Type of bind: Video On Demand
Release Date: January 30, 2008
Running Time: 215 minutes
Sale Popularity Level: 2086
Studio: BBC
Theatrical Release Date: November 09, 1980
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Rated by buyers 
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The BBC did something really ambitious here. to produce all of Shakespeare's plays with some of the leading British actors of the time was no easy undertaking. But...this portion of the collection did not come out as good as it might have. Still, there are good plays in it with many fine performances. Hamlet, Julius Ceasare, and Romeo and Juliet were more or less up the standards one would hold for these actors and the BBC in general. Derek Jacobi gives a wonderful performance as Hamlet. His range of emitions and the speed with which he can shift from one emotion to the other is quite remarkable. I found his Hamlet to be one thinking things through all the time. One who isnt sure at very first to the answers to the questions he asks himself but comes to conclusions after much thought. He also pokes fun at the comic characters in the play (Polonius, Osric, ect)with a savage wit. Yet he can bring himself to towering passions as well. Clare Bloom is quite impressive as the regal but still sexy Queen, and Patrick Stewart shows he can do Shakespeare with ease, which made me wonder why he didnt pursue it longer and instead turned to Star Trek (hardly high art). Romeo and Juliet was also a delight, keep an eye out for a younger Alan Rickman as Tybalt. Keith Michell totally sheds his Henry VIII and gives a powerhouse Brando-like performance as Marc Antony. then there is Macbeth and Othello... I was shocked these plays were soooooo bad because the cast seemed so impressive. Nichol Williamson simply cannot do Shakespeare, he looked like a drooling imbecile for half the play...it appears that his only technique for doing Shakespeare was opening his eyes very wide and speaking into the camera. he looks totally miscast for the part, like a hairy village idiot who wandered onto the set. Lady Macbeth appears to be having an orgasm in half her lines and the supporting cast aint much better. Othello was a real shock, Hopkins was a frizzy haired fop hissing out his lines most of the time and Hoskins looked like some school yard punk playing dirty tricks on the teacher. Hoskins just isnt meant for this kind of role (if you want to see a film where his performance will blow you away stick to The Long Good Saturday and Mona Lisa). So these two plays really bring the collection down. still, the other three are a delight.
Rated by buyers 
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Jacoby is unforgettable in this one! A distinctive treatment
of H's passion and energy. One of the very top performances.
We need this available in a single DVD!
Rated by buyers -
To anyone who is thinking of buying more than one of these overpriced sets, consider purchasing a region-free dvd player and heading over to amazon.co.uk. Their set of all 37 plays is 100 pounds (about 200 bucks). Cyberhome sells a region-free player for around 50 dollars...do the math.
Rated by buyers -
William Shakespeare's tragedy of love, twisted love and deceit and treachery has been presented many times and from many angles. Thus the real task of a reviewer is to decide whether the presentation holds up to the bard's intention. This BBC production overall does so but with a couple of complains from this quarter. Anthony Hopkins plays Othello here. His reading of the role is to make Othello something of a frantic and hysterical lover and husband. These qualities make it hard to believe that, given this characterization, that Othello would be chosen to lead the military defense of Venice and its commerical interests.
Great warriors, in any case, do not necessarily have to be prudent lovers, or prudent anything else for that matter. Although it is easy to see how this Othello will come to a bad end it is hard to see that as tragic on this reading. As for the other important role, Iago, played here by Bob Hoskins, it is hard to see that even a jealousy and susceptible Othello could take his offerings on faith. There is just a little too much of the modern gangster here (a genre that Hoskins excels at) for my tastes. My read on Iago calls for more cunning and much more guile. Desdemonda is mainly window dressing here, although it is not hard to see that she would for Othello. However, as always with a full presentation of Shakespeare (3 hours 20 minutes) savor the language. That is worth the price of admission.
Rated by buyers -
these are the best Shakespeare plays made and word for word in entirety.No digests or snippets where the Producer decides what is an important scene from an unimportant(because every scene is important).No forty year old Romeos or thirtyish"spinster" Juliets here.Juliet is 14(or 13?) and looks the part in these Shakespeare plays.The innocence of youth,the music it's all kept in mind to enhance your Shakespearian experience.After I saw the Romeo and Juliet in this set I was hooked and spoiled,other portrayals leave me flat!I get the feeling i'm actually in the theatre and it's 1600 or something.The characters get their full due and are not just there to support the main players.Mercutio,a duelist and Tybalt,another duelist are headed for a clash and you can just feel the tension boiling in this version.Get some peanuts and popcorn,because this fight is going to be better than Ali-Frazier and these 2 guys are playing for keeps.Tybalt comes to Mercutio,"Mercutio thou consortist with Romeo" he says.Mercutio has just been slighted to the point of a murderous rage although Tybalt intended to disrespect Romeo by these words.Now Tybalt has double the problem with both Romeo and Mercutio.Suddenly Romeo is the least of Tybalt's problems.Both of these characters are vital to this play and in this BBC version are given their due. This version is the standard to measure all the other "imitations".
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