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Reviews
The Tragedy of Coriolanus (1984)
Cornholio
A play like Coriolanus requires a linear adaption. For whatever reason, the people in charge of this production decided cut to different locations in A1S1 (compare to Richard II, where the camera and framing gives the audience understanding of where Aumerle &co. is in relation to Henry).
A1S4 cuts from a speech to three seconds of Coriolanus's mother and wife sowing and then back to the scene because...?
And the amount of abridgement is simply offensive.
The BBC Television Shakespeare: King Richard the Second (1978)
Richard II: Electric Boogaloo
There is little alteration of the play. Derek Jacobi gives an Emmy worthy performance and Jon Finch is close behind. A nice addition to the BBC series.
Love's Labour's Lost (1985)
Lost My Love of the Labour
Despite hilarious laugh out loud scenes and wonderful performances, this adaption fails at fidelity.
Scenes are not only swapped, but cut and pasted, and there is a lot of dialogue removed. Being that this is a play about wordplay, puns, innuendos, etc. cutting lines is a large no.
On another note, Moth appears older than Don Armando, which distracts when he is referred to as an adolescent (John Wilder agrees).
If you have not read the play, then do not watch this expecting a perfect page to screen translation.
Troilus & Cressida (1981)
It's All Greek To Me
Admittedly, this is a weak play and so even a faithful adaption would not do well. What do I mean? Shakespeare shows both sides of the conflict, but unlike Homer's Iliad where it is done to humanize (as the focus is on an entire war and the lives lost), showing the Greek side in this play serves little point up until Cressida arrives at the camp. There is a scene set in Agamemnon's tent where the topic is Achilles' pride, despite Achilles being a bit part and being presented in this play not as a demigod (son of Thetis), but a coward who cannot defeat a human in combat, which makes me wonder why this version of Achilles was so valued by the Greeks in the first place. In the Iliad, he tears through the ranks and chases Hector three times around the Trojan walls before killing him in single combat (but I digress).
There is a subplot where it is revealed Achilles is in love with one of Priam's daughters and so he will not fight (nothing comes of it -- as a matter of fact the subplot appears to be dropped). One could argue this has to do with the theme of people's capricious nature, and they may be right, but it appears on the surface as things being introduced to then either be forgotten about or finished in an underwhelming manner.
Despite running over 3 hours, the BBC (rightfully) made cuts, such as A4S3 (less than 100 words) and some Thersites' Dialogue. Although I do not like that they left out the first battle between Hector and Achilles where Hector spares his foe -- a very important scene.
This adaption marked the first time I've seen old, balding men play Greek and Trojan heroes. The actors were awesome, and I did not expect someone who looks like Brad Pitt with 8 pack abs to play Achilles, but could the casting agents not find a 6'5 man to play Ajax? Or someone slightly younger to play Ulysses and Hector? And the line that Troilus just got his beard hairs falls flat when the actor sports a full beard and was played by a 29 year old.
The BBC Television Shakespeare: Measure for Measure (1979)
It measures up
First, I want to praise John McEnery for his wonderful performance which steals the show. Next, I'll say that this is a must watch for one looking for a faithful adaption. I could see this video being played in schools (if MFM were to ever be assigned over Macbeth, R&J, Othello, etc.)
The Life and Death of King John (1984)
Long Live the Bard.
Pro:
A version of the play faithful to Shakespeare's words (to the letter).
Con:
Two players -- the one for Arthur and the one for Philip/Richard -- were not believable. The former had 'confused eyes' in every scene as if he did not understand what he was saying (to be fair this was the actor's only credit). The latter had awkward movements that did not match the confidence of the braggart he played. When he first appeared on screen with Robert, I had the characters mixed up, as his brother looked more like King John than he did.
If one is looking for a faithful adaption, this is it.