William ShakespeareFilmography

Macbeth

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Jennifer Connelly, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Romeo*Juliet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Edo Borne, Sissy Prescilia, Alex Komang

Macbeth

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Sam Worthington, Victoria Hill, Lachy Hulme, Steve Bastoni, Gary Sweet

Synopsis: With the 2006 MacBeth, controversial Australian director Geoffrey Wright (Romper Stomper, Metal Skin) launches his fourth big screen outing and continues the trend of reinventing Shakespeare by contemporizing the bard's plays. As in other recent efforts (Richard Loncraine's Richard III (1996) Read More

Othello (Shakespeare's Globe Theatre)

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Tim McInnerny, Zoe Tapper

Synopsis: Wilson Milam directed this Globe Theater production of William Shakespeare's tragedy Othello, starring Eamonn Walker (Oz) as the ill-fated Moor, and Zoe Tapper as Desdemona. ~ Nathan Southern, All Movie Guide Read More

As You Like It

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Brian Blessed, Bryce Dallas Howard, Romola Garai

Synopsis: 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. Read More

Fodor's Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Wilson Belchambers, James Frail, Lydia Piechowiak, Jason Wing

Synopsis: Shakespearean tragedy gets a surreal makeover courtesy of fledgling auteur Alexander Fodor, who instills the oft-told tale with a few startling twists. Focusing more on the supernatural aspects on the tale than the human elements, the film retains Shakespeare's original dialogue while changing the Read More

Omkara

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Ajay Devgan, Kareena Kapoor, Saif Ali Khan, Konkona Sen Sharma, Vivek Oberoi

Synopsis: William Shakespeare's 17th century tragedy is adapted for the screen by one of Bollywood's most promising filmmakers in this effort that traces one man's unrelenting jealousy and all-consuming obsession against the backdrop of political warfare in the interiors of Uttar Pradesh. A charismatic Read More

She's the Man

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Amanda Bynes, Channing Tatum, Laura Ramsey, Vinnie Jones, Julie Hagerty

Synopsis: A simple case of assumed identity snowballs into a romantic mix-up of epic proportions in director Andy Fickman's contemporary teen take on William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. Viola Hastings (Amanda Bynes) has good reason for wanting to conceal her identity upon arriving at Illyria Prep school Read More

Midsummer Dream

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Gabino Diego, Carmen Machi, Yolanda Mateos, Luis Bajo, Juan Perucho

Macbeth

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: Giuseppi Verdi co-wrote his operatic interpretation of William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth - with its text of lust, greed, bloodshed, and pathological ambition - around 1846. Verdi took the Shakespearean text and added a libretto by Francesco Maria Piave, replacing the three foreboding witches Read More

The Merchant of Venice

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Al Pacino, Jeremy Irons, Joseph Fiennes, Lynn Collins, Zuleikha Robinson

Synopsis: One of William Shakespeare's most powerful comedies has been given a bold cinematic adaptation in this film version of The Merchant of Venice. Bassanio (Joseph Fiennes) is a young and vital member of the aristocratic classes in 16th century Italy; however, Bassanio's impulsive nature and lavish Read More

Kiss Me, Kate

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Brent Barrett, Rachel York, Nancy Anderson

Synopsis: One of the biggest hits of the 1948-1949 Broadway season, the classic Cole Porter musical Kiss Me, Kate was triumphantly revived in 2000, running over 881 performances in New York and winning a Tony Award in the process. This faithful-to-its-source TV production of the "new" Kiss Me, Kate was Read More

Scotland, PA

Crew: Play Author

Actors: James LeGros, Maura Tierney, Christopher Walken, Kevin Corrigan, James Rebhorn

Synopsis: What happens if you take one of William Shakespeare's darkest tragedies and move it to a burger joint in the early 1970s? The answer can be found in the satiric comedy Scotland, PA, the first feature from writer and director Billy Morrissette. Mac McBeth (James LeGros) is a hard-working but Read More

Romeo et Juliette

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Roberto Alagna, Angela Gheorghiu

Synopsis: William Shakespeare's timeless tale of romance Romeo and Juliet came alive in a new way when Charles Gounod adapted it for the stage as an opera. This unforgettable stage production features Roberto Alagna in the role of Romeo and Angela Gheorghiu in the role of his young love, Juliette, with Read More

King of Texas

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Patrick Stewart

Synopsis: Shakespeare's tragedy King Lear is transplanted to 19th century Texas in this made-for-cable drama. Patrick Stewart stars as John Lear, the wealthiest and most powerful rancher in the territory. Failing in body and mind, Lear decides to divide his vast property among his three daughters Read More

Te Tangata Whai Rawa o Weniti

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Waihoroi Shortland, Ngarimu Daniels, Scott Morrison, Te Rangihau Gilbert, Veeshayne Armstrong

Synopsis: A Maori take on one of William Shakespeare's most enduring plays, The Maori Merchant of Venice offers a new take on the classic tale as it explores the complications of religious discrimination, revenge, and the politics of business. Desperate to court the beautiful Portia (Ngarimu Daniels) Read More

Othello

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Joss Ackland, Keeley Hawes, Del Synnott, Eamonn Walker, Christopher Eccleston

Synopsis: This British TV production of Othello is more than a mere updating of the classic William Shakespeare tragedy; with freshly rechristened characters and brand-new dialogue, the film qualifies as a "rethinking" of the 17th century Shakespearean play, albeit still retaining the original's power and Read More

The Merchant of Venice

Crew: Play Author

Actors: David Bamber, Henry Goodman, Derbhle Crotty, Peter De Jersey

Synopsis: This adaptation of Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice was directed by Trevor Nunn, who has become one of the most respected British stage directors of his time. The production transplants the setting of the film to Germany on the cusp of World War II, and is similar to the milieu of Bob Fosse's Cabaret Read More

William Shakespeare's Richard the Second

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Matte Osian, Kadina Delejalde

Synopsis: The Bard goes digital as independent director John Farrell brings William Shakespeare's Richard the Second to the screen for the first time ever while simultaneously upping the creative ante by telling the digital video-shot tale in modern dress. Even in modern times Shakespeare's tale of Read More

Love's Labour's Lost

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Alessandro Nivola, Alicia Silverstone, Natascha McElhone, Kenneth Branagh, Carmen Ejogo

Synopsis: Actor/director Kenneth Branagh sets his screen version of Shakespeare's play in the 1930s, adding such classic songs as "They Can't Take That Away From Me," "The Way You Look Tonight," and "Let's Face the Music and Dance," and staging it in the manner of a Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musical. The Read More

Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Ethan Hawke, Kyle MacLachlan, Sam Shepard, Diane Venora, Bill Murray, Julia Stiles

Synopsis: William Shakespeare's classic tale is brought to the screen for the third time in ten years in this modernized interpretation. Writer/director Michael Almereyda updates the story to the present day, where Hamlet (Ethan Hawke) is a struggling filmmaker whose personal and familial trials are set Read More

Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Campbell Scott, Blair Brown, Jamey Sheridan, Roscoe Lee Browne, Lisa Gay Hamilton

