List of William Shakespeare screen adaptations
From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia
The Guinness Book of Records lists 410 feature-length film and TV versions of William Shakespeare's plays, making Shakespeare the most filmed author ever in any language.[1][2][3]
As of November 2023[update], the Internet Movie Database lists Shakespeare as having writing credit on 1,800 films, including those under production but not yet released.[4] The earliest known production is King John from 1899.[5]
Comedies[edit]
All's Well That Ends Well[edit]
| Title | M | C | Y | Directors | Starring | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All's Well That Ends Well | TV | 1968 |
|
| Originally a Royal Shakespeare Company stage production, this was the first Shakespeare play broadcast in color by the BBC.[a] The second, of two, reels is believed to be lost.[6] | |
| All's Well That Ends Well | Video | 1978 |
| A video recording of a 1978 New York Shakespeare Festival performance at the Delacorte Theatre, made by Jaime Caro for Theatre on Film and Tape.[7] | ||
| "All's Well That Ends Well" (BBC Television Shakespeare) | TV | 1981 |
| |||
| All's Well That Ends Well (National Theatre Live) | TV | 2009 |
| Live performance broadcast from the National Theatre in London's West End. |
As You Like It[edit]
| Title | M | C | Y | Directors | Starring | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| As You Like It | Silent | 1912 |
| The film brings stage star Rose Coghlan to the screen for her motion picture debut. At 61–62, Coghlan is an older Rosalind than usual. Filmed mainly outdoors. | ||
| Love in a Wood | Silent | 1915 |
| A silent comedy film in a contemporary setting of the play.[8] | ||
| As You Like It | Film | 1936 |
| Olivier's first performance of Shakespeare on screen. It was also the final film of stage actors Leon Quartermaine and Henry Ainley and featured an early screen role for Ainley's son Richard as Sylvius, as well as for John Laurie, who played Orlando's brother Oliver. Laurie would go on to co-star with Olivier in the three Shakespearean films that Olivier directed.[9] | ||
| As You Like It | TV | 1963 |
|
| A recording of the Royal Shakespeare Company's 1961 performance for the BBC.[10] In a 2015 retrospective for The Guardian, theatre critic Michael Billington praised Redgrave as having "the ability to give a performance [as Rosalind] that becomes a gold-standard for future generations".[11] | |
| "As You Like It" (BBC Television Shakespeare) | TV | 1978 |
| Recorded at Glamis Castle in Scotland, this was one of only two productions shot on location, the other being The Famous History of the Life of Henry the Eight. However, the location shooting received a lukewarm response from both critics and the BBC's own people, with the general consensus being that the natural world in the episode overwhelmed the actors and the story. Director Basil Coleman initially felt that the play should be filmed over the course of a year, with the change in seasons from winter to summer marking the ideological change in the characters, but he was forced to shoot entirely in May, even though the play begins in winter. This, in turn, meant the harshness of the forest described in the text was replaced by lush greenery, which was distinctly unthreatening, with the characters' "time in the forest appear[ing] to be more an upscale camping expedition rather than exile."[12] | ||
| As You Like It | TV | 1983 |
|
| ||
| As You Like It | Film | 1992 |
| Set in a modern, urban, environment. The film received mostly negative reviews. Time Out thought that the "… wonder is that they bothered to put film in the camera, for sadly this is Shakespeare sans teeth, eyes, taste, sans everything."[13] Derek Elley in Variety characterised it as a "British low-budgeter, mostly shot on drab exteriors, [that] will be limited to literary students and the very dedicated, given careful nursing."[14] | ||
| "As You Like It" (Shakespeare: The Animated Tales) | TV | 1994 |
|
| Animated with paint on glass using watercolors.[15] | |
| As You Like It | Film | 2006 |
| Branagh moved the play's setting from medieval France to a late 19th century European colony in Japan after the Meiji Restoration. It is filmed at Shepperton Film Studios and at the never-before-filmed gardens of Wakehurst Place. | ||
| As You Like It | TV | 2010 |
| |||
| As You Like It | Video | 2010 |
| Recording of a performance at Shakespeare's Globe. |
The Comedy of Errors[edit]
| Title | M | C | Y | Directors | Starring | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Boys from Syracuse | Film | 1940 |
| A musical film based on a stage musical by Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, which in turn was based on the play.[16] It was nominated for two Academy Awards: one for Best Visual Effects (John P. Fulton, Bernard B. Brown, Joe Lapis) and one for Best Art Direction (Jack Otterson).[17] | ||
| Bhranti Bilas (Bengali: ভ্রান্তি বিলাস, lit. 'Illusion of illusion)' | Film | 1963 |
|
| The film relocates the story to modern day India. The film tells the story of a Bengali merchant from Kolkata and his servant who visit a small town for a business appointment, but, whilst there, are mistaken for a pair of locals, leading to much confusion. It is based on an 1869 play by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, which is itself based on The Comedy of Errors. Bhranti Bilas was remade in 1968 as the musical comedy Do Dooni Char, which in turn was later remade as Angoor. | |
| "The Comedy of Errors" (Festival) | TV | 1967 |
|
| ||
| Do Dooni Char | Film | 1968 |
|
| A musical comedy Bollywood adaptation based on the 1963 film Bhranti Bilas, which in turn was based on an 1869 play by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, which is itself based on The Comedy of Errors. Do Dooni Char was later remade as Angoor. | |
