1st Edition

Shakespeare on Film

By Judith R. Buchanan Copyright 2005
    304 Pages
    by Routledge

    304 Pages
    by Routledge

     From the earliest days of the cinema to the present, Shakespeare has offered a tempting bank of source material than the film industry has been happy to plunder. Shakespeare on Film deftly examines an extensive range of films that have emerged from the curious union of an iconic dramatist with a medium of mass appeal.

    The many films Buchanan studies are shown to be telling indicators of trends in Shakespearean performance interpretation, illuminating markers of developments in the film industry and culturally revealing about broader influences in the world beyond the movie theatre.

    As with other titles from the Inside Film series, the book is illustrated throughout with stills. Each chapter concludes with a list of suggested further reading in the field.

    Part I: 'Degrees of Remove': Translating the Language, Translating the Story  1. An Excellent Dumb Discourse: British and American Shakespeare Films, 1899-1916  2. 'Wresting an Alphabet': Continental European Shakespeare Films, 1907-22  3. Cross-cultural Narrative Rhymes: The Shakespeare Films of Akira Kurosawa  4. Roguish Interventions: American Shakespearean Offshoots  Part II: Moment and Context: How History Works on Story  5. Historically Juxtaposed Beans (I): A Midsummer Night's Dream on Film  6. Historically Juxtaposed Beans (II): ­ The Tempest on Film  7. Boxing with Ghosts: The Shakespeare Films of Kenneth Branagh  8. Leaves of Brass and Gads of Steel: Cinema as Subject in Shakespeare Films, 1991-2000  Filmography  Bibliography  Index

    Biography

    Dr Judith Buchanan is a Lecturer in Film at the Department of English and Related Literature, University of York.