Synopsis: Campbell Scott is both star and co-director of this elaborate (albeit economically produced) four-hour TV version of Shakespeare's immortal tragedy Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. The film is based on Scott's earlier theatrical production of the same play, with several of the same actors repeating Read More

Sangrador

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Daniel Alvarado

Synopsis: Leonardo Henriquez wrote and directed this drama, which borrows freely from William Shakespeare's tragedy Macbeth while moving the story to Venezuela at the dawn of the 20th century. In this adaptation, Maximiliano (Daniel Alvarado) is a decent man who has fallen in with a gang of thieves. But Read More

Titus

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Anthony Hopkins, Jessica Lange, Alan Cumming, Harry J. Lennix, Colm Feore, Angus MacFadyen, James Frain

Synopsis: One of William Shakespeare's lesser-known plays, Titus Andronicus was staged in New York by award-winning theatrical director Julie Taymor in an acclaimed 1995 production, before her widely praised Broadway version of The Lion King. Taymor revisits that production for her first motion picture Read More

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Kevin Kline, Michelle Pfeiffer, Rupert Everett, Stanley Tucci, Calista Flockhart, Anna Friel, Christian Bale, Dominic West, David Strathairn, Sophie Marceau

Synopsis: 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 Read More

King Lear

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Barbara Flynn, Amanda Redman, Ian Holm

Synopsis: Ian Holm delivers an Emmy-nominated performance in this filmed adaptation of the classic Shakespearean tragedy King Lear. From director Richard Eyre (Stage Beauty), the film traces the events that follow the titular monarch's decision to make his three daughters vie for his kingdom. Originally Read More

The Scottish Tale

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Ann Boehlke, Josiah Polhemus

Synopsis: A modern, light-hearted version of William Shakespeare's Macbeth (superstitiously known to theater types as "the Scottish play"), this romantic comedy was adapted, produced, and directed by Mackinlay Polhemus, who cast several family members in key roles. Josiah Polhemus plays Mack, a poet who Read More

A Midsummer Night's Dream (Pacific Northwest Ballet)

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Pacific Northwest Ballet

Synopsis: 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 Read More

Twelfth Night

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Helena Bonham Carter, Imogen Stubbs, Nigel Hawthorne, Ben Kingsley, Mel Smith, Richard E. Grant

Synopsis: The classic Shakespearean comedy about mistaken identity and gender confusion is brought to the screen once again in this British production, courtesy of screenwriter-director Trevor Nunn. Nunn has transferred the time period to the Victorian Era of the late 19th century. Two twins, Viola (Imogen Stubbs Read More

Tromeo and Juliet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Jane Jensen, Will Keenan, Debbie Rochon, Valentine Miele, Sean Gunn

Synopsis: Notorious schlock and psychotronic production company Troma (known for such classics as Toxic Avenger and Class of Nuke 'Em High) hails Tromeo and Juliet, its contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare's love tragedy, a "thrill-a-minute, body-piercing, computer sex, sapphic, car-crashing Read More

William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Leonardo DiCaprio, Claire Danes, John Leguizamo, Harold Perrineau, Jr., Pete Postlethwaite

Synopsis: The classic Shakespearean romantic tragedy is updated by director Baz Luhrmann to a post-modern Verona Beach where swords are merely a brand of gun and bored youths are easily spurred toward violence. Longtime rivals in religion and business, the Montagues and the Capulets share a page from the Read More

Looking for Richard

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Al Pacino, Harris Yulin, Penelope Allen, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Spacey

Synopsis: A workshop of William Shakespeare's Richard III inspires actor-director Al Pacino's breezy documentary, which aims to make the playwright accessible to contemporary American audiences. Though a noteworthy cast of stage actors and Hollywood stars (including Kevin Spacey, Winona Ryder, and Alec Baldwin Read More

Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Richard Attenborough, Kenneth Branagh, Brian Blessed, Julie Christie, Derek Jacobi, Kate Winslet, Richard Briers

Synopsis: At least the 22nd time William Shakespeare's most famous tragedy has been brought to the screen, Kenneth Branagh's film adaptation of Hamlet was the first to preserve Shakespeare's entire text, uncut and unabridged. Moving the action into the 19th century, Branagh cast himself in the title role Read More

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Alex Jennings, Lindsay Duncan, Desmond Barrit, Barry Lynch

Synopsis: 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 Read More

Othello

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Laurence Fishburne, Irène Jacob, Kenneth Branagh, Nathaniel Parker, Michael Maloney

Synopsis: Actor Oliver Parker made his directorial debut with this adaptation of the tragic play by William Shakespeare that abridges the original text by half and ups the quotient of sex and violence. Laurence Fishburne stars as the Moorish general Othello, who returns a hero after crushing an invasion Read More

Richard III

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Ian McKellen, Annette Bening, Jim Broadbent, Robert Downey, Jr., Nigel Hawthorne

Synopsis: Richard Loncraine takes Shakespeare's classic tale of treachery, Richard III, and transplants it to the 1930s. Ian McKellen is Richard who, as the film opens, begins plotting against his brother Edward, who has just ascended to the throne after a bloody civil war. Richard begins by seducing and Read More

Macedonian Saga

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Meto Jovanovski

Synopsis: This tragedy offers a retelling of the plot for "Romeo and Juliet" in a Macedonian setting which looks at both Muslim and Christian viewpoints. Damian, a Christian school teacher, has just come to the Muslim village of Velekorab. There he meets and falls in love with the beautiful Muslim Dzemile Read More

Much Ado About Nothing

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Kenneth Branagh, Michael Keaton, Robert Sean Leonard, Keanu Reeves, Emma Thompson

Synopsis: Actor Kenneth Branagh made his directorial debut with a rousing screen adaptation of William Shakespeare's Henry V. Four years later, he returns to the bard's work with this lively version of one of Shakespeare's best comedies. Don Pedro (Denzel Washington), the Prince of Aragon, returns Read More

Romeo and Juliet (Lyon Opera Ballet)

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: The Lyon Opera Ballet performs Sergei Prokofiev's musical rendition of William Shakespeare's famous tragedy. ~ Michael Hastings, All Movie Guide Read More

As You Like It

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Cyril Cusack, James Fox, Miriam Margolyes

Synopsis: This is a modern-dress rendition of Shakespeare's famous "comedy," a semi-serious drama with a story featuring mistaken identities and confused declarations of love. Though it screens far more of the classic play's dialogue than the 1936 version featuring Laurence Olivier, some reviewers asserted Read More

Prospero's Books

Crew: Play Author

Actors: John Gielgud, Michael Clark, Michel Blanc, Erland Josephson, Isabelle Pasco

Synopsis: Puzzle-master Peter Greenaway exposes another aspect of his peculiar obsessions to the filmgoing public. Prospero's Books uses Shakespeare as a foundation and then skips along to define its own lush territory. The books of the title are briefly referenced in The Tempest -- Prospero is a magician Read More

My Own Private Idaho

Crew: Play Author

Actors: River Phoenix, Keanu Reeves, James Russo, William Richert, Rodney Harvey

Synopsis: Gus Van Sant's dreamtime riff on Shakespeare's "Henry IV, Parts I and II" features River Phoenix as Mike Waters, a narcoleptic male hustler who is first seen drifting on a stretch of highway in Idaho. Mike shifts from Seattle to Portland, where he has taken up with Scott Favor (Keanu Reeves), who Read More

