The Taming of the Shrew

By:  William Shakespeard &
BBC Time Life Films
Rated 5+
From:  Library

This play is my favorite Shakespeare comedy. And, as a fan of Monty Python having John Cleese play Petruchio makes it all the funnier.

Product Description:

Baptista will not allow his saccharine younger daughter Bianca to marry until someone can rid him of his obstreperous older daughter Katherine. The swaggering Petruchio (John Cleese) , eager to wive it wealthily in Padua, agrees to do just this. He proceeds to break her. First, he cools her scalding wit by putting his tongue in her tale; nearly jilts her on her wedding night and then shows up at the church in antic garb; forbids her food, sleep and the beautiful clothes he himself had tailored for her, all on the pretense of providing for her; lastly, commands that she call the sun the moon, the moon the sun, an elderly gentlemen a fresh virgin and then refute her own assertions, all according to his whim.

Meanwhile, Bianca has three suitors: the gray-bearded Gremio, the youngish Hortensio and the young and handsome Lucentio. Lucentio disguises himself as a tutor named Cambio. Hortensio disguises himself as a tutor named Litio. Tranio, Lucentio's servant, disguises himself as Lucentio, at Lucentio's request. A traveling pedant disguises himself as Vincentio, Lucentio's father, also at Luciento's request. Later, the real Vincentio shows up.

Hamlet

By:  William Shakespeare
Directed by and Starring Kenneth Branagh
Rated 5++
From:  Gift from Friend

l loved this movie. When I first realized that it was 4 hours long I thought it was going to be tedius but when I saw it I was so enthralled that i didn't notice the passage of time. When I saw it a second time the only part that detracted at all was the performances of Lemmon (dull and somehow out of place) and Depardieu (way overrated in my opinion). Everyone fom Kenneth Branagh to Rufus Sewell, excluding Lemmon and Depardieu, gave truly amazing performances. Kate Winslet's performance as Ophelia  was unparalleled.  Nobody has ever done it better. Ever.  It was nice to see his use of old favorites from his previous films ,Richard Briers and Derek Jacobi, as well as some new blood. I really loved the Palace they used it added some interesting elements to the film. My three favorite scenes are the "play scene", the "May all my thoughts be bloody scene", and the "gravedigger" scene. This movie is easily my favorite version of Hamlet.

Amazon.com Product Description:

It's the greatest work of literature, but nobody had ever filmed Hamlet uncut--until Kenneth Branagh went about the task for his lavish 1996 production. The result is a sumptuous, star-studded version that scores a palpable hit on its avowed goal: to make the text as clear and urgent as possible. Branagh himself plays the melancholy son of the Danish court, caught in a famous muddle about whether to seek revenge against his royal father's presumed slayer… the man who now sits on the throne and shares the bed of Hamlet's mother. (Or, as the song "That's Entertainment" summarizes the plot: "A ghost and a prince meet / And everyone winds up mincemeat.") As a director, Branagh (who shot the movie in 70 mm.) uses the vast, cold interiors of a vaguely 19th-century manor to gorgeous effect; the story might scurry down this hallway, into that back chamber, or sprawl out into the enormous main room. With its endless collection of mirrors, the place is as big and empty as Citizen Kane's Xanadu.

My Comments:

Henry V - DVD

By:  William Shakespeare
Rated 5 Stars
From:  Gift

I really couldn't add a thing to the amazon description I have copied and pasted below.  This is my favorite adaption of Henry V.

Amazon Description

Very few films come close to the brilliance Kenneth Branagh achieved with his first foray into screenwriting and direction. Henry V qualifies as a masterpiece, the kind of film that comes along once in a decade. He eschews the theatricality of Laurence Olivier's stirring, fondly remembered 1945 adaptation to establish his own rules. Branagh plays it down and dirty, seeing the bard's play through revisionist eyes, framing it as an antiwar story. Branagh gives us harsh close-ups of muddied, bloody men, and close-ups of himself as Henry, his hardened mouth and willful eyes revealing much about this land war. Not that the director-star doesn't provide lighter moments. His scenes introducing the French Princess Katherine (Emma Thompson) are toothsome. Bubbly, funny, enhanced by lovely lighting and Thompson's pale beauty, these glimpses of a princess trying to learn English quickly from her maid are delightful.

What may be the crowning glory of Branagh's adaptation comes when the dazed, shaky leader wanders through battlefields, not even sure who has won. As King Hal carries a dead boy (Empire of the Sun's Christian Bale) over the hacked-up bodies of both the English and French, you realize it is the first time Branagh has opened up the scenes: a panorama of blood and mud and death. It is as strong a statement against warmongering as could ever be made.

Hamlet - DVD

By:  William Shakespeare
Rated 5++
From:  Beth

Thank you so much Beth for loaning this marvelous version of Hamlet Starring David Tennant and Patrick Stewart.  Although Kenneth Brannaugh's version has long been my favorite this one is, I think equally as good.  It's a far crazier  Hamlet than I have seen before and I loved the way the modern clothes and weapons were juxtaposed with 14th century armor and settings, not to mention 17th century English.  Such a crazy blend but for me it all worked beautifully.

Oliver Ford Davis played a fabulous Polonius.  I personally thought he reached out and snatched at least two scenes from Patrick Stewart who played Uncle Claudius.  Snatching scenes from Stewart is not an easy thing to do. In fact, he even stood toe-to-toe with Tennant in one scene while Hamlet was being over the top manic. Hamlet's Mother Gertrude was played beautifully in all her Royal Shallowness by Penny Downie  and  Mariah Gale did a very creditable job of Ophelia.  However, to my mind there is not another actress on the planet who can touch Kate Winslet with a ten foot pole when it comes to Ophelia.

Selfishly I hope that David Tennant keeps his talented fingers off Henry V and lets Kenneth Brannaugh reign supreme on that stage.



Amazon.com

It's to director Gregory Doran's incredible credit that his staging of that most familiar of English-language plays, Shakespeare's Hamlet, should be completely reinvigorated by a modern interpretation of the tragedy as a true psychological thriller. This Hamlet, filmed in 2009, presents the inner torment of the Danish prince Hamlet as a believable, relatable controlled explosion of emotions, each more unmanageable than the last. Besides the director, the casting is also brilliant, including the Scottish actor David Tennant (Doctor Who) as Hamlet and Patrick Stewart as Hamlet's uncle Claudius and the ghost of Hamlet's father--who, Hamlet becomes convinced, was killed by Claudius. The direction is brisk, and the acting is first rate. Tennant plays a heartbreaking Hamlet, whose paranoia and weird inner reflections are given a modern spin by the lush, shiny mirrorlike surfaces in the palace, as well as by small but excellent details, like a closed-circuit camera system. And Stewart is menacing but completely collected as Claudius, and unnerving as his brother's ghost. Other strong performances are contributed by Penny Downie as Hamlet's mother, Gertrude; Mariah Gale as Ophelia (who's not quite up to par with the rest of the cast, until she goes mad; then boy does she ever go mad); and Oliver Ford Davies as Polonius. But it's Tennant as the mad prince who is riveting in Hamlet. His "To be or not to be, that is the question" soliloquy--perhaps the best-known speech in English theater--is delivered in a hushed, anguished, all-too-believable manner--occasionally addressing the camera, which is fixed close on Tennant's face. The DVD also includes a must-see documentary on making Hamlet, which includes great interviews with director Doran, cast members and the art directors, set designers and others who give this Hamlet a fresh, polished sheen--while keeping the ages-old tragedy of Shakespeare's words and the explosion of needless death close to the original. The impact is unforgettable; this Hamlet is a terrific achievement. --A.T. Hurley