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SHAKESPEARE IN THE MOVIES

Name: SHAKESPEARE IN THE MOVIES
Author: Douglas Brode
ISBN: 1-55972-514-1

FROM THE SILENT ERA TO THE PRESENT DAY

by Douglas Brode ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 1, 1999

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A critical analysis of (almost) every American film based on a Shakespeare play. Brode (Cinema/Syracuse Univ.; The Films of Robert De Niro, not reviewed, etc.) here assesses everything from the acting of Marlon Brando (Marc Anthony in a 1953 Julius Caesar) and the directing of Orson Welles (Othello, 1952, and Macbeth, 1948) to the Shakespearean content of adaptations like West Side Story (1961). Brode organizes his narrative by individual plays (or linked groups of plays) rather than in chronological order, which means readers must wade through many pages about better-forgotten productions before arriving at the flicks we know and consider good Shakespeare. We learn that there was a 12-minute nickelodeon version of The Taming of the Shrew, and that Mack Sennett’s famous Keystone Cops routines owe a debt to the scene with Petruchio’s servants in the first serious cinematic treatment of this play (1908). Like the original productions at the Globe Theatre, Shakespearean movies have always been popular, Brode points out. The Bard’s structure, involving many short scenes, is well suited for film, and apparitions like Hamlet’s ghost anticipated Hollywood’s special effects. “Old Will would have loved the movies,” beamed Welles. For most productions, Brode cites critical reactions, including those of purists who didn—t approve of filming the plays at all. He’s not shy with his own opinions either: a typically bold assessment is that “[Sidney] Poitier cheated himself, and us, of an important work” by not playing Othello. Sorry, Shakespeare in Love is too recent to be discussed here. From the Globe to the multiplex, this exhaustive study leaves no stone unturned—and there’s the rub. A sizable fraction of Brode’s study will be of interest only to film historians.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1999

ISBN: 1-55972-514-1

Page Count: 320

Publisher: Birch Lane Press

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2000

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

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NUTCRACKER

by E.T.A. Hoffmann ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 28, 1996

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This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)

Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996

ISBN: 0-15-100227-4

Page Count: 136

Publisher: Harcourt

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996

Categories:

GENERAL NONFICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER AND THE MOUSE KING
by E.T.A. Hoffmann ; adapted by Natalie Andrewson ; illustrated by Natalie Andrewson

- BOOK REVIEW
THE NUTCRACKER
by E.T.A. Hoffmann & illustrated by Julie Paschkis

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TO THE ONE I LOVE THE BEST

EPISODES FROM THE LIFE OF LADY MENDL (ELSIE DE WOLFE)

by Ludwig Bemelmans ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 23, 1955

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An extravaganza in Bemelmans' inimitable vein, but written almost dead pan, with sly, amusing, sometimes biting undertones, breaking through. For Bemelmans was "the man who came to cocktails". And his hostess was Lady Mendl (Elsie de Wolfe), arbiter of American decorating taste over a generation. Lady Mendl was an incredible person,- self-made in proper American tradition on the one hand, for she had been haunted by the poverty of her childhood, and the years of struggle up from its ugliness,- until she became synonymous with the exotic, exquisite, worshipper at beauty's whrine. Bemelmans draws a portrait in extremes, through apt descriptions, through hilarious anecdote, through surprisingly sympathetic and understanding bits of appreciation. The scene shifts from Hollywood to the home she loved the best in Versailles. One meets in passing a vast roster of famous figures of the international and artistic set. And always one feels Bemelmans, slightly offstage, observing, recording, commenting, illustrated.