Men of Respect

Crew: Play Author

Actors: John Turturro, Katherine Borowitz, Dennis Farina, Peter Boyle, Rod Steiger

Synopsis: Shakespeare's Macbeth is transplanted to a '90s New York gangland in this 1991 film. A hit man (John Turturro) is convinced to murder his boss (Rod Steiger) after his future as the head of the organization is ensured by three fortune-tellers. With the help of his domineering wife (Kathie Read More

King Lear

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: A classic production of Shakespeare's most well-known drama. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Romeo and Julia

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Bob Koherr, Ivana Kane, Willard Morgan

Synopsis: Romeo has played one practical joke too many on his beleaguered co-workers, and they decide to retaliate with one of the meanest-spirited jokes on record. They hire an actor to impersonate a doctor and give Romeo the bad news that he is HIV-positive. Suddenly suicidal, the joker goes to take his Read More

Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: Kevin Kline directed this television adaptation of the New York Shakespeare Festival's 1990 production of Shakespeare's most famous tragedy, in which Kline also stars as the melancholy Danish prince. Deeply saddened by the death of his father, Hamlet (Kline) is shocked to discover his mother Read More

Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Mel Gibson, Glenn Close, Alan Bates, Paul Scofield, Ian Holm

Synopsis: Franco Zeffirelli directs his third Shakespeare adaptation (after Romeo and Juliet and Otello) with this film version of the tragedy Hamlet. The titular prince of Denmark (Mel Gibson), returns home to his family's castle of Elsinore after years of attending school in Germany to find out his father Read More

Henry V

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Kenneth Branagh, Derek Jacobi, Brian Blessed, Ian Holm, Paul Scofield, Emma Thompson, Robbie Coltrane

Synopsis: Kenneth Branagh makes his feature film directorial debut with this adaptation of William Shakespeare's Henry V. After the Chorus (Derek Jacobi) introduces the play, young king of England Henry V (Kenneth Branagh) begins an angry dialogue with King Charles of France (Paul Scofield). The king's son Read More

Taming of the Shrew

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: This artistic performance features a battle of the sexes through this famous Shakespeare play. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Macbeth

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Michael Jayston, Leigh Hunt

Synopsis: Made-for-television adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy of a Scottish warrior who murders his way to the throne. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide Read More

King Lear

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Burgess Meredith, Peter Sellars, Molly Ringwald, Jean-Luc Godard, Woody Allen

Synopsis: Two highly talented and innovative directors -- filmdom's Jean-Luc Godard and the theatre world's Peter Sellars -- join forces in this unusual (to say the least) slant on Shakespeare's King Lear. This offbeat adaptation gives the viewer a postmodern taste of Shakespeare through the eyes of a Read More

Macbeth

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Mato Valtonen, Pirkko Hamalainen, Antti Litja, Pertti Sveholm, Turo Pajala

Synopsis: In this arthouse satirical interpretation of the famous Shakespeare play, a thug named Macbeth starts a gang war at the instigation of his ultimately suicidal girlfriend. As the mobsters become increasingly paranoid, their use of lines quoted from Shakespeare's plays becomes especially silly, as Read More

Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

Twelfth Night

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Frances Barber, Tim Barker, Richard Briers, Caroline Langrishe, Julian Gartside, Christopher Hollis

Synopsis: Part of the Thames Shakespeare Collection, this production of Twelfth Night was adapted for television by renowned actor and director Kenneth Branagh in 1988. Performed by the Renaissance Theatre Company, this classic comic tale of romance and confused identities features performances by acclaimed Read More

Macbeth

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Leo Nucci, Shirley Verrett, Johan Leysen, Samuel Ramey, Philippe Volter

Synopsis: This production of Giuseppi Verdi's opera based on Macbeth, the famed play by William Shakespeare, is a musical succès d'estime but falls short in the cinematic arena. Shirley Verrett stars as the murderous and ambitious Lady Macbeth, Leo Nucci co-stars as her similarly ambitious but slightly more Read More

Twelfth Night

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Gillian Jones, Jacqy Phillips, Peter Cummins, Kerry Walker

Synopsis: This production of the Bard of Avalon's famous stage comedy is based on a successful Australian stage production from the mid-1980s. It is a story of love, shipwreck, disguises and mistaken identities, and relies for much of its wit (and believability) on the willing suspension of disbelief. This Read More

Richard III

Crew: Play Author

Ran

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Tatsuya Nakadai, Akira Terao, Jinpachi Nezu, Daisuke Ryu, Mieko Harada

Synopsis: Ran is Japanese filmmaker Akira Kurosawa's reinterpretation of William Shakespeare's King Lear. The Lear counterpart is an elderly 16th-century warlord (Tatsuya Nakadai), who announces that he's about to divide his kingdom equally among his three sons. In his dotage, he falls prey to the false Read More

Julius Caesar

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: Image Entertainment presents this performance of Handel's operatic retelling of Shakespeare's tragedy Julius Caesar. Directed by John Copely and accompanied by the English National Opera under the conduction of Sir Charles Mackerras, the 1984 production features all of the lead roles filled by Read More

King Lear

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Diana Rigg, Dorothy Tutin, Laurence Olivier, Anna Calder-Marshall

Synopsis: Shakespeare's tragedy, made for British television, is given a full-blooded rendition here with the great Laurence Olivier in the title role and a stellar cast to support him, in the tale of a king torn apart by the ambition and treachery within his family and by his own pride. ~ Mark Hockley, All Read More

Romeo & Juliet (The Royal Ballet)

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Alessandra Ferri, Wayne Eagling, David Drew, Derek Rencher

Synopsis: This video contains a performance of the ballet Romeo & Juliet by The Royal Ballet at Covent Garden. Combining Shakespeare's immortal tale of star-crossed lovers with the legendary score by Prokofiev, the production features choreography by the world renowned Sir Kenneth MacMillan and features Wayne Eagling Read More

Sueño de Noche de Verano

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Lindsay Kemp, Manuela Vargas, Michael Matou, Francois Testory

Synopsis: This off-beat interpretation of Shakespeare's similarly off-beat play is a low-budget, cinematic version of the Lindsay Kemp Company's production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. Not just a reproduction of Shakespeare, the players use mime, songs, and dances to make their happy way through the long Read More

Sogno Di Una Notte d'estate

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Flavio Bucci, Gianna Nannini, Erika Blanc, Alberto Lionello

Synopsis: Shakespeare buffs might be quite surprised to learn that his Midsummer Night's Dream had been turned into a rock musical, but here it is. The early '80s Italian rock star Gianna Nannini plays Titania, and belts out a raucous score, missiles flash by, Oberon dances through a woman's shower room Read More

The Taming of the Shrew

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Karen Austin, Franklyn Seales

Synopsis: Wild and unwilling, newly wedded wife Katherine (Kate Austin) proves to be a bit of a challenge for confident and virile hubby Petruchio (Franklyn Seales). This stage rendition, by Bard Productions Ltd., of Shakespeare's comedy portrays the age-old battle of the sexes with plenty of cutting Read More

