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Reviews21
hylinski's rating
This is a wonderful presentation of the immortal bard to the popular audience. A consistently brilliant cast and exuberant direction balance the unfortunate tendency to edit the original script which many movies seem to thing essential to give Shakespeare mass appeal. Apart from the slapstick of the watch (Michael Keaton and Ben Elton) there is little which was not clearly apparent in the original play.
The breadth of the sets and the unrestrained romance in the music finish off the glorious feel this film has throughout.
Possible the finest romantic comedy of all time with the possible exception of Twelth Night.
The breadth of the sets and the unrestrained romance in the music finish off the glorious feel this film has throughout.
Possible the finest romantic comedy of all time with the possible exception of Twelth Night.
Joseph Fiennes is a fine actor, and the consistency of his performance is very much the centrepiece of this movie. There are elements of the script which don't seem as coherent, but I could gloss over these because of his consistency.
I like the look of the movie, and the direction costumes and sets complemented each other well, and this was maintained in recounting present day and 'flashback' experiences.
There are comparisons to other films which could be made, especially to Blue Velvet. Indeed Dennis Hopper could have made the two films without changing stride. And Fiennes' character is similar to that played by his brother Ralph in Cronenberg's masterpiece Spider, without the same degree of madness.
I picked up fairly early on the way the plot would head, and I was right. The late novelist Kurt Vonnegut used to often tell the reader how the book would end in the first chapters, and yet the books were compelling. I found this equally so.
I like the look of the movie, and the direction costumes and sets complemented each other well, and this was maintained in recounting present day and 'flashback' experiences.
There are comparisons to other films which could be made, especially to Blue Velvet. Indeed Dennis Hopper could have made the two films without changing stride. And Fiennes' character is similar to that played by his brother Ralph in Cronenberg's masterpiece Spider, without the same degree of madness.
I picked up fairly early on the way the plot would head, and I was right. The late novelist Kurt Vonnegut used to often tell the reader how the book would end in the first chapters, and yet the books were compelling. I found this equally so.
Oh dear.
I have wanted to see this ever since reading the book and seeing Bill Murray's competent version. This movie was like Sunday School in comparison. The direction is as bad as high school dramatics, the acting formulaic, the art direction lamentable and the dialogue is much, much worse.
There are a few less bad things. Clifton Webb, who seems to adore being cast as a curmudgeon, is characteristically annoying as Eliot Templeton, Anne Baxter the best of a bad bunch as Sophie and John Payne is competent as Gray Maturin.
This film was actually nominated for best picture of 1946. I think you would have had to have lived then to know why.
I have wanted to see this ever since reading the book and seeing Bill Murray's competent version. This movie was like Sunday School in comparison. The direction is as bad as high school dramatics, the acting formulaic, the art direction lamentable and the dialogue is much, much worse.
There are a few less bad things. Clifton Webb, who seems to adore being cast as a curmudgeon, is characteristically annoying as Eliot Templeton, Anne Baxter the best of a bad bunch as Sophie and John Payne is competent as Gray Maturin.
This film was actually nominated for best picture of 1946. I think you would have had to have lived then to know why.