| The Comedy of Errors | TV | 1978 |
|
| A TV adaptation of a musical based on the play, with a book and lyrics by Trevor Nunn and music by Guy Woolfenden. | |
| Angoor (Hindi: अंगूर, lit. 'Grape)' | Film | 1982 |
| A Bollywood adaptation, based on the 1968 film Do Dooni Char, which was based on the 1963 film Bhranti Bilas, which in turn was based on an 1869 play by Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar, which is itself based on The Comedy of Errors. | ||
| "The Comedy of Errors" (BBC Television Shakespeare) | TV | 1983 |
| |||
| The Comedy of Errors | TV | 1987 |
| Videotaped as part of PBS's Great Performances series at Lincoln Center, New York City, this production starring The Flying Karamazov Brothers combined Shakespeare with slapstick, acrobatics and juggling on the basis that "in Ephesus, you juggle or die!" with Shakespeare himself taking part in the action. | ||
| The Comedy of Errors | TV | 1989 |
|
Love's Labour's Lost[edit]
| Title | M | C | Y | Directors | Starring | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Love's Labor Lost | Animation | 1920 | ||||
| "Love's Labour's Lost" (Play of the Month) | TV | 1975 |
| |||
| "Love's Labour's Lost" (BBC Television Shakespeare) | TV | 1985 |
| |||
| Love's Labour's Lost | Film | 2000 |
| Branagh's film turns Love's Labour's Lost into a romantic Hollywood musical. Set and costume design evoke the Europe of 1939; the music (classic Broadway songs of the 1930s) and newsreel-style footage are also chief period details. |
Measure for Measure[edit]
| Title | M | C | Y | Directors | Starring | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Measure for Measure (Italian: Dente per dente, lit. 'A tooth for a tooth)' | Film | 1943 |
|
| ||
| "Measure For Measure" (BBC Television Shakespeare) | TV | 1979 |
| |||
| Measure for Measure | TV | 1994 |
| Modern dress version of Shakespeare's "problem comedy" emphasizing the darker elements of the play and eliminating most of the humor. | ||
| Measure for Measure | Film | 2006 |
|
| Contemporary re-working of Shakespeare's problem play set in the British army. | |
| M4M: Measure for Measure | Film | 2015 |
|
| All-male cast version | |
| Measure For Measure | Film | 2019 |
| Adaptation set in modern-day Australia |
The Merchant of Venice[edit]
| Title | M | C | Y | Directors | Starring | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Merchant of Venice | Silent | 1914 |
| An early film of the play, now assumed to be lost.[18] | ||
| The Merchant of Venice | Silent | 1916 |
| The film was made by Broadwest. The company hired the complete stage cast of the play and filmed at Walthamstow Studios using largely natural light. The film marked the screen debut of Matheson Lang who went on to become one of the leading British actors of the 1920s.[19] | ||
| The Merchant of Venice | Film | 1922 |
| |||
| Der Kaufmann von Venedig | Silent | Germany | 1923 | Peter Paul Felner | Werner Krauß (Shylock) Henny Porten (Portia) Harry Liedtke (Bassanio) Carl Ebert (Antonio) Max Schreck (Doge von Venedig) | A relatively late silent movie, making significant changes in the plot, nevertheless considered as a masterwork, mostly due to its stunning cast. |
| The Merchant of Venice | TV | 1947 |
| |||
| "The Merchant of Venice" (Sunday Night Theatre) | TV | 1955 |
|
| ||
| "The Merchant of Venice" (Play of the Month) | TV | 1972 |
| |||
| The Merchant of Venice | TV | 1973 |
| An adaptation from Jonathan Miller's acclaimed 1970 Royal National Theatre staging.[20] | ||
| The Merchant of Venice | TV | 1976 |
| |||
| "The Merchant of Venice" (BBC Television Shakespeare) | TV | 1980 |
| |||
| The Merchant of Venice | TV | 1996 |
|
| ||
| The Merchant of Venice | TV | 2001 |
|
| ||
| The Maori Merchant of Venice (Māori: Te Tangata Whai Rawa o Weniti) | Film | 2002 |
| The play was translated into Māori in 1945 by Pei Te Hurinui Jones, and his translation is used for the film. It is the first Māori-language film adaptation of any of Shakespeare's plays, and the first feature length Māori film.[21] The film was shot in Auckland, but "recreates 16th century Venice, with costumes and surroundings to fit the original setting".[22] | ||
| The Merchant of Venice | Film | 2004 |
|
The Merry Wives of Windsor[edit]
| Title | M | C | Y | Directors | Starring | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Merry Wives of Windsor (German: Die lustigen Weiber von Windsor) | Film | 1950 |
| |||
| "The Merry Wives of Windsor" (Sunday Night Theatre) | TV | 1952 |
| |||
| Chimes at Midnight | Film | 1966 |
| Welles said that the core of the film's story was "the betrayal of friendship." The script contains text from five of Shakespeare's plays: primarily Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2, but also Richard II and Henry V, as well as some dialogue from The Merry Wives of Windsor. Richardson's narration is taken from the works of chronicler Raphael Holinshed. Welles had previously produced a Broadway adaptation of nine Shakespeare plays called Five Kings in 1939. In 1960, he revived this project in Ireland as Chimes at Midnight, which was his final on-stage performance. Neither of these plays was successful, but Welles considered portraying Falstaff to be his life's ambition and turned the project into a film. In order to get initial financing, Welles lied to producer Emiliano Piedra about adapting Treasure Island, and keeping the film funded during production was a constant struggle. Welles shot Chimes at Midnight throughout Spain between 1964 and 1965; it premiered at the 1966 Cannes Film Festival, winning two awards. | ||
| The Merry Wives of Windsor | TV | 1970 |
| |||
| "The Merry Wives of Windsor" (BBC Television Shakespeare) | TV | 1982 |
