Shakespeare
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The Rogue’s Guide to Shakespeare on Film #54: The Taming of the Shrew (1929)
54. Sam Taylor’s The Taming of the Shrew (1929) Thirty-eight years before Hollywood power-couple Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton captivated audiences as Katherine and Petruchio, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford did something similar. Apparently, this is the first Shakespeare film with sound, and the performances of Fairbanks and Pickford are not especially good. When their… Continue reading
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The Rogue’s Guide to Shakespeare on Film #53: The Tempest (2010)
53. Julie Taymor’s The Tempest (2010) In 1999, Julie Taymor gave life to Titus Andronicus, an obscure, early, and quite bloody play by Shakespeare. It was great. In 2002, she gave us a visionary biopic of Frida Kahlo. It was good. In 2007, she made Across the Universe, a musical cobbled together from Beatles tunes… Continue reading
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The Rogue’s Guide to Shakespeare on Film #52: Tempest (1982)
52. Paul Mazursky’s [The] Tempest (1982) Let’s start with a necessary observation: Paul Mazursky’s Tempest has very little of Shakespeare’s play in it. There is none of Shakespeare’s words. This film is about a Manhattanite architect’s midlife crisis, with some loose associations with Shakespeare’s themes and (vaguely) characters. There’s no magician, although the architect might be… Continue reading
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The Rogue’s Guide to Shakespeare on Film #51: Prospero’s Books [The Tempest] (1991)
51. Peter Greenaway’s Prospero’s Books [The Tempest] (1991) Peter Greenaway’s Prospero’s Books is the most visionary adaptation of Shakespeare that I have ever seen, and that declaration is made with all due consideration to Julie Taymor’s amazing film of Titus Andronicus. Prospero’s Books may be the most underrated film of all time. And yet your rogue has… Continue reading
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The Rogue’s Guide to Shakespeare on Film #50: Mystery Science Theater 3000 Episode 1009 [Hamlet] (1999)
50. Mystery Science Theater 3000 Episode 1009 [Franz Peter Wirth’s Hamlet] (1999) I am going to pause amidst my round of tempesting to honor an old episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000, in honor of this show’s return. The Mystery Science Theater 3000 episode devoted to Franz Peter Wirth’s 1960 German television version of Hamlet is… Continue reading
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The Rogue’s Guide to Shakespeare on Film #49: The Tempest (2012)
48. Shelagh O’Brien’s film of Des McAnuff’s The Tempest (2012) I don’t waste a lot of words on this blog considering the theoretical consequences of adapting Shakespeare’s stage plays into film. While good stage versions are better than films, generally speaking, those stage versions can’t be watched later, and even if you see a production more… Continue reading
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The Rogue’s Guide to Shakespeare on Film #48: Haider [Hamlet] (2014)
48. Vishal Bharwaj’s Haider [Hamlet] (2014) After having recently revisited Gus Van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho with the delightful recognition that the film was even better than I had remembered, I decided to test my luck with another loose adaptation of Shakespeare. In an earlier review, I covered Vishal Bharwaj’s Omkara, an Othello imagined in a wild country… Continue reading
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The Rogue’s Guide to Shakespeare on Film #47: My Own Private Idaho [Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2] (1991)
47. Gus Van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho [Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2] (1991) Gus Van Sant’s My Own Private Idaho is a stylized, Midnight Cowboyesque romp through the gay underworld of the mid-and-north-west. Oh, and it’s sort of an adaptation of Henry IV. Bill Stafford’s music takes the steel guitar of honky tonk music… Continue reading
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The Rogue’s Guide to Shakespeare on Film #46: Henry V (2012)
46. Thea Sharrock’s Henry V (2012) Can Tom Hiddleston carry Henry V alone after we have watched him acting alongside Simon Russell Beale and Jeremy Irons in the two parts of Henry IV? Nope. No. Not really. Hiddleston was excellent as the sleazy, wild Prince Hal, and was impressive in his coronation at the close… Continue reading
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The Rogue’s Guide to Shakespeare on Film #45: Henry IV, Part 2 (2012)
45. Richard Eyre’s Henry IV, Part 2 (2012) Let’s recap my assessment of The Hollow Crown so far. Episode 1 (Richard II) was excruciating, except for the monkey. Episode II (Henry IV, Part 1) proved to be quite good. Henry IV, Part 2 simultaneously feels like a reboot and a sequel to Part 1, which… Continue reading
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The Drunken Odyssey is a forum to discuss all aspects of the writing process, in a variety of genres, in order to foster a greater community among writers.
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