For many a year now I’ve associated the month of August with Shakespeare. Obviously Summer of Shakespeare is a thing, there are many great plays and poems by the Bard that evoke the season and its particular mood (A Midsummer Night’s Dream, anyone?), and my specific association likely comes from attending a Shakespeare festival each year around this time where I get to see a play live and outdoors; but it also just seems deeply appropriate to re-acquaint with Shakespeare’s work at the turning of the seasons -somehow it’s more inviting at that time. And as a former English grad who had a love for Drama, I’m never not interested in engaging with Shakespeare.
But wait a minute, this is where I write about movies, not centuries-old plays that have been exhaustively analysed by scholars the world over. And yes, that is what I’m getting at: Shakespearean films. For many of us when learning about Shakespeare in school there was no option to see these plays we were reading in class. Theatre has sadly become quite niche and expensive, and not very accessible outside of certain population centres. Recorded live stagings of plays from the RSC, Globe Theatre, Stratford Festival, etc. have taken off, but that seems to have been a relatively recent thing. Typically, our introduction to the performance of Shakespeare has been through movie adaptation, of which there are several highly acclaimed compelling takes. From Laurence Olivier to Orson Welles to Kenneth Branagh, Shakespeare on film has a long history of finding new expression and depth in the material, and it has been translated to new contexts time and again. Today we’re going to look at the best ones, both straight adaptations and re-imaginings.
A clarification though that this list includes feature films only, not filmed theatrical productions or TV movies. And though I think it is a very authentic list, I decided not to include any repeat plays to make it a little more comprehensive and interesting. So yes, there are versions of Hamlet, Macbeth, and Romeo & Juliet that are quite good but don’t make the cut to allow room for a different play’s adaptation. And lastly, you won’t find The Lion King, Forbidden Planet, or My Own Private Idaho on this list, as despite all being great movies and heavily influenced by Shakespeare, they are not direct translations, and take as much influence from other sources in genre, literature, and myth.
10. Prospero’s Books (1991) –directed by Peter Greenaway
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Sometimes the best adaptation is simply the strangest. And while Julie Taymor may have vied for that distinction with her Tempest (a movie I think is unfairly maligned), there is no more unusual movie version of Shakespeare’s farewell masterpiece (and my favourite play) than Peter Greenaway’s avant-garde celebration of Shakespeare, the Renaissance, and John Gielgud, Prospero’s Books. Gielgud always wanted to play Prospero on film, though I doubt he could have imagined the way Greenaway, as much a visual artist as a filmmaker, would bring that about. This is a movie where the figure of Prospero is merged with Shakespeare and even Gielgud himself, and it takes a highly metaphorical and performance art approach to the text. Mime is used extensively, as is interpretive dance and in a few moments, opera. Greenaway illustrates it all through expressive tableaux in the style of Renaissance or Baroque painting, nude figures and all. There are inter-laid frames, bits of animation, narration identifying in documentarian voice each of the ‘Books’. And comically massive ruffs. Yet the play remains intact, the plot and innate meaning of the text still clear, and in fact are rendered greater in their curiosity in light of these evocative choices. And Gielgud of course is magnificent. A film truly unlike any other Shakespearean adaptation, well worth a watch if you can be open to its methods.
Prospero's Books is available to rent from iTunes.
9. Twelfth Night (1996) –directed by Trevor Nunn
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A quintessential Introduction-to-Shakespeare movie and one of two film adaptations of the Bard released in 1996 to be set in the nineteenth century (more on the other one later). Twelfth Night is probably my personal favourite of Shakespeare’s comedies and this movie encapsulates it in all its fun gender-bending queer-coded glory. Presented fairly straight if unremarkable in craft, it stars an underrated Imogen Stubbs as Viola, the centre of a love triangle between Helena Bonham Carter’s Olivia and Toby Stephens’ Orsino. And the movie plays charmingly with the homoerotic subtext both ways. The supporting cast includes Nigel Hawthorne, Richard E. Grant, Mel Smith and Imelda Staunton, but the scene stealer of the film is Ben Kingsley as Shakespeare’s sharpest fool, Feste. An amiable, devilishly sly performance, and his rendition of “The Wind and the Rain” at the end is one of the best demonstrations of the continued musical prowess of Shakespearean verse. The film’s direction is not notable, but it is precise to the form. Trevor Nunn may not be known much as a film director, but is a legend of the stage -he directed Ian McKellen’s iconic performance of Macbeth as well as the first English productions of Cats and Les Miserables. Nunn’s expertise with the material comes across, a sweet and remarkable little film.