| Jones originally wanted to shoot the episode in Stratford-upon-Avon but was restricted to a studio setting. Determined that the production be as realistic as possible, he had designer Dom Homfray base the set on real Tudor houses associated with Shakespeare: Falstaff's room is based on the home of Mary Arden (Shakespeare's mother) in Wilmcote, and the wives' houses are based on the house of Shakespeare's daughter Susanna, and her husband, John Hall. For the background of exterior shots, he used a miniature Tudor village built of plasticine.[23] |
A Midsummer Night's Dream[edit]
| Title | M | C | Y | Directors | Starring | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | Silent | 1909 |
| The first film adaptation of the play. | ||
| Wood Love (German: Ein Sommernachtstraum) | Silent | 1925 |
|
| ||
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | Film | 1935 |
| Austrian-born director Max Reinhardt did not speak English at the time of production. He gave orders to the actors and crew in German with William Dieterle acting as his interpreter. The film was banned in Nazi Germany because of the Jewish backgrounds of Reinhardt and composer Felix Mendelssohn. Filming had to be rearranged after Rooney broke his leg while skiing. According to Rooney's memoirs, Jack L. Warner was furious and threatened to kill him and then break his other leg. This was the film debut of Olivia de Havilland.[24] | ||
| A Midsummer Night's Dream (Czech: Sen noci svatojánské) | Film | 1959 | An animated puppet film directed by Jiří Trnka. It was an Official Selection as a Feature Film at the 1959 Cannes Film Festival, and won special distinction.[25] An English-language dubbed version was made with narration by Richard Burton.[26] | |||
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | Film | 1968 |
| The film premiered in theatres in Europe in September 1968. In the U.S., it was sold directly to television rather than playing in theatres, and premiered as a Sunday evening special, on the night of 9 February 1969. It was shown on CBS (with commercials). | ||
| A Midsummer Night's Dream (French: Le Songe d'une nuit d'été) | TV | 1969 |
| |||
| "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (BBC Television Shakespeare) | TV | 1980 |
| Released in the US as part of the Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare series. | ||
| Dream of a Summer Night (Italian: Sogno di una Notte d'Estate) | Film | 1983 |
| Based on a rock musical directed by Salvatores, it is a musical adaptation.[27][28] It was screened in the "De Sica" section at the 40th edition of the Venice International Film Festival.[29] | ||
| "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (Shakespeare: The Animated Tales) | TV | 1992 |
| |||
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | Film | 1996 |
| Filmed adaptation of the Royal Shakespeare Company's 1996 version of A Midsummer Night's Dream | ||
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | Film | 1999 |
| A Midsummer Night's Dream was filmed on location in Lazio and Tuscany, and at Cinecittà Studios, Rome, Italy. The action of the play was transported from Athens, Greece, to a fictional Monte Athena, located in the Tuscan region of Italy, although all textual mentions of Athens were retained. The film made use of Felix Mendelssohn's incidental music for an 1843 stage production (including the famous Wedding March), alongside operatic works from Giuseppe Verdi, Gaetano Donizetti, Vincenzo Bellini, Gioacchino Rossini and Pietro Mascagni.[30] | ||
| The Children's Midsummer Night's Dream | Film | 2001 |
| In this version, a group of school children are attending a puppet performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream when they are drawn into the story and become the characters, dressed in Elizabethan costumes. | ||
| Get Over It | Film | 2001 |
| A contemporary adaptation set at a high school which includes another version of the play performed as a show-within-a-show, much like the Pyramus and Thisbe subplay in the original Shakespeare. | ||
| A Midsummer Night's Rave | Film | 2002 |
| A modern adaptation set at a warehouse party | ||
| Midsummer Dream (Spanish: El Sueño de una Noche de San Juan) | Film | 2005 |
|
| An animated adaptation of the Cream story. | |
| "A Midsummer Night's Dream" (ShakespeaRe-Told) | TV | 2005 |
| a modern adaptation | ||
| Were the World Mine | Film | 2008 |
|
| The film, inspired by the play, prominently features a modern, LGBT interpretation of the play put on in a private high school in a small town. Additionally, this musical's lyrics are largely based on Shakespeare's original text. For example, the title comes from a line in a song, drawn from a line in a play, "Were the world mine, Demetrius being bated / The rest I'd give to be to you translated." | |
| 10ml LOVE | Film | 2010 |
| A Hindi romantic comedy concerning the tribulations of a love quadrangle during a night of magic and madness and a contemporary adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream. | ||
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | Film | 2015 |
| Recording of a production at Polonsky Shakespeare Center, Brooklyn, New York. | ||
| Strange Magic | Film | 2015 |
| An animated musical fantasy romantic comedy film with feature animation by Lucasfilm Animation and Industrial Light & Magic.[31] | ||
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | TV | 2016 |
| |||
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | Film | 2018 |
|
| A modern-day version set against the backdrop of Hollywood, CA. |
Much Ado About Nothing[edit]
| Title | M | C | Y | Directors | Starring | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Much Ado About Nothing | TV | 1973 |
|
| A CBS television presentation of Joseph Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival production. | |
| Much Ado About Nothing (Russian: Много шума из ничего) | Film | 1973 |
|
| Soviet romantic comedy | |
