Shakespeare films in the making : vision, production and reception
"Shakespeare Films in the Making examines the production and reception of five feature-length Shakespeare films from the twentieth-century, focusing on the ways in which they articulate visions of their Shakespearean originals, of the fictional worlds in which the films are set, and of the movie-makers' own society. Two of the films - Warner Brothers' 1935 A Midsummer Night's Dream and MGM's 1936 Romeo and Juliet - were products of the Hollywood system and reflect the studios' desire to enhance their status with 'prestige pictures'. Oliver's 1944 Henry V was part of Britain's cultural war effort and embodies visions of the medieval past and ideal leadership. The story of its production and reception - on both sides of the Atlantic - shows that it was also a significant contribution to the campaign to assert the British film industry's response to the dominance of Hollywood. The Romeo and Juliet films of Renato Castellani (1954) and Franco Zeffirelli (1968) embodied visions of Renaissance Italy that contrast - in differing ways - with MGM's film. This book offers readings of these significant and influential films that are informed by an understanding of the process of movie production and are backed up by extensive archival research, including studio documents, script revisions, publicity materials and reviews."--Jacket
Print Book, English, 2007
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 2007
Criticism, interpretation, etc
xii, 280 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
9780521815475, 9780521894562, 0521815479, 0521894565
85783442
Introduction: 'Such stuff as dreams are made on'
Max Reinhardt's recurring dream: Hollywood, 1935
Pastoral-historical: Laurence Olivier's Henry V, 1944
Visions of Renaissance Italy: 'More stars than there are in heaven': MGM's Romeo and Juliet, 1936; Realism and romance: Renato Castellani's Giulietta e Romeo, 1954; Shakespeare's 'dream of Italy' and the generation gap: Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet, 1968
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