Romeo and Juliet

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: Directed by William Woodman, this retelling of the classic Shakespearean tragedy not only features traditional period costumes and sets, but is known for giving the bard's words a style one can understand without being particularly experienced with Elizabethan texts. This popular adaptation Read More

Shakespeare's World

Crew: Play Author

The Tragedy of Othello

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Jenny Agutter, Ron Moody, William Marshall

Synopsis: This is another adaptation of Shakespeare's famous tragedy. It is the sad story of Othello, Moor of Venice who is slowly driven insane by his jealous assistant Iago. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

Troilus & Cressida

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Anton Lesser, Suzanne Burden

Synopsis: The Greeks laid siege to the city of Troy after Paris (David Firth) of Troy abducted the beautiful Helen (Ann Pennington) from Sparta. In the city, Troilus (Anton Lesser), brother of Paris, is courting the lovely Cressida (Suzanne Burden), who is playing hard to get so that his interest will be Read More

The Tragedy of King Richard II

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: Originally produced for television, this adaptation of William Shakespeare's historical tragedy stars David Birney as Richard II, who gains a fearsome enemy in his cousin Bolingbroke (Paul Shenar) when he seizes his land. Outraged Britons and rebellious Irishmen eventually turn against the king Read More

Henry VI, Part III

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: Part of a television series entitled "The Shakespeare Plays," this is the conclusion of the Henry VI chronicles, which ends with the Duke of Gloucester's plan to murder Henry VI. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide Read More

Richard III

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Martin Shaw, Brian Protheroe

Synopsis: Shakespeare's tale of the hunchbacked, ambitious Richard III's ascent to the Throne of England was produced for British television. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide Read More

Macbeth

Crew: Play Author

Otello (Arena di Verona)

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Vladimir Atlantov, Kiri Te Kanawa, Piero Cappuccilli, Antonio Bevacqua, Gianfranco Manganotti

Synopsis: This performance of Giuseppe Verdi's opera, Otello, based on the play by Shakespeare, features the vocal talents of Vladimir Atlantov in the title role. ~ Cammila Albertson, All Movie Guide Read More

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Christine Baranski, William Hurt

Romeo and Juliet

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: A superb performance of Prokofiev's ballet, choreographed and performed by Nureyev and the ballet company of La Scala in Milan. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Tempest

Crew: Play Author

Actors: John Cassavetes, Gena Rowlands, Susan Sarandon, Vittorio Gassman, Raul Julia

Synopsis: This comedy is set upon a remote Greek island and is very loosely based on Shakespeare's classic play. The tale centers on a middle-aged New York architect who abandons his wife and moves to the island with his teen-age daughter and his new lover, a Greek singer, in hopes of finding meaning in his Read More

King Lear

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Charles Aidman, David Groh, Darryl Hickman, Kitty Winn, Mike Kellin

Synopsis: This adaptation of William Shakespeare's drama of an aging king and the deceit and treachery that envelops his family as they fight over his estate features Mike Kellen, David Groh, Kitty Winn and Darryl Hickman. The DVD version features bonus features accessible on computers with DVD drives -- a Read More

Henry VI, Part I

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Peter Benson, Trevor Peacock

Synopsis: Part of a television series entitled "The Shakespeare Plays," this episode shows the events surrounding the beginning of the civil wars between the Houses of York and Lancaster. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide Read More

A Midsummer Night's Dream (Glyndebourne)

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: This video presents a performance of William Shakespeare's classic comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream. The story of fairies and the hapless lovers caught in their magic spells has delighted audiences for centuries. This show takes place at Glyndebourne's Festival Opera. Ileana Cortrubus, Curt Appelgren Read More

The Tragedy of Macbeth

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: Known to superstitious actors the world over as "The Scottish Play," MacBeth is widely considered one of Shakespeare's masterpieces. This particular rendition of the tale of a power-hungry Scottish general and his loyal, cold-hearted wife differs from others in that the actors eschew the Read More

Henry IV, Part I

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Jon Finch, Anthony Quayle

Synopsis: Part of a television series entitled "The Shakespeare Plays," this is the story of Prince Hal -- an apparent wastrel who spends his youth in the pubs around London. When the King and the rebels enter the battle of Shrewsbury, the heir to the throne, Prince Hal, redeems himself. ~ Tana Hobart, All Read More

Henry IV, Part II

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Jon Finch, Anthony Quayle, David Gwillim

Synopsis: Part of a television series entitled "The Shakespeare Plays," this second of the Henry IV series has young Prince Hal diligently applying himself to his future role of leadership. This episode ends with the death of Henry IV and the coronation of Prince Hal as Henry V. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Read More

Henry V

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: Part of a television series entitled "The Shakespeare Plays," this episode depicts one of England's most beloved Kings. Beginning with the invasion of France, Henry V is shown as a just King, equally able to inspire the admiration of his soldiers as he tirelessly leads them in battle and the Read More

Macbeth - A Ballet

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: Vladimir Vasiliev choreographed this version of the Shakespearean tragedy as performed by the Bolshoi Ballet. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Hamlet, Prince of Denmark

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Patrick Allen, Claire Bloom, Patrick Stewart, Lalla Ward, Derek Jacobi

Twelfth Night

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Felicity Kendal, Alec McCowen, Trevor Peacock

Synopsis: Part of the TV series entitled "The Shakespeare Plays," this is one of the subtlest and most enjoyable of the Shakespearian plays. Portraying the different types of love, it is set in a country house of aristocrats and there are practical jokes, poetry and songs that make this a most entertaining Read More

The Taming of the Shrew

Crew: Play Author

Actors: John Cleese, Sarah Badel

Julius Caesar

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Charles Gray

Synopsis: This 1979 BBC/Time-Life production of Julius Caesar faithfully follows Shakespeare's original version. When the film begins, cheering throngs hail Julius Caesar (Charles Gray) as he parades through the streets of Rome after conquering Pompey the Great. But a soothsayer unsettles the crowd when he Read More

Measure for Measure

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Kate Nelligan, Kenneth Colley, Tim Pigott-Smith

Synopsis: Vincentio (Kenneth Colley), Duke of Vienna, is a good and kindly ruler, but his leniency has allowed vice to thrive. So he decides to leave town temporarily, putting in charge his stern chief deputy, Angelo (Tim Piggott-Smith). Immediately, Angelo condemns the young nobleman, Claudio (Christopher Strauli Read More

Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Derek Jacobi

Synopsis: Made-for-television adaptation of Shakespeare's classic tragedy about the Prince of Denmark's attempts to avenge the murder of his father. ~ Nicole Gagne, All Movie Guide Read More

The Tempest

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Heathcote Williams, Karl Johnson, Jack Birkett, David Meyer, Elisabeth Welch

Synopsis: Filmed in 1979 and released publicly one year later, The Tempest is an abstract 16-millimeter feature film based loosely on the "magical" Shakespeare play. Director/writer Derek Jarman also throws in a few Shakespearean sonnets when the spirit moves him. Essentially, Jarman uses the material as Read More

Henry VIII

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Claire Bloom, John Stride

Synopsis: Part of a television series entitled "The Shakespeare Plays," Henry VIII is the story of political intrigue and betrayal surrounding this besieged monarch's reign. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide Read More