Twelfth Night is available to rent from YouTube, Google Play, or iTunes.
8. Henry V (1989) –directed by Kenneth Branagh
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Regardless of the success or quality of his other movies, no discussion of great Shakespeare adaptations is complete without Kenneth Branagh, the man who arguably single-handedly revived interest in Shakespearean cinema for a whole generation. And it began with his bombastic and stirring translation of Henry V, which gave the text the character of a modern medieval epic. For a directing debut it is a stunning work, as Branagh finds compelling ways to make the story visually appealing whilst never straying far from its theatrical origins. This is evident in both the framing device, wherein Derek Jacobi as the Chorus introduces the play from the vantage point of a stage, and in Branagh’s now notorious performance style where every line is given impassioned weight. But the film combines effectively these classical techniques with a grungy look and feel, particularly for the Battle of Agincourt. And Branagh’s St. Crispin’s Day speech is an all-timer. He packs the movie full of magnificent actors and thespians: Brian Blessed, Judi Dench, Ian Holm, Paul Scofield, Robbie Coltrane, Richard Briers, fourteen year-old Christian Bale, and of course Emma Thompson. But Branagh himself is the man of the hour, and cheesy and ostentatious though he may be at times, it is considerably impressive he pulled off the Bard’s greatest History play so well.
Henry V is available to stream on Amazon Prime.
7. Richard III (1955) –directed by Laurence Olivier
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By a slight margin, the best of Olivier’s three adaptations of Shakespeare, Richard III is a movie often carried by its performances. Notably, it features the three most prominent Shakespeareans of the twentieth century, Olivier, Ralph Richardson, and John Gielgud -all knighted by this time and unconventionally credited as such. All are giving remarkable performances -as are Claire Bloom and Cedric Hardwicke rounding out the main players of a cast that also includes Mary Kerridge, Laurence Naismith and a young Patrick Troughton -here murdering two children about a decade before he would play Doctor Who. Olivier’s Richard is the most compelling though -not as big or theatrically conniving as later incarnations, but smooth and meticulous, his lust for power and his madness shrewdly concealed beneath airs as he manipulates his way to the throne. Largely shot at Shepperton Studios, the Technicolour production is very vivid -like Olivier’s Henry V, it looks like a medieval manuscript, but there are stronger cinematic choices, as in the opening -the film making its way through this finely crafted world to arrive at “Now is the winter…”. The attempt to have the Spanish countryside stand in for Bosworth Field is one of Olivier’s stranger choices, but he makes up for it with an inspired death scene -perfectly befitting the vileness of Shakespeare’s great Machiavel king.
Richard III is available to stream on the Criterion Channel, to rent from iTunes.
6. Much Ado About Nothing (1993) –directed by Kenneth Branagh
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Featuring a cast of in their prime Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Denzel Washington, Keanu Reeves, and Kate Beckinsale, Much Ado About Nothing may hold the distinction of being the sexiest Shakespearean film –an abundance of complimentary costuming and early casual nudity would certainly bear this out. But more than that, Branagh’s second Shakespearean outing is perhaps the most joyous, both in its largely upbeat subject matter and the sheer enthusiasm with which the cast relate the verse. Shot in the beautiful Tuscan countryside, it is an entirely lush and elegant affair, which Branagh reinforces through stylistic choices of atmospheric slow motion, rotating camera movement, and just a general lean-in to the silliness. It works though, translating the play’s pastoral spirit and from its earliest musical notes – “Hey Nonny Nonny” played finely by Thompson on a lute. Thompson and Branagh, married at the time, have insatiable chemistry, a sexual tension utterly charming to behold. As overarchingly fun as the movie is though, Branagh relates the drama effectively too pertaining to the central misunderstanding. Perhaps he doesn’t interrogate its inherent misogyny much, but he successfully makes out Robert Sean Leonard’s Claudio as the consummate prick. Much Ado About Nothing is ultimately true to its title. The fact it’s “About Nothing” doesn’t matter –the more important “Much Ado” part is where this film excels.
