his first love is also his stepmother and his aunt. Ooh-er.

Richard Loncraine's Richard III, loved it. brannagh's omlet, so beautiful. I'm looking forward to Coriolanus, I've never liked the tempest at all.

The Russian King Lear. A combination of a great translation and great cinema that really captures the mood of the play and the thoughts of the characters better than any English language version I've seen. Closely followed by the Russian Hamlet, both based on Boris Pasternek translations.

I second all the mentions of Chimes at Midnight. Orson Welles seemed meant to play Falstaff, in film and in life, continually leading people astray only to later be rejected by them.



One of my favorite Shakespeare films is the Soviet Hamlet directed by Kozintsev. Beautifully shot and acted, it also is one of the only versions to retain the political aspects of the play with Fortinbras and his army menacing outside Elsinore. Kozintsev's Lear is pretty good also.

I wouls also like to stand up for Luhrman's Romeo and Juliet and for the Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet and his Much Ado about nothing . . . although its Emma Thompson's Much ado really!

Have you all forgotten West Side Story? Bernstein's fantastic and enduring musical based on Romeo and Juliet, with rival New York street gangs the Sharks and the Jets replacing the Capulets and Montagues. It's an excellent modern reworking of the story that works on all levels and has a couple of good tunes! ;D

...and Looking for Richard with Al Pacino. Yes, it isn't a straightforward performance of the play but there are certainly a good few portions of the play acted out within it. It's an altogether interesting take on the play and an insight into the craft of performing Shakespeare and his relevance in the modern world. Worth a look.

PS I too like the Lion King :D

Also I never did get the love for Branagh's version of Much Ado About Nothing, it seemed like a lot of people getting angry and then pushing over furniture, and Branagh giving himself all the lines delivered to camera, and giving himself the best character.

Hamlet-The version by Kenneth Brannagh is my personal fav. I really enjoy the performancs but I especially love the atmosphere and the setting. I really love how sympethetic Brannagh makes the villian Claudius. Their are some celebrity cameos including Robin Williams and Billy Crystal which are a little distracting but they mostly do the job. All exept Jack Lemmon. Which is odd as you would think he would be the best.

The agony of choice! How many top-notch adaptations of Shakespeare have there been? Too many to count! But that, in itself, proves a point - that Shakespeare is such a flexible writer that he releases, rather than constrains, the imaginations of anyone who wants to adapt him for the screen. So - my list: Branagh's Hamlet is the best of what might be called "definitive" adaptations, Richard Loncrane's Richard III is the most inventive (just see how they get away with "a horse, a horse, etc") and, probably, most enjoyable (Robert Downey Jr stabbed from under a bed while having sex, anyone?), Julie Taymor's Titus is flawed, but gripping - even if it does feel the need to rip off - of all things - The Matrix towards the end. But, for sheer guilty pleasure value, can anything beat that man Branagh's loopy-as-a-box-of-frogs-but-blissfully-good-fun Love's Labours Lost? I mean, come on, it's a film that features Tim Spall singing Cole Porter: absolute heaven!

The very first Shakespeare performance I ever saw - back around 1966 - was Orson Welles' film of Macbeth. It made me realise that Shakespeare was so much more than a dry English lesson and I'll always love it for that reason.



Richard Loncraine's Richard III is wonderful, and I adore the sage version of Forbidden Planet for its sheer energy and ooomph!

There are things I like about both Zeferelli's and Branagh's Hamlets. Close is my favourite Gertrude, but then seeing Charlton Heston stand up the likes of Jack Lemmon is hard to beat. Both films are great in different ways.



My pick however has to be Ran. Visually striking, epic in scale, bloody and brutal. It even has cinema's greatest decapitation (well, alongside David Warner's!)

I take it, Kermode, that your fascination with the Jarman version of The Tempest stems in part from the fact that Jarman designed The Devils?



I take it also that there is no further news with regard to the uncut version?