Richard II

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Derek Jacobi, John Gielgud, Wendy Hiller

Synopsis: A quarrel erupts between the Duke of Hereford, Henry Bolingbroke (Jon Finch), and the Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Mowbray (Richard Owens). According to Bolingbroke, Mowbray misappropriated government money and plotted the death of the Duke of Gloucester. Mowbray denies the charges, accusing Read More

Romeo and Juliet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: John Gielgud, Patrick Ryecart, Rebecca Saire

Synopsis: This 3-hour TV adaptation of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet features Patrick Ryecart and Rebecca Saire in the title roles. Though these names may not be familiar to the casual viewer, the same cannot be said of the supporting cast. Celia Johnson appears as the Nurse, Michael Hordern is Lord Read More

As You Like It

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Helen Mirren, Richard Pasco

Synopsis: 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 Read More

Macbeth

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Ian McKellen, Judi Dench

Synopsis: This 1976 Royal Shakespeare Company production of Macbeth was originally broadcast on Thames Television in 1978. The company's artistic director Trevor Dunn directs the cast on a small bare stage with mostly black costumes and minimal props. After the witches (Susan Dury, Judith Harte, Marie Kean) Read More

Romie-O and Julie-8

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: This musical adaptation (songs by John Sebastian) springs from the famous love story of a similar name. This version, however, involves two love-blushed robots. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

Macbeth

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: One of the many versions of Shakespeare's "Macbeth," this is a tale of ambition, greed, murder and guilt. ~ Tana Hobart, All Movie Guide Read More

King Lear

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Patrick Magee

Synopsis: Patrick Magee plays the aging and confused monarch in this made-for-television adaptation of one of Shakespeare's most resonant tragedies. When aging King Lear (Patrick Magee) asks his children to profess their love for him so he may divide his estate accordingly, his youngest daughter, Cordelia (Wendy Allnutt Read More

Falstaff (Glyndebourne Festival Opera)

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Donald Gramm, Benjamin Luxon, Max-Rene Cosotti

Synopsis: Based on the character of Sir John Falstaff from Shakespeare's Henry IV, the opera Falstaff was composed by the inimitable Giuseppe Verdi. From the Glyndenbourne Festival Opera, this 1976 production of the work comes from Arthaus Musik and features Donald Gramm in the title role. The renowned London Philharmonic Orchestra Read More

Romeo & Juliet (Bolshoi Ballet)

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: Enjoy this ballet version of Shakespeare's play performed by the Boshoi Ballet as choreographed by Yuri Grigorovich and set to the music of Prokofiev celebrating the Bolshoi's 200th anniversary. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Helen Mirren, Anthony Meyer

Synopsis: This is one of the most surreal versions of the popular Shakespearian play on film. It approaches the story of the troubled prince from a Freudian perspective. Hamlet is seen a schizophrenic (played by identical twins). The Oedipal overtones of his relationship with his mother, Queen Gertrude, are Read More

Romeo and Juliet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Christopher Neame, Ann Hasson

Synopsis: Joan Kemp-Welch's version of Shakespeare's classic Romeo and Juliet follows the original storyline faithfully. The star crossed lovers meet at a masquerade ball, fall in love, and learn that their feuding families will never allow them to live their lives together. Eventually, through a series of Read More

King Lear

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Angela Down

Heil Caesar!

Crew: Play Author

Catch My Soul

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Richie Havens, Season Hubley, Lance Le Gault

Synopsis: Screenwriter John Good's rock & roll adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello is a real oddity and features some surprisingly good tunes. Set in the American Southwest, Othello is a wandering evangelist who happens onto Iago's remote commune. There he marries the lovely Desdemona much to the chagrin of Read More

Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

Merchant of Venice

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Laurence Olivier, Joan Plowright, Anthony Nicholls, Jeremy Brett

Synopsis: Olivier stars in this production of the Shakespearean tragedy about greed and vengeance. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Viola and Sebastian

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: Shakespeare's Twelfth Night is adapted to modern times in this German production. The cast find themselves in a marshy region along the North Sea known as Slesvick. Duke Orsino ("If music be the food of love, play on...") is a dejected land-baron, Olivia a vacationing young widow, and so on. Read More

Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

Antony and Cleopatra

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Garrick Hagan, Charlton Heston, Hildegard Neil, Eric Porter, John Castle, Fernando Rey

Macbeth

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Terence Bayler, Jon Finch, Francesca Annis, Martin Shaw, Nicholas Selby, John Stride, Vic Abbott, Stephen Chase

Synopsis: Perhaps William Shakespeare meant to have Lady Macbeth perform her sleepwalking scene in the nude -- it was this X-rated scene and the film's much-publicized spurts of violence, rather than the brilliant performances of Jon Finch as Macbeth and Francesca Annis as his Lady, that lured crowds to Roman Polanski Read More

King Lear

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Alan Webb, Irene Worth, Cyril Cusack, Susan Engel, Anne-Lise Gabold, Jack MacGowran, Patrick Magee, Paul Scofield

Synopsis: In director Peter Brook's King Lear, Paul Scofield portrays the title character, a senile old ruler, whose susceptibility to flattery proves his undoing. The premise involves Lear's ill-fated attempts to divide his kingdom amongst his three daughters -- a goal that ultimately leads to tragedy. The Read More

Julius Caesar

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Charlton Heston, Jason Robards, Jr., John Gielgud, Richard Johnson, Robert Vaughn

Synopsis: Except for the omission of several passages in the original play, this 1970 adaptation of Julius Caesar faithfully retells Shakespeare's account of events surrounding the assassination of Caesar in 44 B.C. The film begins when Caesar John Gielgud is at the height of his power after conquering Read More

Korol Lir

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Jüri Järvet, Elza Radzina, Galina Volchek, Valentina Shendrikova, Oleg Dal

Synopsis: This is a Russian, black-and-white production of the great Shakespearean classic, starring Juri Jarvet. Long-considered one of the greatest and most wrenching tragedies in world literature, King Lear shows that great force of character is not necessarily wise, rude speech is not necessarily Read More

Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Richard Chamberlain, Richard Johnson, Margaret Leighton, Ciaran Madden, Michael Redgrave, John Gielgud

Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Nicol Williamson, Gordon Jackson, Anthony Hopkins, Judy Parfitt, Mark Dignam

Synopsis: Perhaps the reason there are so many filmed versions of Hamlet is that in each decade every great Shakespeareian actor, and almost any movie actor with a yen to prove his versatility wants to tilt at this particular thespian windmill. Aside from the much more difficult King Lear, it is also one of Read More

Romeo and Juliet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Olivia Hussey, Leonard Whiting, Milo O'Shea, Michael York, John McEnery

Synopsis: Director Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was touted at the time of its release (successfully, if the box-office receipts are any indication), as something of a "youth trip" movie. This is because Zeffirelli broke the long-standing tradition of casting over-aged Read More

Johnny Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Stefania Careddu, Gabriella Grimaldi

Synopsis: Shakespeare is combined with the spaghetti western in this interesting offering. Though the language is modernized, the plot is basically the same as Hamlet. In this version, the hero does not die--instead he rides off into the sunset. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Derek Godfrey, Barbara Jefford, Hugh Sullivan, Nicholas Selby, David Warner

