Synopses & Reviews
Review
"...valuable for anyone interested in this century's added dimension to the plays: the motion picture." The Book Report
Synopsis
While acknowledging that dramatic experiences for theatre and cinema audiences are significantly different, this book reveals some of the special qualities of cinema's dramatic language in the film adaptations of Shakespeare's plays by four directors - Laurence Olivier, Orson Welles, Peter Brook and Akira Kurosawa - each of whom has a distinctly different approach to film representation.
Synopsis
Shakespeare's plays provide wonderfully challenging material for the film maker. While acknowledging that dramatic experiences for theatre and cinema audiences are significantly different, this book reveals some of the special qualities of cinema's dramatic language in the film adaptations of Shakespeare's plays by four directors - Laurence Olivier, Orson Welles, Peter Brook and Akira Kurosawa - each of whom has a distinctly different approach to a film representation. The central chapters focus on Laurence Olivier's Henry V, Hamlet and Richard III; Orson Welles' Macbeth, Othello and Chimes at Midnight; Peter Brook's King Lear and Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood.
Synopsis
An exploration of the dramatic problems posed in the filming of Welles' Macbeth, Othello, and Chimes at Midnight; Olivier's Henry V, Hamlet, and Richard III; Brook's King Lear; and Kurosawa's Throne of Blood.
Table of Contents
List of illustrations; Preface; Acknowledgements; Introduction; 1. Theatrical and cinematic space; 2. Laurence Olivier's Henry V; 3. Laurence Olivier's Hamlet; 4. Laurence Olivier's Richard III; 5. Orson Welles's Macbeth; 6. Orson Welles's Othello; 7. Orson Welles's Chimes at Midnight; 8. Peter Brook's King Lear and Akira Kurosawa's Throne of Blood; 9. The film actor; Conclusion; Notes; Select filmography; Bibliography; Index.