| "Much Ado About Nothing" (BBC Television Shakespeare) | TV | 1984 |
| Released in the US as part of the Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare series. | ||
| Much Ado About Nothing | Film | 1993 |
| |||
| "Much Ado About Nothing" (ShakespeaRe-Told) | TV | 2005 |
| A modern adaptation by David Nicholls. | ||
| Much Ado About Nothing | Film | 2012 |
| |||
| Anyone But You | Film | 2023 |
| A modern adaptation by Will Gluck and Ilana Wolpert.[32] |
The Taming of the Shrew[edit]
| Title | M | C | Y | Directors | Starring | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Taming of the Shrew | Silent | 1908 |
| |||
| Daring Youth[33] | Silent | 1924 |
| |||
| The Taming of the Shrew | Film | 1929 |
| The first sound film adaptation of The Taming of the Shrew. | ||
| You Made Me Love You | Film | 1933 |
| |||
| Kiss Me, Kate | Film | 1953 |
| An adaptation of the Broadway musical of the same name, it tells the tale of musical theater actors, Fred Graham and Lilli Vanessi, who were once married and are now performing opposite each other in the roles of Petruchio and Katherine in a Broadway-bound musical version of the play. Already on poor terms, the pair begin an all-out emotional war mid-performance that threatens the production's success. | ||
| The Taming of the Shrew | TV | 1962 |
| The play was performed live but included some filmed sequences shot in Centennial Park.[34][35] | ||
| Arivaali (Tamil: அறிவாளி) | Film | 1963 |
|
| ||
| The Taming of the Shrew (Italian: La Bisbetica domata) | Film | 1967 |
| "A bawdy and boisterous production which reduces the play to the Katharina/Petruccio romance."[36] | ||
| The Taming of the Shrew | TV | 1973 |
| |||
| The Taming of the Shrew | TV | 1973 |
| Videotaped broadcast of the San Francisco American Conservatory Theater presenting Shakespeare's classic take with a Commedia dell'arte flair, as if it were an inn yard performance by a traveling company. | ||
| The Taming of the Scoundrel (Italian: Il Bisbetico Domato) | Film | 1980 |
| |||
| "The Taming of the Shrew" (BBC Television Shakespeare) | TV | 1980 |
| Released in the US as part of the Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare series. | ||
| Kiss Me, Petruchio | TV | 1981 |
| Documentary following actress Streep and actor Julia as they prepare to perform and actually perform Shakespeare's comedy The Taming of the Shrew for the "Shakespeare in the Park" theater festival in Central Park, New York. | ||
| The Taming of the Shrew (The Shakespeare Collection) | Video | 1983 |
|
| ||
| "Atomic Shakespeare" (Moonlighting) | TV | 1986 |
| First aired on 25 November 1986, the episode presented the play through multiple fourth-wall layers with a self-referential frame tale, in which a young fan of the TV show has a Shakespeare reading assignment and imagines it as presented by the show's regular cast. | ||
| Nanjundi Kalyana (Kannada: ನಂಜುಂಡಿ ಕಲ್ಯಾಣ, lit. 'Nanjundi's marriage)' | Film | 1989 |
| An adaptation based on Parvathavani's Kannada drama which was a translation of the play. The film was among the biggest grossing Kannada films of 1989, and was remade in Telugu as Mahajananiki Maradalu Pilla (1990). | ||
| Mahajananiki Maradalu Pilla (Telugu: మహాజనానికి మరదలు పిల్ల, lit. 'A child of neglect)' | Film | 1990 |
|
| A remake of the Kannada film Nanjundi Kalyana (1989). | |
| "The Taming of the Shrew" (Shakespeare: The Animated Tales) | TV | 1994 |
|
| ||
| 10 Things I Hate About You | Film | 1999 |
| A modernization of the play, retold in a late-1990s American high school setting. New student Cameron is smitten with Bianca and, in order to get around her father's strict rules on dating, attempts to get bad boy Patrick to date Bianca's ill-tempered sister, Kat. | ||
| The Carnation and the Rose (Portuguese: O Cravo e a Rosa) | Telenovela | 2000–1 |
| |||
| Deliver Us from Eva | Film | 2003 |
|
| ||
| "The Taming of The Shrew" (ShakespeaRe-Told) | TV | 2005 |
|
| A modern adaptation by Sally Wainwright. | |
| Frivolous Wife (Korean: 날나리 종부전)[37] | Film | 2008 |
|
|
Twelfth Night[edit]
| Title | M | C | Y | Directors | Starring | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Twelfth Night | Film | 1910 |
| |||
| Twelfth Night | Film | 1933 |
| Notable as the earliest surviving film directed by Welles, then aged 17. It is a recording of the dress rehearsal of Welles's own abridged production at his alma mater, the Todd School for Boys, where he had returned to direct this adaptation for the Chicago Drama Festival in 1933.[38] | ||
| Twelfth Night (Russian: Двенадцатая ночь) | Film | 1955 |
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| Twelfth Night[39] | TV | 1966 |
| |||
| Twelfth Night | TV | 1970 |
| |||
| "Twelfth Night" (BBC Television Shakespeare) | TV | 1980 |
| Released in the US as part of the Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare series. | ||
| Twelfth Night[40] | Film | 1986 |
| |||
| Twelfth Night | TV | 1988 |
| Music by Patrick Doyle and Paul McCartney | ||
| "Twelfth Night" (Shakespeare: The Animated Tales) | TV | 1992 |
|
| ||
| Twelfth Night | Film | 1996 |
| |||
| Twelfth Night, or What You Will | TV | 2003 |
| |||
| She's the Man | Film | 2006 |
| Adapts the story to a high-school setting. | ||
| Twelfth Night | Film | 2013 |
| "Globe on Screen": All-male cast in an "original practice" production. |
The Two Gentlemen of Verona[edit]
| Title | M | C | Y | Directors | Starring | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| A Spray of Plum Blossoms (Chinese: 一剪梅; pinyin: Yī jiǎn méi) | Silent film | 1931 |
| The film is noted for its attempted "Westernized stylings" including its surreal use of decor, women-soldiers with long hair, etc. The film also had English-subtitles, but as some scholars have noted, since few foreigners watched these films, the subtitles were more to give off an air of the West rather than to serve any real purpose.[41][42] | ||