Much Ado About Nothing is available to rent from Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, or iTunes.
5. Throne of Blood (1957) –directed by Akira Kurosawa
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I already wrote about this one a couple years ago as part of “Macbeth Month”, but Akira Kurosawa’s transposing of the Scottish Play to feudal Japan is one of the first great inventive uses of Shakespeare in popular world cinema -proving how effectively the work can translate across cultures. Coming right in the middle of Kurosawa’s Golden Age, it casts his main man Tohsiro Mifune in the lead role of General Washizu, murdering his way to Lordship, with Isuzu Yamada as his scheming wife. The movie sticks to the fundamentals of the play but makes excellent use of its distinct Japanese setting to add to the story’s character in fascinating and subtly disturbing ways. Rather than witches, it is an Onibaba spirit that predicts Washizu’s fortunes, rather than the moors of Scotland it is set against the foggy, naturally imposing landscapes around Mount Fuji. The make-up emphasizes the tradition of Noh theatre, with broad expressions that get more frightful as the story moves along. And the spiritual power tied into the world around the Spider’s Web Forest casts a unique gloom over all of Washizu’s machinations. A master of his grim mood and technically proficient as always, Kurosawa draws on the most intense aspects of Shakespeare’s play and creates out of them a definitive tragedy.
Throne of Blood is available to stream on the Criterion Channel, to rent from iTunes.
4. Hamlet (1996) –directed by Kenneth Branagh
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For all the commentary on its exhaustive length and ambitious puritanism, there’s no denying that Hamlet is Kenneth Branagh’s Shakespeare magnum opus –and more than likely the best film he’s ever directed. A sprawling uncut four-hour adaptation of the text that evokes Doctor Zhivago in both its immaculately-shot winter environments and its casting of Julie Christie as Queen Gertrude, it is without a doubt the most prestige Shakespearean movie greenlit by Hollywood. Branagh directs it appropriately, making full use of the elaborate production, drawing out the richness of its political scope, relying heavily on Patrick Doyle’s romantic score, and working symbolism (a la the plethora of mirrors) into the very architecture of his setting. He keeps dramatic momentum up too through the use of flashbacks and engaging filming techniques to fill out the longest speeches and soliloquies. His Hamlet is perhaps not as compelling as Olivier’s in the starkly different yet also commendable 1948 film –his performance style stretched to its limits, but still captivating in its way. He surrounds himself with a most impressive ensemble that not only includes Christie, Derek Jacobi, and Kate Winslet, but also gives bit parts to the likes of Jack Lemmon, Charlton Heston, Gerard Depardieu, Billy Crystal, Richard Attenborough, and Robin Williams, ensuring every line’s monumental import. Branagh’s excess may be difficult for some, but it is an achievement of unmatched Shakespearean grandeur.
Hamlet is available to rent from Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, or iTunes.