Synopsis: 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 Read More

The Winter's Tale

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Laurence Harvey, Jane Asher, Diana Churchill, Moira Redmond, Jim Dale

Synopsis: This feature is a filmed stage production of the tragedy by William Shakespeare. Laurence Harvey stars as Leontes, the jealous king who eventually repents his wrongdoings. Moira Redmond is Queen Hermione who is victimized by the indiscretions of her monarch husband. Jane Asher is the village Read More

The Taming of the Shrew

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Alfred Lynch, Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Michael York, Vernon Dobtcheff, Michael Hordern, Natasha Pyne, Victor Spinetti

Synopsis: Franco Zeffirelli's adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew is a zesty version of the classic comedy, highlighted by performances by Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor and Nino Rota's score. Instead of simply filming a play, Zeffirelli turned Shakespeare's text into a lively Read More

Ithele Na Guini Vassilias

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: This drama is very loosely based on the play Hamlet by William Shakespeare. Alecos (Angelos Theodropoulos) returns to Athens after the drowning death of his wealthy industrialist father. He feigns madness in an attempt to trap his stepfather and former business partner Guerolymos (Guicas Read More

Chimes at Midnight

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Orson Welles, John Gielgud, Jeanne Moreau, Norman Rodway, Keith Baxter

Synopsis: The legendary Shakespearean character Sir John Falstaff, the notoriously drunken, obese, and yet charming companion of the young Henry V, steps up from supporting character in several plays to the central focus of Orson Welles' Chimes at Midnight, considered by many critics the best of the Read More

Romeo and Juliet (The Royal Ballet)

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Rudolf Nureyev, Margot Fonteyn, David Blair, Desmond Doyle, Julia Farron

Synopsis: Writer/director Paul Czinner, who in 1936 adapted Shakespeare's As You Like It to the screen, was the guiding force behind the 1966 feature Romeo and Juliet. Unlike Czinner's earlier Shakespeare film, however, not a word of the Bard's text is spoken in the 1966 production. Rather, this is a filmed Read More

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Suzanne Farrell, Edward Villella, Arthur Mitchell, Patricia McBride, Nicholas Magallanes

Synopsis: This filmization of Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream is actually the New York City Ballet version, as staged by George Balanchine. Topnotch dance artists Suzanne Farrell and Edward Villella head a distinguished troupe in keeping the classic tale of mismatched lovers and magic spells on its Read More

Othello

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Laurence Olivier, Frank Finlay, Maggie Smith, Joyce Redman, Derek Jacobi

Synopsis: The 1965 Othello is literally a photographed stage play: a filmed record of the National Theatre Production of 1964, as staged by John Dexter and starring Laurence Olivier. As the easily led, fatally jealous Moor of Venice, Olivier wears thick black-faced makeup and speaks in an Read More

Hamile

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: Hamile is a filmed record of the University of Ghana's production of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Kofi Middleton-Mends plays Hamile, aka Hamlet -- not the Melancholy Dane but the Melancholy Tongan, for the action has been relocated to Tongo. In case there's any confusion, however, here's a little guide Read More

Carry on Cleo

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Sidney James, Kenny Williams, Kenneth Connor, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims

Synopsis: 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 Read More

Cave of the Living Dead

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: 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 Read More

Romeo and Juliet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Clive Francis, Angela Scoular, Hayward Morse, Veronica Clifford, Damien Court-Thomas

Synopsis: This release constitutes a film of a stage production of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, mounted and performed by London's Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in 1965, and shot in black and white. Clive Francis and Angela Scoular star; Val Drumm and Paul Lee co-direct. ~ Nathan Southern, All Read More

Die Lustigen Weiber von Windsor

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Norman Foster

Synopsis: This opera is an Austrian adaptation of Shakespeare's lively play about the womanizing boozer Falstaff who finds himself the butt of a practical joke launched by two of Windsor's merriest wives. ~ Sandra Brennan, All Movie Guide Read More

War of the Roses

Crew: Play Author

Actors: David Warner, Roy Dotrice, Paul Martin

Synopsis: Originally staged in 1963, War of the Roses was one of the most controversial and ambitious projects ever undertaken by Britain's Royal Shakespeare Company. Flying in the face of adverse criticism from the more conservative theatrical scholars, John Burton and Peter Hall condensed the Bard's Henry Read More

Gamlet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Innokenty Smoktunovsky, Mikhail Nazvanov, Elza Radzina, Yuri Tolubeyev, Anastasia Vertinskaya

Synopsis: Shakespeare's 17th century masterpiece about the "Melancholy Dane" was given one of its best screen treatments by Soviet director Grigori Kozintsev. Kozintsev's Elsinore was a real castle in Estonia, utilized metaphorically as the "stone prison" of the mind wherein Hamlet must confine himself in Read More

Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Richard Burton, Michael Ebert, Barnard Hughes, Robert Milli, Alfred Drake

Synopsis: This 199-minute Broadway production of Shakespeare's classic tragedy was directed for the stage by John Gielgud, who also provides the voice of the Ghost. Richard Burton plays the lead in Hamlet, the dramatic and tragic tale of a Danish prince whose obsessive desire for certainty is his ultimate Read More

Giulietta e Romeo

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Geronimo Meynier, Rosemarie Dexter, Carlos Estrada, Umberto Raho, Toni Soler

Synopsis: The English title of this Shakespeare adaptation is Juliet and Romeo, according the heroine top billing for the first time in history. Its Spanish title, evidently concocted to obscure its literary roots, was Los Amentes de Verona. Directed by costume-spectacle "regular" Riccardo Freda, the film Read More

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: 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 Read More

Ophélia

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Alida Valli, André Jocelyn, Juliette Mayniel, Claude Cerval, Sacha Briquet

Synopsis: In this curious and inventive drama, director and co-writer Claude Chabrol purloins the Hamlet story from a certain Elizabethan bard, and has his characters move along the same plot outlines. Yvan (Andre Jocelyn) is overcome by grief when his father, a noted businessman, dies and is buried in Read More

Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Maximilian Schell, Hans Caninberg, Wanda Rotha, Dunja Movar, Franz Schafheitlin

Synopsis: This entry at the 1962 San Francisco Film Festival came from a 1960 German television production. Produced by American Edward Dmytryk, Hamlet was redubbed in English when the director convinced Maximillian Schell the results would insure a wider audience for the film. Both English and German Read More

The Tempest

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: William Shakespeare's last completed play The Tempest was pared down to 90 minutes for this full-color TV adaptation. Maurice Evans stars as Prospero, the former Duke of Milan, who was usurped by his brother Antonio (William H. Bassett) and exiled to an enchanted island. Living in seclusion with Read More

Macbeth

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Malcolm Keen, Maurice Evans, Judith Anderson, Michael Hordern, Ian Bannen, Felix Aylmer

Synopsis: Breaking with their usual videotape tradition, the producers of NBC television's Hallmark Hall of Fame decided to commit its 1960 production of Macbeth to film. Maurice Evans stars as the fatally ambitious Scots warrior, with Judith Anderson as Lady MacBeth and Malcolm Keen as Duncan, whom MacBeth Read More