| "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" (BBC Television Shakespeare) | TV | 1983 |
| Released in the US as part of the Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare series. |
Tragedies[edit]
Antony and Cleopatra[edit]
| Title | M | C | Y | Directors | Starring | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Antony and Cleopatra | Film | 1908 |
| |||
| Antony and Cleopatra (Italian: Marcantonio e Cleopatra)[43] | Silent film | 1913 |
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| Antony and Cleopatra | TV | 1959 |
| |||
| Antony and Cleopatra[44] | Film | 1972 |
| |||
| Antony and Cleopatra | TV | 1974 |
|
| An adaptation of Trevor Nunn's Royal Shakespeare Company production. | |
| "Antony & Cleopatra" (BBC Television Shakespeare) | TV | 1981 |
| Released in the US as part of the Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare series. | ||
| Kannaki | Film | 2002 |
Coriolanus[edit]
| Title | M | C | Y | Directors | Starring | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| "The Tragedy of Coriolanus" (BBC Television Shakespeare) | TV | 1984 |
| Released in the US as part of the Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare series. | ||
| Coriolanus | Film | 2012 |
|
Hamlet[edit]
| Title | M | C | Y | Directors | Starring | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hamlet (French: Le Duel d'Hamlet) | Film | 1900 |
| Believed to have been the earliest film adaptation of the play. The film is two minutes in length. It also was one of the first films to employ the newly discovered art of pre-recording the actors' voices, then playing the recording simultaneous to the playing of the film. So, while produced during the silent film era, the film is technically not a silent film.[45] | ||
| Hamlet | Silent | 1907 |
| The first multi-scene cinematic adaptation of any work by Shakespeare.[46] | ||
| Hamlet | Silent | 1908 |
| One of twelve renditions of the play produced during the silent film era. | ||
| Hamlet | Silent | 1912 |
| |||
| Hamlet | Silent | 1913 |
| Made by the Hepworth Company and based on the Drury Lane Theatre's 1913 staging of the work. | ||
| Hamlet (Italian: Amleto)[47] | Silent | 1917 |
| |||
| Hamlet | Silent | 1921 |
|
| ||
| Blood for Blood (Urdu: Khoon Ka Khoon) | Film | 1935 |
| Cited as one of the earliest talkie adaptations.[48] Credited as "the man who brought Shakespeare to the Indian screen",[49] it was Modi's debut feature film as a director.[49] The story and script were by Mehdi Hassan Ahsan from his Urdu adaptation of Hamlet. Khoon Ka Khoon was the debut in films of Naseem Banu.[50] Khoon Ka Khoon was a "filmed version of a stage performance of the play".[51] The film has been cited by National Film Archive of India founder P K. Nair, as one of "most wanted" missing Indian cinema treasures.[52] | ||
| Hamlet | Film | 1948 |
| Olivier's second film as director, and also the second of the three Shakespeare films that he directed. Hamlet was the first British film to win the Academy Award for Best Picture.[53] It is also the first sound film of the play in English. Olivier's Hamlet is the Shakespeare film that has received the most prestigious accolades, winning the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Actor and the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. | ||
| I, Hamlet (Italian: Io, Amleto) | Film | 1952 |
| |||
| Hamlet (Urdu: हेमलेट) | Film | 1954 |
| Sahu was influenced by "classic European sources".[54] Though termed a "free adaptation" in the credit roll of the film, Sahu stayed true to the title, its setting, and the original names in the play, remaining as close as possible to Olivier's 1948 film.[55] | ||
| Hamlet | TV | 1959 |
| |||
| The Bad Sleep Well (Japanese: 悪い奴ほどよく眠る, romanized: Warui yatsu hodo yoku nemuru) | Film | 1960 |
| |||
| Hamlet (German: Hamlet, Prinz von Dänemark) | TV | 1961 |
| |||
| Ophelia | Film | 1963 |
| |||
| Hamlet (Russian: Гамлет, tr. Gamlet) | Film | 1964 |
|
| Based on a translation by Boris Pasternak, and with a score by Dmitri Shostakovich. Both Kozintsev and the film itself gained prominence among adaptations of the play, and Smoktunovsky is considered one of the great cinematic Hamlets. | |
| Hamlet | Film | 1964 |
|
| ||
| Hamlet at Elsinore | TV | 1964 |
| |||
| Johnny Hamlet (Italian: Quella sporca storia nel West, lit. 'That Dirty Story in the West)' | Film | 1968 |
| A Spaghetti Western version.[56] | ||
| Hamlet | Film | 1969 |
| |||
| One Hamlet Less (Italian: Un Amleto di meno) | Film | 1973 |
| |||
| Hamlet | TV | 1974 |
|
| ||
| The Angel of Vengeance – The Female Hamlet (Turkish: İntikam Meleği – Kadın Hamlet) | Film | 1977 |
| |||
| "Hamlet, Prince of Denmark" (BBC Television Shakespeare) | TV | 1980 |
| |||
| Strange Brew | Film | 1983 |
| |||
| Hamlet Goes Business (Finnish: Hamlet liikemaailmassa) | Film | 1987 |
| |||
| Hamlet | Film | 1990 |
| The movie received two Academy Award nominations, for Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design (Dante Ferretti, Francesca Lo Schiavo).[57] Bates received a BAFTA nomination as Best Supporting Actor for playing Claudius.[58] | ||
| Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead | Film | 1990 |
| Based on Stoppard's play of the same name, the film depicts two minor characters from Hamlet, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who find themselves on the road to Elsinore Castle at the behest of the King of Denmark. They encounter a band of players before arriving to find that they are needed to try to discern what troubles the prince Hamlet. Meanwhile, they ponder the meaning of their existence. The movie won the Golden Lion at the 47th Venice International Film Festival. | ||
| "Hamlet" (Shakespeare: The Animated Tales) | TV | 1992 |
|
| ||
| Renaissance Man | Film | 1994 |
| |||
