by Kenneth Andrews

Created on: February 04, 2009

There have been so many film adapations of Shakespeare's plays, either explicitly or in a loose 'updated' sense, that it's often tough to separate the wheat (Kenneth Branagh's 1996 Hamlet) from the chaff (Mel Gibson's slightly earlier attempt), the straight adaptations (Romeo + Juliet) to the quirky updates (Ten Things I Hate About You) to the 'inspired by' efforts (The Lion King). Below are some interesting ones to look out for.

Midsummer Night's Dream
Please note that I'm talking here about the British adaptation of the Royal Shakespeare Company's seminal 90's stage production, which was adapted for cinemas with the original cast. Not to be confused with the more recent Hollywood version that translates the play ridiculously literally, Alex Jennings and Desmond Barritt lead a supremely brilliant cast in a dreamworld production where floating lightbulbs and umbrellas take the place of Athens' forest's trees. For all the wonderful staging, though, the focus is very much on the language and characterisation of one of Shakespeare's best loved plays.

Hamlet
It's been adapted many times indeed, but if you want the full Prince of Denmark cinematic experience, there's no option but the Branagh 1996 filmed version. Not a single line has been cut, but this four hour beast of a film never has time to get boring as Branagh salvaged his directorial reputation from the wreckage of the unfairly-maligned Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. The snowy grounds of Elsinor (Oxfordshire's Blenhim Palace) are wonderful, and a few interesting design choices lend rare interpretations to the text (Is Claudius in fact Hamlet's father? Their identical hair suggests it's a possibility). Most famous for being the film which cast Brian Blessed in his favourite role (as a beardy shouty king) and then made him whisper his lines.

Henry V
You could do much worse than watch Sir Laurence Olivier's classic adaptation of Henry V, but Branagh's Oscar-winning debut feature feels much fresher. With a glorious Patrick Doyle score, the glamour is taken out of the battlefield with the muddiest war I've ever seen. Look out for a very young Christian Bale as Boy. One of my favourite films, if I'm being honest, and so iconic that Branagh recited the key speeches at the historic concert to save Salisbury Cathedral's spire.

Richard III
Al Pacino's Looking for Richard is worth a look for academic interest, even if it really is a self-indulgent pile of nonsense (Al Pacino bangs on for hours about making Shakespeare speak to modern audiences and then plays Richard III as a mad hunchback straight from the Victorian school of acting). Better by far is Richard III, starring Sir Ian McKellen in the title role. McKellen is of course an incredibly versatile actor and you will never look at Gandalf in quite the same way again. Transforming what can be a predictable costume piece into a war film is a bold move that brings the play crashing into the modern age, and the way the 'A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!' line is handled is probably the single best updating of Shakespeare that has ever been updated. True fact.

Twelfth Night
In many respects, the film's attraction is its unlikely cast, as the direction is exactly the kind of 'posh people in frocks' effort that you'd expect from Shakespeare's melancholy comedy. Ben Kingsley, Richard E Grant, Mel Smith, Toby Stephens, Nigel Hawthorne and Helena Bonham Carter support Imogen Stubbs as Viola. Fantastic performances from all of the above, particularly Kingsley, make this unmissable viewing.

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