Hit List
Sun Herald
Sunday November 16, 2008
Five movies that take Shakespeare someplace else.
Forbidden Planet (1956)The only survivors on planet Altair IV are a scientist (Walter Pidgeon), his miniskirted daughter (Anne Francis) and the lovable, can-do Robby the Robot. This sci-fi treasure owes much to the plot of The Tempest.All Night Long (1962)Shakespeare's Othello, a tale of sexual jealousy and destruction, is adapted to London's cocktail-and-jazz scene in a film that features performances by musical greats Dave Brubeck and Charlie Mingus.Ran (1985)In this adaptation, director Akira Kurosawa transports King Lear to feudal Japan, where the king's daughters are sons, his fool is played by a transvestite Noh actor, and war scenes are battled in silence.My Own Private Idaho (1991)Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix propelled this film's box office, but director Gus Van Sant never stilted on art in his homage to Orson Welles's Henry IV adaptation, Chimes At Midnight.She's The Man (2006) The problem with this teen movie is that no audience member can believe Viola (Amanda Bynes) could pass for her brother Sebastian (James Kirk) - a problem that has plagued productions of Twelfth Night for centuries.
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