| The Lion King | Film | 1994 |
| An animated epic musical drama film, produced by Walt Disney Feature Animation and released by Walt Disney Pictures. The story takes place within a pride of lions in Africa. | ||
| In the Bleak Midwinter | Film | 1995 |
| |||
| Hamlet | Film | 1996 |
| The film is notable as the first unabridged theatrical film adaptation, running just over four hours. The play's setting is updated to the 19th century, but its Elizabethan English remains the same. Hamlet was also the last major dramatic motion picture to be filmed entirely on 70 mm film until the release of The Master (2012). Hamlet was highly acclaimed by the majority of critics and has been regarded as one of the best Shakespeare film adaptations ever made.[59][60][61] | ||
| Let the Devil Wear Black | Film | 1999 |
| A modern-day version set in Los Angeles. All of the language is modern.[62] | ||
| Hamlet | Film | 2000 |
| In this version, Claudius becomes King and CEO of "Denmark Corporation", having taken over the firm by killing his brother, Hamlet's father. This adaptation keeps the Shakespearean dialogue but presents a modern setting, with technology such as video cameras, Polaroid cameras, and surveillance bugs. For example, the ghost of Hamlet's murdered father first appears on closed-circuit TV. | ||
| The Tragedy of Hamlet | Film | 2002 |
| Film of the stage production mounted at Theatre des Bouffes du Nord in Paris. Director Brook cut about one-third of the text, bringing it down to two hours and 20 minutes without an intermission and rearranging the order of some scenes. | ||
| The Banquet (Chinese: 夜宴; pinyin: Yè Yàn) | Film | 2006 |
| A loose adaptation of Hamlet and Ibsen's Ghosts, set in the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms period in 10th century China. | ||
| Hamlet | TV | 2009 |
| An adaptation of the Royal Shakespeare Company's 2008 modern-dress stage production. | ||
| Tardid (Persian: تردید, lit. 'Doubt)' | Film | 2009 |
|
| ||
| Hamlet | Film | 2011 |
| A condensed retelling of the play set in 1940s England. | ||
| Karmayogi | Film | 2012 |
| |||
| Haider | Film | 2014 |
| |||
| The Lion King | Film | 2019 |
| A musical drama film, produced and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is a photorealistic animated remake of Disney's traditionally animated 1994 film of the same name. The story takes place within a pride of lions in Africa. |
Julius Caesar[edit]
| Title | M | C | Y | Directors | Starring | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Julius Caesar | Film | 1950 |
| The first film version of the play with sound. It was produced using actors from the Chicago area. Heston, who had known Bradley since his youth, was the only paid cast member. Bradley recruited drama students from his alma mater Northwestern University for bit parts and extras, one of whom was future star Jeffrey Hunter, who studied alongside Heston at Northwestern. The 16 mm film was shot in 1949 on locations in the Chicago area, including Soldier Field, the Museum of Science and Industry, the Elks National Veterans Memorial, and the Field Museum. The Indiana sand dunes on Lake Michigan were used for the Battle of Philippi. One indoor set was built in the Chicago suburb of Evanston. To save money, about 80% of the film was shot silently, with the dialogue dubbed in later by the actors. | ||
| Julius Caesar | Film | 1953 |
| Brando's casting was met with some skepticism when it was announced, as he had acquired the nickname of "The Mumbler" following his performance in A Streetcar Named Desire (1951).[63] Mankiewicz even considered Paul Scofield for the role of Mark Antony if Brando's screen test was unsuccessful.[64] Brando asked John Gielgud for advice in declaiming Shakespeare, and adopted all of Gielgud's recommendations.[65] Brando's performance turned out so well that the New York Times stated in its review of the film: "Happily, Mr. Brando's diction, which has been guttural and slurred in previous films, is clear and precise in this instance. In him a major talent has emerged."[66] Brando was so dedicated in his performance during shooting that Gielgud offered to direct him in a stage production of Hamlet, a proposition that Brando seriously considered but ultimately turned down.[67] | ||
| Julius Caesar | TV | 1969 |
|
| filmed for BBC Television. | |
| Julius Caesar | Film | 1970 |
| The first film version of the play made in colour.[68] | ||
| "Julius Caesar" (BBC Television Shakespeare) | TV | 1979 |
| Released in the US as part of the Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare series. | ||
| "Julius Caesar" (Shakespeare: The Animated Tales) | TV | 1994 |
|
| Cel animation | |
| Julius Caesar | TV | 2012 |
| Royal Shakespeare Company stage production, filmed for BBC Television. | ||
| Julius Caesar | TV | 2018 |
|
| Royal Shakespeare Company stage production, filmed for BBC Television. | |
| Julius Caesar | TV | 2018 |
| Donmar Warehouse all-female stage production, filmed for Television. |
King Lear[edit]
| Title | M | C | Y | Directors | Starring | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| King Lear (Italian: Re Lear) | Silent | 1910 |
|
| ||
| King Lear | Silent | 1916 |
| |||
| Gunasundari Katha (Telugu: గుణసుందరి కథ) | Film | 1949 |
| |||
| King Lear | TV | 1953 |
| Originally presented live, now survives on kinescope. | ||
| King Lear[69][70] | Film | 1971 |
| |||
| King Lear (Russian: Король Лир, romanized: Korol Lir) | Film | 1971 |
| The Russian composer Dmitri Shostakovich composed the score. | ||
| "King Lear" (Great Performances) | TV | 1974 |
| Recording of a New York Shakespeare Festival production. | ||
| King Lear | TV | 1974 |
|
| ||
| "King Lear" (BBC Television Shakespeare) | TV | 1982 |
| Released in the US as part of the Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare series. | ||
| King Lear | TV | 1983 |