An Honourable Murder

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: 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 Read More

Sen Noci Svatojanske

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: William Shakespeare's classic play A Midsummer Night's Dream is brought to life with puppets. ~ Dan Pavlides, All Movie Guide Read More

Der Rest ist Schweigen

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Hardy Kruger, Peter Van Eyck, Ingrid Andree, Adelheid Seeck

Synopsis: The Rest Is Silence, a German-made attempt to update Shakespeare, is one of the best and least self-conscious of this minor genre. As indicated by the title, the film's script is a "mufti" version of Hamlet, with young Hardy Kruger trying to prove that his uncle (Peter van Eyck) has killed his Read More

Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: John Neville

Throne of Blood

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Toshiro Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Minoru Chiaki, Takashi Shimura, Akira Kubo, Takamaru Sasaki

Synopsis: Macbeth is reimagined as a samurai in feudal Japan in director Akira Kurosawa's classic adaptation of the Shakespearean tragedy. Familiar with Orson Welles's more faithful adaptation, Kurosawa chose to place a more personal stamp on his version by translating the events and characters to Read More

Forbidden Planet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Warren Stevens, Jack Kelly

Synopsis: MGM's first big-budget science fiction film, Forbidden Planet, combined state-of-the-art special effects with a storyline based on Shakespeare's The Tempest. In the 23rd century, Cmdr. J.J. Adams (Leslie Nielsen) guides United Planets cruiser C-57-D on a rescue mission to faraway planet Read More

Dvenadtsataya Noch

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Klara Luchko, Anna Larionova, Vadim Medvedev, Mikhail Yanshin, Georgi Vitsin

Synopsis: Twelfth Night is a Russian adaptation of Shakespeare's confused-identity comedy. Since the story, about a young girl (Klara Luchko) disguised as a boy in order to facilitate her search for her twin brother, is set in the mythical land of Illyria, most stagings of the play avoid the Elizabethan Read More

Richard III

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Cedric Hardwicke, Laurence Olivier, John Gielgud, Nicholas Hannen, Claire Bloom, Ralph Richardson, Alec Clunes

Synopsis: Laurence Olivier was the director, co-screenwriter (with Alan Dent), and star of this robust adaptation of Shakespeare's drama, which, as Bruce Eder has written, "was the final, crowning glory of the British studio system and the end of the great cycle of British films aimed at international Read More

Joe Macbeth

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Paul Douglas, Ruth Roman, Bonar Colleano, Gregoire Aslan, Sidney James

Synopsis: It took nerve to transpose Shakespeare's Macbeth into a 1930s gangster story using "tough guy" jargon, but Joe Macbeth very nearly pulls the trick off successfully. Paul Douglas plays Joe MacBeth, a successful mobster whose wife (Ruth Roman) has ambitions to be even more successful. Mrs. MacBeth Read More

Romeo i Dzhulietta

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Galina Ulanova, Yuri Zhdanov, Alexei Yermolaev, Sergei Koren, Alexandr Lapauri

Synopsis: This Russian film consists of a ballet presentation of Shakespeare's immortal romantic tragedy. Bypassing the oft-presented Tschiakovsky version, the filmmakers opt for the meatier Prokokiev adaptation. Jdanov and Oulanova appear in the title roles (we don't know their first names; we're going by Read More

Otello

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Sergei Bondarchuk, Irina Skobtseva, Andrei Popov, Vladimir Soshalsky, Yevgeny Vesnik

Synopsis: Famed Russian director Serge Bondarchuk steps before the cameras in this Soviet adaptation of Shakespeare's Othello. The Russian landscape provides a surprisingly effective backdrop for this tale of love, hate and jealousy in 16th century Venice. Andrei Popov is a suitably cunning Iago, while Read More

Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

Macbeth

Crew: Play Author

Romeo and Juliet

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: This ballet version of Shakespeare's play is performed by the Boshoi Ballet, with Galina Ulanova portraying Juilet. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Romeo and Juliet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: John Gielgud, Laurence Harvey, Susan Shentall, Flora Robson, Mervyn Johns, Bill Travers, Sebastian Cabot, Norman Wooland

Synopsis: Generally forgotten today, Romeo and Juliet is a satisfactory, if perfunctory, adaptation of Shakespeare's immortal tragedy. Cast as the "star cross'd lovers" this time out are Laurence Harvey, who's quite good, and Susan Shentall, who isn't. Whether or not Shentall would have improved with Read More

Le Marchand de Venise

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Michel Simon, Massimo Serato

Synopsis: Even allowing for its translation into modern French, this is a remarkably unfaithful adaptation of William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. The central role of the usurious Shylock is played by Michel Simon, who manages to convey both the menace and the pathos of the character without Read More

Kiss Me Kate

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Kathryn Grayson, Howard Keel, Ann Miller, Keenan Wynn, Bobby Van

Synopsis: Cole Porter's Kiss Me Kate is a musical within a musical -- altogether appropriate, since its source material, Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew, was a play within a play. Howard Keel and Kathryn Grayson star as famous Broadway singing team who haven't worked together since their acrimonious Read More

Julius Caesar

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Marlon Brando, James Mason, John Gielgud, Louis Calhern, Greer Garson, Edmond O'Brien, Deborah Kerr

Synopsis: Joseph L. Mankiewicz directed this exquisite version of William Shakespeare's play. Louis Calhern is Julius Caesar, whose conquests have enabled him to rise to the status of Roman dictator. But his ascent to almost God-like status has given pause to influential members of the Roman Senate. Chief Read More

The Merry Wives of Windsor

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Sonja Ziemann, Camilla Spira, Paul Esser, Claus Holm, Alexander Engel

Synopsis: The Merry Wives of Windsor contains one of those complicated, tangled love plots that are typical of Shakespeare's comedies. In this one, lovely Anne Page is the object of affection of three suitors -- Caius, whom her mother favors; Slender, whom her father favors; and Fenton, whom Anne favors. Read More

Othello

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Orson Welles, Michael MacLiammoir, Michael Laurence, Suzanne Cloutier, Robert Coote

Synopsis: Anyone interested in making a low-budget movie ought to see Orson Welles' screen adaptation of William Shakespeare's Othello, a striking example of how much can be achieved with very little money. For years, stories about this singularly troubled movie circulated more widely than the film itself; Welles Read More

Julius Caesar

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: This drama tells of the powerful rise of emperor Julius Caesar along with his swift fall in this adaptation of William Shakespeare's play. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

Macbeth

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Orson Welles, Jeanette Nolan, Dan O'Herlihy, Roddy McDowall, Edgar Barrier

Synopsis: Shakespeare's tragic tale of the rise and fall of ambitious 12th-century Scottish warrior MacBeth has proven irresistible to filmmakers. Orson Welles was so anxious to transfer the play to the screen that he acceded to the demands of his parent studio, Republic pictures, that he shoot his version Read More

Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Laurence Olivier, Eileen Herlie, Basil Sydney, Jean Simmons, Norman Wooland, Felix Aylmer

