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Mar 4, 2016 · Our film and theater experts rank and review the 25 best Shakespeare movies of all time, including the most impressive adaptations of Shakespeare plays
- Foreign Films
Our film critics ranked the 50 best foreign films of all...
- Foreign Films
Jan 15, 2022 · There have been countless big-screen adaptations of William Shakespeare's work. Below, Insider ranks the best modern Shakespeare adaptations in ascending order.
- Henry Blodget
- Richard III
- Coriolanus
- A Midsummer Night's Dream
- Henry V
- Julius Caesar
- Hamlet
- King Lear
- Twelfth Night
- Titus
- Henry V (1989)
Sometimes all you want out of a Shakespeare adaptation is for a great actor to sink their teeth into one of the most iconic characters in the history of drama. Richard III from director Richard Loncraine delivers just that, with Ian McKellentaking on the title role. As the archetypal direct address villain, McKellen brings so much joy to Richard's ...
For as often as Shakespeare's plays are performed, there are really only about a dozen classics that get done on a consistent basis. Coriolanus rarely finds its way to the stage. So, when Ralph Fiennes decided to make his feature directorial debut, it came as a bit of a surprise he chose Coriolanus, a play never been adapted for the big screen befo...
In the 1930s, Warner Bros. was not known for grand prestige pictures. Warner Bros. trafficked in down and dirty gangster films like The Public Enemy and Little Caesar and musicals, often directed and choreographed by Busby Berkeley. Taking on Shakespeare's classic fantastical comedy A Midsummer Night's Dream was far from what was made at that studi...
The directorial debut from Laurence Olivier has a fairly unusual origin. Obviously, Olivier was (and, for many, still is) the king of Shakespeare, becoming a figurehead for the pinnacle of British theatre. For his first film, Winston Churchill called upon Olivier to create a film to glorify British triumph to boost morale during World War II, and t...
Many of us encounter Shakespeare for the first time in school, whether it be an English or drama class, and so much rests on that first teacher to either make you fall in love with the Bard or actively resist him for the rest of your life. Many people start with A Midsummer Night's Dream or Macbeth, but my Freshman English teacher gave us Julius Ca...
One would think that tackling hallowed material like Shakespeare would be an easy route to Oscar gold, but Olivier's Hamlet remains the only Shakespeare adaptation to win Best Picture. His Hamlet stands in complete contrast with his Henry V. Ashewing vivid Technicolor for stark black and white, Olivier makes the existential tale of the Danish princ...
Taking a page from Olivier’s Hamlet in capturing that moody black and white comes a difficult-to-track-down film. Peter Brook’s King Lear is possibly the bleakest film adaptation of a Shakespeare's play. Like Loncraine’s Richard III, the main attraction for this King Lear is to see Paul Scofieldtake on one of Shakespeare’s most challenging characte...
1996 was a big year for Shakespeare. Not only did we get Branagh’s Hamlet, but we also got a film many of you will be extremely mad is not on this list: Baz Luhrmann’s MTV inspired William Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet, a shrill exercise in bludgeoning an audience. Quietly, the best of the three is the one not trying to overwhelm you with its scale ...
Some of Shakespeare's earliest plays are a bit all over the place and don’t cohere into the most satisfying pieces, even with the still present poetry. Julie Taymor hit the ground running with her directorial debut of an early Shakespeare work, Titus (drop the Andronicus; it’s cleaner). Taymor is an artist who only knows how to take bold swings, an...
Eagle-eyed readers may recall that on the list of Kenneth Branagh’s best films Hamlet landed at a higher spot than his directorial debut Henry V, but the difference comes from what kind of list they appear on. As a Branagh accomplishment, Hamlet is the more impressive feat. As a translation of Shakespeare’s text to screen, Branagh’s Henry V perfect...
- Mike Shutt
- Hamlet (1996) In stark contrast to the grim expressionism of Joel Coen’s Macbeth, Kenneth Branagh’s glorious 1996 adaptation of Hamlet (a similarly dark play) eschews traditionally dour trappings in favor of sumptuous and colorful spectacle—without compromising the play’s themes one bit.
- Romeo + Juliet (1996) There are plenty of film adaptations of Romeo and Juliet, but few can claim to have captured the attention of pop culture in quite the same way.
- Private Romeo (2011) On the opposite end of the Shakespearean bling spectrum is this pared-down adaptation set at a modern, all-male military academy, amid the students of an English-lit class studying Romeo and Juliet.
- Hamlet (1948) Kenneth Branagh’s Hamlet soars, in part, due to its visual beauty, contrasting its protagonist’s seething anger with his opulent surroundings.
- Betsy Ladyzhets
- Henry V (1944) - Director: Laurence Olivier. - IMDb user rating: 7.0. - Metascore: data not available. - Runtime: 137 minutes. “Henry V” is often considered a great patriotic story for Britain as it chronicles the nation’s victory over France at the Battle of Agincourt during the Hundred Years’ War; Shakespeare’s portrayal of the British army’s ability to best a much larger French force presents both the glories and atrocities of war.
- A Double Life (1947) - Director: George Cukor. - IMDb user rating: 7.0. - Metascore: data not available. - Runtime: 104 minutes. “A Double Life” is also a retelling of “Othello,” although this noir film puts a metatextual spin on the play.
- Hamlet (1948) - Director: Laurence Olivier. - IMDb user rating: 7.6. - Metascore: 82. - Runtime: 154 minutes. This 1948 version of “Hamlet” is the first sound film version of this play, which is directed and produced by Laurence Olivier, who also stars.
- Macbeth (1948) - Director: Orson Welles. - IMDb user rating: 7.4. - Metascore: data not available. - Runtime: 107 minutes. Orson Welles, best known for authoring “The War of the Worlds” and “Citizen Kane,” adapted the screenplay for, produced, directed, and starred in Republic Pictures’ 1948 adaptation of “Macbeth.”
The 12 best Shakespeare adaptations on the big screen. 1. Hamlet (1921) dir Svend Gade and Heinz SchallFemale Hamlets were a commonplace for 200 years beginning with Fanny Furnival in Dublin in 1741; then critics ar.
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Apr 22, 2018 · Winner of 10 Academy Awards, including Best Picture, West Side Story is perhaps the most iconic, most celebrated and most widely adored Shakespeare adaptation to grace the big screen.