| Elliott set his Lear in an environment resembling Stonehenge, although the production was entirely shot in a studio. In keeping with the primitive backdrop, this production emphasizes the primitive over the sophisticated. Shakespeare's characters use the clothing, weapons, and technology of the early Bronze Age rather than the Elizabethan era. Olivier's Lear in this production garnered great acclaim, winning him an Emmy for the performance. It was the last of Olivier's appearances in a Shakespeare play. At 75, he was one of the oldest actors to take on this enormously demanding role. (He had previously played it in 1946 at the Old Vic, without much success.) | ||
| Ran (Japanese: 乱, lit. 'Chaos)' | Film | 1985 |
|
| An adaptation of the story in a Japanese setting, Ran was Kurosawa's last epic, and has often been cited as amongst his finest achievements. With a budget of $11 million, it was the most expensive Japanese film ever produced up to that time.[71] | |
| King Lear | Film | 1987 |
| Adapted as post-Chernobyl disaster science fiction. Rather than reproducing a performance of Shakespeare's play, the film is more concerned with the issues raised by the text, and symbolically explores the relationships between power and virtue, between fathers and daughters, words and images. The film deliberately does not use conventional Hollywood film-making techniques which make a film 'watchable', but instead seeks to alienate and baffle its audience in the manner of Berthold Brecht.[72] | ||
| Gypsy Lore (Hungarian: Romani kris - Cigánytörvény)[73] | Film | 1997 |
| |||
| A Thousand Acres | Film | 1997 |
| A modern retelling of the Lear story, from the perspective of the Goneril character (Ginny). | ||
| King Lear | TV | 1997 |
| BBC film of the Royal National Theatre's stage version. It was televised with an accompanying documentary, including interviews with the director and cast. | ||
| King Lear | Film | 1999 |
| Apart from Peter Brook's 1971 adaptation, Blessed's is the only other feature-length film adaptation to preserve Shakespeare's verse. Yvonne Griggs, in Shakespeare's King Lear: A close study of the relationship between text and film (2009), characterised it as "a very stilted costume drama".[74] | ||
| The Tragedy of King Lear | Screenplay | 2000 | An unfilmed screenplay written by Harold Pinter on a commission from Tim Roth.[75] | |||
| King of Texas | TV | 2002 |
| A Western adaptation of King Lear, the film takes the plot of the play and places it in the Republic of Texas during the 19th century.[76] | ||
| King Lear | TV | 2008 |
| It features the same cast and director as the 2007 RSC production, and started filming only a few days after the final performance at the New London Theatre, at Pinewood Studios in Buckinghamshire. | ||
| King Lear | TV | 2018 |
| Set in an alternative universe, 21st-century, highly militarised London. |
Macbeth[edit]
| Title | M | C | Y | Directors | Starring | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Macbeth | Silent | 1908 |
| The earliest known film version of that play. It was a black and white silent film with English intertitles. It is currently unknown if any print of the film still exists.[77] | ||
| Macbeth | Silent | 1909 |
| A silent black-and-white film with French intertitles. | ||
| Macbeth | Silent | 1909 |
| The second adaptation that year, and is the third film version. In black-and-white, the runtime is 16 minutes. | ||
| Macbeth | Silent | 1911 |
| Like all films of the time, it is silent with English intertitles, black-and-white, and ran for 14 minutes. No prints are known to exist.[78] | ||
| Macbeth | Silent | 1913 |
| 47-minute silent adaptation.[79] It is considered to be lost, but according to Carl Bennett in The Progressive Silent Film List, a print may exist at the George Eastman Museum's International Museum of Photography and Film.[80] | ||
| Macbeth | Silent | 1915 |
| A silent black-and-white film with French intertitles. | ||
| Macbeth | Silent | 1916 |
| The film stars Herbert Beerbohm Tree and Constance Collier, both famous from the stage and for playing Shakespearean parts. Although released during the first decade of feature filmmaking, it was already the seventh version of Macbeth to be produced, one of eight of the silent film era. It is considered to be a lost film. The running time is 80 minutes.[81] In the companion book to his Hollywood television series, Kevin Brownlow states that Sir Herbert Tree failed to understand that the production was a silent film and that speech was not needed so much as pantomime. Tree, who had performed the play numerous times on the stage, kept spouting reams of dialogue. So Emerson and Fleming simply removed the film and cranked an empty camera so as not to waste film when he did so.[82] | ||
| The Real Thing at Last | Silent | 1916 |
|
| A satirical silent adaptation. It was written in 1916 by Peter Pan creator and playwright J. M. Barrie as a parody of the American entertainment industry. The film was made by the newly created British Actors Film Company in response to news that American filmmaker D. W. Griffith intended to honor the 300th anniversary of Shakespeare's death with the production of a film version. No copies of The Real Thing at Last are known to survive.[83] It parodies the sensationalism of the American entertainment of the day, contrasting it with more reserved British sensibilities. It loosely follows the plot of the play, but two versions of each depicted scene are shown:
| |
| Macbeth | Silent | 1922 |
| The last silent version, and the eighth film adaptation of the play. | ||
| Macbeth | Film | 1948 |
| |||
| Macbeth | Film | 1950s | An unsuccessful mid-1950s attempt by Olivier to finance a new film version. | |||
| Marmayogi (Tamil: மர்மயோகி, lit. 'The Mysterious Sage, Hindi: एक था राजा, romanized: Ek Tha Raja, lit. 'Once There Was A King')' | Film | 1951 |