Thought not :(

The Lion King, Ran, Olivier's Henry V, Baz Luhrmann's Romeo and Juliet and those BBC performances few years back...best Shakespeare adaptations ave seen anyways...



The only good thing about Branagh's adaptations is that that they show a recurring appearance of the legend that is Mr Brian Blessed...other than that they're just excuses for Branagh to pretend es a decent Shakespearean actor...



ugs x

not just Blessed but Briers and even Doddy

I actually like Julie Taymor's Titus very much but her Tempest looks awful



obviously 10 Things I hate About You



1995'S Richard III with Ian McKellen



Al Pacino in The Merchant of Venice



and his documentary on Richard III is very watchable

Look no further than Akira Kurosawa's The Bad Sleep Well. An absolute masterpiece in every sense of the word, and up there with The Lion King in terms of adaptations of Hamlet. Throne of Blood and Ran also go to show that no one can adapt Shakespeare like Kurosawa.

oh and Baz Lurmahn's Romer & Juliet is one of the most irritating films Ive ever seen in my life, up there with Transformers

I always liked 'Macbeth' - the Roman Polanski version. I have'nt seen it in years but I remember it being very harsh and realistic. It was a film I could watch without thinking I was looking at an 'important' Shakespeare play.

I also like 'The taming of the shrew'. Its just fun to watch.

Ran

My favourite Shakespeare adaptation is 'Ran', Kurosawa's visually stunning and emotionally charged reworking of King Lear. Unforgettable.

@MargeGunderson - I can't believe I overlooked Looking For Richard - what a marvelous film!

I'm a big fan of Kenneth Branagh's work, my favourite one probably being As You Like It. The Japanese setting was maybe a little unnecessary, but Bryce Dallas Howard turned in a highly recommended performance. It also has Brian Blessed playing two different characters.



BBC's ShakespeaRe-told mini-series is worth checking out too, although it has its detractors. I personally loved their version of Macbeth with James McAvoy, it got the darkness just right.



Akira Kurosawa's Ran is another good one.

At school we did Titus,



Spoon meets throat.



That did it for me

Definitely Kurosawa's RAN.

One favourite worth a mention is the BBC's 'Wessex Tonight' version of Much Ado About Nothing (David Nicholls). Laugh-out- loud hilarious interpretations of Beatrice and Benedick in a cleverly adapted modern setting.

I think Brook's King Lear is mesmerising and cinematic (in fact, it reminds me a little of Persona). Levring's The King is Alive is one of the few Shakespeare adaptations that has enriched my understanding of a well known and oft-studied play. And Godard's King Lear is... well, not an experience I want to repeat.



Also enjoy Looking for Richard and the BFI's Silent Shakespeare collection (especially the Tempest and MSND). Romeo and Juliet has never been my favourite play, but Luhrmann's version was one of the first visually exciting films I saw at the cinema. So I'm sticking up for it as well!

Chimes at Midnight is a brilliant adaptation and it took me years to track down a decent copy it is also probably Welles best film. Titus deserves a special mention because it is well staged with superb proformances. Branagh's Henry V was very watchable with a fantastic score by Patrick Doyle. Overall though my favourite has to be the combination of Mifune and Kurosawa in Throne of Blood, it is a masterpiece.

All the above have something worthwile, which is simply due to the fact that the source material is from one of the greatest writers ever (granted... with a little help from the predecessors and contemporaries he "borrowed" from). I like West Side Story because I saw it when I was very young, and wasn't even aware of mister Shakespeare. Some television adaptations are rather good, especially the Shakespeare REtold version of The Taming of the Shrew, with Rufus Sewell and Shirley Henderson. But my favorite has to be Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, by Tom Stoppard (a brilliant writer and director for film as well as theatre). This film is so much more creative than just reworking the complete original story. And I love Gary Oldman and Tim Roth in this film.

If Shakespeare is so accessible and relevant, why these endless attempts at "modernising" it? I watch Patrick Stewart in MacBeth and wonder how much better it would have been without the "modern" setting, with odd uniforms and vague, deliberately faceless locations. It added nothing, and in my view took a lot away from it.