3. Chimes at Midnight (1965) –directed by Orson Welles
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Orson Welles made two straight adaptations of Shakespeare with Macbeth and Othello before his only true masterpiece on the Bard, Chimes at Midnight -a cross-adaptation of several plays involving the character of John Falstaff, a part that he was born to play. It’s a curious film that, like Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, centres a character on the sidelines of Shakespearean canon, though unlike Stoppard’s work, never supplying its own material. The effect is to re-frame Falstaff’s story across these plays as its own tragedy, his close paternal relationship to the young Prince Hal that gradually dissipates as he ascends to becoming King -ultimately rejecting Falstaff. It’s a brilliant and rather moving re-interpretation that Welles plays with extraordinary dedication and pathos -his greatest screen performance no doubt, as much for his nuanced emotional acting as his bombastic delivery of the thrilling dialogue. And it’s directed as well with his customary craft, during that era when he was in self-imposed exile from Hollywood -his techniques as sharp as ever, from the gorgeous high-contrast photography to the smart editing of the battle sequences, creating an impression of vastness the film couldn’t otherwise afford, and highlighting more starkly the violence that underlines so much of Shakespeare’s world. In love with the poignancy of Falstaff, Chimes at Midnight is a superb tribute from one master to another.
Chimes at Midnight is available to stream on the Criterion Channel, to rent from Amazon Prime, YouTube, Google Play, or iTunes.
2. West Side Story (1961 and 2021) –directed by Robert Wise & Jerome Robbins, and Steven Spielberg
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Even though I slightly prefer the latter Spielberg movie to the original, I’m including both versions of West Side Story here, because they’re both so great and the musical just as a general story compliments the source of Romeo and Juliet incredibly well. Shakespeare’s most famous love story has probably been re-imagined in new time periods and contexts more than any of his other plays; but its best, most effective recalibration came when Leonard Bernstein, Stephen Sondheim, Arthur Laurents, and Jerome Robbins transferred the classical romance to the streets of 1950s New York and added songs. Both movie versions are musical masterpieces, with amazing performances, vibrant filmmaking, and exquisite songs, but they also understand fully their inherited characters and themes, getting to the heart of the tragedy of Romeo and Juliet even in the guise of Tony and Maria. All of the most important characters, plot beats, and set pieces are there -realized with a level of theatrical dimension and beauty that Shakespeare would most surely appreciate. And the ways that these movies build on the play is pretty extraordinary. By adding a barrier of race to the star-crossed lovers, West Side Story opens up new depth to the text, gives it an added potency. It runs deeper than “two families, both alike in dignity”, speaking to the world around its young characters as much as to their emotions themselves. West Side Story: A magnificent work of adaptation.
Both West Side Story's are available to rent from YouTube, Google Play, and iTunes; 1961 is available to stream on Tubi or Amazon Prime, 2021 on Disney+ or Crave.
1. Ran (1985) –directed by Akira Kurosawa
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Shakespeare is universal. His plays have long demonstrated the capacity to transcend their original contexts and speak to facets of human nature relevant the world over. And it’s always fascinating to see how another culture adapts Shakespeare. The best ones reveal more about the play and more about its meaning than perhaps even Shakespeare himself knew. And the quintessential example of that is Akira Kurosawa’s last grand samurai epic Ran -an adaptation of King Lear that is one of the most profound translations of Shakespeare I’ve ever seen. Like his earlier Throne of Blood, it sets the action of the play in medieval Japan against the context of feuding warlords in an often ambiguous or barren environment. King Lear is already an epic play with its combination of high political and personal stakes, and Kurosawa brings that overwhelming scale to the screen in captivating siege and battle sequences. It is also a grim play, which Kurosawa hones in on in his charged destructive and apocalyptic imagery and his somewhat nihilistic themes -drawn from Cold War anxieties and a distinct pessimism about the future. His characters, chiefly Lear analogue Hidetora, played by an excellent Tatsuya Nakadai, and Tsurumaru (Gloucester) played by Mansai Nomura, embody this as well. The film is perhaps Kurosawa’s most visually breathtaking: vivid colours and intense cinematography with soaring scenery and exquisite use of natural light. Much of the film was storyboarded from Kurosawa’s own paintings and it shows. A movie that fully transports you to perhaps not the world of King Lear exactly, but the harsh and mythic-seeming world it feels like when reading or watching Shakespeare.
Ran is available to stream on Amazon Prime, to rent from iTunes.
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