| A film adaptation of the novel Vengeance by Marie Corelli and Macbeth. The film was shot simultaneously in Tamil and Hindi. | ||
| "Macbeth" (Hallmark Hall of Fame) | TV | 1954 |
| A live television adaptation telecast in color, but has only been preserved on black-and-white kinescope.[84][85] | ||
| Joe MacBeth | Film | 1955 |
| A modern retelling set in a 1930s American criminal underworld. The film's plot closely follows the original.[86] | ||
| Throne of Blood (Japanese: 蜘蛛巣城, romanized: Kumonosu-jō, lit. 'Spider Web Castle)' | Film | 1957 |
| The film transposes the plot from Medieval Scotland to feudal Japan, with stylistic elements drawn from Noh drama. As with the play, the film tells the story of a warrior who assassinates his sovereign at the urging of his ambitious wife. Despite the change in setting and language and numerous creative liberties, in the West Throne of Blood is often considered one of the best film adaptations of the play. | ||
| Macbeth | TV | 1960 |
| A filmed-on-location adaptation with the same two stars and director as the 1954 production. Shown on TV in the US and in theatres in Europe.[87] | ||
| Macbeth | TV | 1960 |
| The Sydney Morning Herald wrote that the production as "visually efficient" but also "a dreadful warning of what can happen when a producer becomes frightened of a great text... a torrent of gabble and shouting. Some of the most concise dramatic poetry in all Shakespeare received treatment worthy of the race results."[88] | ||
| Macbeth | TV | 1961 |
| |||
| Macbeth | TV | 1965 |
| |||
| "Macbeth" (Play of the Month) | TV | 1970 |
| |||
| Macbeth[89] | Film | 1971 |
| |||
| Macbeth | TV | 1978 |
|
| Videotaped version of Nunn's Royal Shakespeare Company production produced by Thames Television. The original stage production was performed at The Other Place, the RSC's small studio theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon. It had been performed in the round before small audiences, with a bare stage and simple costuming. The recording preserves this style: the actors perform on a circular set and with a mostly black background; changes of setting are indicated only by lighting changes. | |
| Macbeth (The Shakespeare Collection) | Video | 1981 |
| |||
| Macbeth | TV | 1982 |
| The film is composed of only two shots: The first shot (before the main title) is five minutes long, the second 57 minutes long.[90] | ||
| "Macbeth" (BBC Television Shakespeare) | TV | 1983 |
| |||
| Macbeth | Film | 1987 |
| A film adaptation of Verdi's opera Macbeth (libretto by Francesco Maria Piave based on Shakespeare's play) It was screened out of competition at the 1987 Cannes Film Festival.[91] | ||
| Men of Respect | Film | 1990 |
|
| ||
| "Macbeth" (Shakespeare: The Animated Tales) | TV | 1992 |
|
| ||
| Macbeth | TV | 1997 |
|
| ||
| Macbeth on the Estate | TV | 1997 |
| Modern-setting version in a world of drugs and drug kingpins. | ||
| Macbeth | TV | 1998 |
| |||
| Makibefo | Film | 1999 |
|
| Filming took place near the town of Faux Cap, Madagascar, with a single technical assistant. With the exception of an English-speaking narrator, all the roles are played by indigenous Antandroy people (few of whom had ever seen a movie before) who performed a largely improvised story based on Macbeth set in a remote fishing village.[92] | |
| Macbeth | TV | 2001 |
| Royal Shakespeare Company | ||
| Rave Macbeth | Film | 2001 |
| A loose adaptation set in rave culture. | ||
| Scotland, PA | Film | 2001 |
|
| ||
| Maqbool (Hindi: मक़बूल Urdu: مقبُول) | Film | 2003 |
| |||
| "Macbeth" (ShakespeaRe-Told) | TV | 2005 |
|
| Set in a three Michelin star restaurant owned by celebrity chef Duncan Docherty, with Joe Macbeth as the sous chef and his wife Ella as the Maître d'. Joe and his fellow chef Billy Banquo are annoyed that Duncan takes the credit for Joe's work, and that Duncan's son Malcolm has no real flair for the business. Then they encounter three supernatural binmen who predict that Macbeth will get ownership of the restaurant, as will Billy's children. Joe and Ella are inspired to kill Duncan, but the binmen subsequently warn that Macbeth should be wary of Peter Macduff, the head waiter. | |
| Macbeth | Film | 2006 |
| Sets the story in a modern-day Melbourne gangster setting, and the actors deliver the dialogue in Australian accents, largely maintains the language of the original play.[93] | ||
| Macbeth | TV | 2009 | An episode of South African miniseries Death of a Queen. | |||
| Macbeth | TV | 2010 |
| Based on Goold's stage adaptation for the Chichester Festival Theatre in 2007. The film specifically evokes the atmosphere of the Soviet Union under Joseph Stalin, with subtle parallels between Stalin and Macbeth in their equally brutal quests for power. The Three Witches likewise receive an update in keeping with the 20th century aesthetics, appearing as hospital nurses. Their presence is pervasive throughout the film, punctuating the horror of Macbeth's murderous reign. The film was filmed entirely on location at Welbeck Abbey. | ||
| Shakespeare Must Die (Thai: เชคสเปียร์ต้องตาย) | Film | 2012 |
|
| Thai-language film that tells the story of a theatre group in a fictional country resembling Thailand, that is staging a production of Macbeth. One of the film's main characters is a dictator named Dear Leader, who bears a resemblance to former Thai leader Thaksin Shinawatra, who was ousted in a 2006 coup which sparked years of political turmoil between his supporters and critics. The Thai government banned the film fearing it would cause societal disunity.[94][95][96] | |
| Macbeth | Film | 2015 |
| |||
| Thane of East County | Film | 2015 | Jesse Keller |
| Things go awry as actors on a production of Macbeth begin to carry out the actions of characters they portray. | |
| Veeram (Malayalam: വീരം, lit. 'Valour)' | Film |