Laurence "Don't call me Larry" Fishburne was rather good in Othello, alongside Ken Branagh.



I prefer Gibson's Hamlet to Branagh, because a) it's shorter and b) it doesn't have the woefully miscast Jack Lemmon, as mentioned above.



Forbidden Planet is my favorite SF film pre 2001, regardless of what Terry Gilliam thinks...

Brannagh has to be applauded,henry v,hamlet.and much ado are all fine pieces of work.Anyone one who gets Brian Blessed onto the big screen deserves our thanks!!But my favourite adaptation is the Burton /Taylor Taming of the Shrew.Bawdy,over the top,very 60`s Burton and Taylor are real stars who make todays look boring.I think shaky would have loved there performances.

As for best adaptation i dont think anyone has mentioned Visconti`s The Damned which is Macbeth set to the nazi takeover of a german industrial giant.Great performances,murder, paedaphilia,and in my opinion the best on screen nazi ever.forget Amon Gothe this guys the real deal,Blonde ,blue eyed aryan,pure evil,with a charming smile and a wink in his eye! Bogards great too, but then when was he ever anything else!

I absolutely adore 'King Lear' so my favourite adaption is a tie. Peter Brook's 1971 interpretation and Kurosawa's 'Ran' from 1985.

Can't really say which is my favourite as I have not seen enough of them, but I can definitely say that Ken Branagh's "Much Ado" is pretty appalling. Yes, he and Emma Thompson are very good, and Denzel is all well and good, but his incongruous half-brother is the derisable Keanu, and Robert Sean Leonard and Kate Beckinsale are thoroughly irritating. And, the final dance is just awful.

T H E L I O N K I N G



I S T H E B E S T A D A P T A T I O N O F



H A M L E T

I think that the key to any great adaptation is that it has to stand out on its own.

Baz Luhrmann did a great adaptation of ROMEO AND JULIET. I found his medium innovative in setting it against the backdrop of gang culture. Doing so engaged the teenage audience of which I was a member when I first saw it (in GCSE English no less). The schism between the Shakespeare's language and the modern setting works as the beautifully phrased pronounecments and the urban grit serve as being mutually emphatic. By engaging the subject matter and language he made a film the not only lends itself to education but educates in its own right



Franco Zeffirelli's work on the same play is not so much an adaptation as it is so faithful to the script, same as Kenneth Branagh's work of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTING but both are nontheless as superb example of cinema.



THE LION KING for sure is also a great adaptation HAMLET and for engaging children has the great education value of Luhrmann's work, and indeed are both great in the own respect.



I was pleased you mentioned Kurosawa because for me the me the best is RAN. The much missed Kurosawa removes the play from its setting and language and imbues it with an entirely different culture yet retains the integrity of the source work. In doing so he demonstrates the universality of the bards writings and thereby deposits simultaneously to two literary/cinematic cultures, for their mutual enrichment and enjoyment.

Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado about Nothing. I think on the whole he has made Shakespeare much more accessible and palatable.

There are a LOT of Shakespeare adaptations -- a veritable industry, in fact. It's one of the reasons I fully agree with whoever made the point about films that adapt Shakespeare for the screen and films "inspired by" the plays (much like films "inspired by true events").



As with stage productions, the length of the plays is a recurrent problem in adapting them for modern audiences. One of my favourite full-length adaptations is Lochraine's Richard III, which is as much fun to watch as Luhrman's version of R+J but has the added advantage of including more than a third of the original play. Kenneth Branagh made great versions of Henry V, Othello, and Much Ado About Nothing; then again, his version of Hamlet is about three hours too long.



However, my favourite adaptations are Kurosawa's and Polanski's versions of Macbeth, Julie Taymor's version of Titus (if only as an adaptation of a much maligned work), and Derek Jarman's version of Richard II, which is simply remarkable.