Synopsis: Although criticized by Shakespeare devotees upon its release because of director, producer, and star Laurence Olivier's decision to excise large portions of the text, his cinematic version of Hamlet is widely considered the best out of several dozens (and counting). Hamlet (Olivier) is a medieval Read More

Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

A Double Life

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Whit Bissell, Ronald Colman, Signe Hasso, Betsy Blair, David Bond, Edmond O'Brien, Shelley Winters, Harlan Briggs, Georgia Caine, Ray Collins

Synopsis: Ronald Colman won an Academy Award for his portrayal of an off-the-beam actor in A Double Life. A beloved stage star, Anthony John (Colman), has problems with his private life due to his unpredictable outbursts of temper. This trait has already cost him his wife, Brita (Signe Hasso), and threatens Read More

Henry V

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Laurence Olivier, Robert Newton, Renée Ashershon, Esmond Knight, Leslie Banks, Leo Genn, Felix Aylmer, Janet Burnell

Synopsis: Laurence Olivier's adaptation of Henry V is one of the finest Shakespeare films ever made, full of rousing action, beautiful colors and passionate performances. Henry V is the story of the newly crowned king of England who fights the French for possession of Normandy. Olivier's direction is Read More

Dente Per Dente

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Caterina Boratto, Carlo Tamberlani

Synopsis: Dente per Dente is an Italian adaptation of Shakespeare's Measure for Measure. Predicated on the notion that absolute power corrupts absolutely, the story concerns a 15th century Viennese duke (Alfredo Varelli) who, upon deciding to take a sabbatical from his duties, puts his sanctimonious cousin Read More

Romeo Y Julieta

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Cantinflas

Synopsis: Enjoy this version of Shakespeare's play starring Mexican comedian Cantinflas. ~ All Movie Guide Read More

The Boys from Syracuse

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Allan Jones, Joe Penner, Martha Raye, Rosemary Lane, Charles Butterworth

Synopsis: Considering that it was adapted from a Broadway musical by Richard Rodgers, Lorenz Hart and George Abbott, The Boys From Syracuse must rank as a disappointment, though it manages to remain entertaining throughout its surprisingly brief 74-minute running time. Like its theatrical predecessor, the Read More

Romeo and Juliet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, John Barrymore, Edna May Oliver, Basil Rathbone

Synopsis: Director George Cukor and producer Irving G. Thalberg's adaptation of Romeo and Juliet, a lavish production of Shakespeare's tale about two star-crossed lovers, is extremely well-produced and acted. In fact, it is so well-done, that it is easy to forget that Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer are too Read More

As You Like It

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Henry Ainley, Felix Aylmer, Stuart Robertson, Leon Quartermaine, Austin Trevor, Laurence Olivier, Mackenzie Ward, Elisabeth Bergner, Sophie Stewart

Synopsis: This film version of the famed Shakespearean comedy features Laurence Olivier as Orlando and Elisabeth Bergner as Rosalind. As the story goes, Rosalind, smitten by Orlando and not able to get his attention, disguises herself as a boy to more easily remain in Orlando's vicinity. Eventually Orlando Read More

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Crew: Play Author

Actors: James Cagney, Ian Hunter, Grant Mitchell, Olivia de Havilland, Mickey Rooney, Victor Jory, Ross Alexander, Joe E. Brown, Hobart Cavanaugh, Dick Powell

Synopsis: Max Reinhardt's legendary Hollywood Bowl production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream was transferred to the screen by Warner Bros. in 1935. Like most of Shakespeare's comedies, the story contains several seemingly unrelated plotlines, all tied together by a single unifying event, in this Read More

You Made Me Love You

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Thelma Todd, Stanley Lupino, John Loder, James Carew, Hugh E. Wright, Gerald Rawlinson, Charlotte Parry

Synopsis: In this musical-comedy, a good-hearted composer sees a beautiful woman at a traffic light and is inspired to write a song. They then fall in love. She is a feisty, untamed sort and soon after the wedding, the fireworks begin as they constantly bicker. At one point their rows become so violent that Read More

The Taming of the Shrew

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Mary Pickford, Douglas Fairbanks, Edwin Maxwell, Joseph Cawthorn, Clyde Cook

Synopsis: As the silent era drew to a close (along with their marriage), Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks made this early talkie, appearing in their first film together as William Shakespeare's rambunctious couple Katherine and Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew. In this pared down, slapstick version Read More

An Affair of the Follies

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Billie Dove, Lloyd Hughes, Arthur Stone, Arthur Hoyt

Synopsis: This routine drama was spiced up by a good cast and solid directing. A clerk (Lloyd Hughes) loses his job, so his wife, Tamara (Billie Dove), goes back to work as a Follies girl. This causes a rift between the couple and they separate. The clerk goes out to dinner with a friend, an inventor Read More

Othello

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Emil Jannings, Werner Krauss, Friedrich Kühne

Synopsis: Even without the benefit of sound, the 1922 German adaptation of Othello seems more operatic than Shakespearean. This may be due to the casting of Emil Jannings, to whom restraint and subtlety were strangers. Werner Krauss, of Cabinet of Dr. Caligari fame, is on hand as the duplicitous Iago. Read More

Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: Denmark's leading silent-screen actress Asta Nielsen had the audacity to play the title role in Hamlet, produced by her in Germany and co-directed by Svend Gade. Nielsen actually succeeded in turning the Bard's perhaps finest play into a star vehicle for herself. Mistakenly believing her husband Read More

Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

Romeo and Juliet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Francis X. Bushman, Beverly Bayne, Fritz Leiber, Lawson Butt

Synopsis: Metro's eight-reel adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet was released during same October week in 1916 that Fox's version of the same play hit the screen. While Fox's version boasted the star power of Theda Bara, the Metro version had the advantage of two "big names" in the cast: Francis X. Bushman Read More

The Merchant of Venice

Crew: Play Author

Romeo and Juliet

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: Theda Bara couldn't have gotten any farther away from her vamp roles than the part of Juliet in this silent adaptation of Shakespeare's most romantic play. But she makes a good job of it (considering her archaic acting style) and performs with a passion that Beverly Bayne lacked in the Metro Read More

Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: Johnston Forbes-Robertson, considered the greatest Hamlet of his era, starred in this 6-reel adaptation of Shakespeare's tragedy. Also featured was Forbes-Robertson's wife Gertrude Elliot as Ophelia. Existing stills and clips reveal that both actors were rather along in years. This is the sort of Read More

Richard III

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Frederick Warde, Violet Stuart

Synopsis: In 1912, Frederick Warde, a respected actor on the legitimate stage, who, over the course of a long career, had worked opposite the likes of Edwin Booth, this time lends his talents to the still creatively fledgling medium of the motion pictures. Drawing upon his triumphant stage performance in Read More

Richard III

Crew: Play Author

King Lear

Crew: Play Author

The Merchant of Venice

Crew: Play Author

Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: 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 Read More

The Tempest

Crew: Play Author

Hamlet

Crew: Play Author

Actors: Sarah Bernhardt, Pierre Magnier

King John

Crew: Play Author

Oregon Shakespearean Festival and the Ashland Exp.

Crew: Play Author

Synopsis: This video profiles the historical city of Ashland as well as a backstage glimpse. ~ All Movie Guide Read More