Romeo and Juliet | |
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Directed by | Renato Castellani |
Written by | Renato Castellani |
Based on | Romeo and Juliet 1597 play by William Shakespeare |
Produced by | |
Starring |
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Cinematography | Robert Krasker |
Edited by | Sidney Hayers |
Music by | Roman Vlad |
Production companies | Universalcine Verona Produzione |
Distributed by | General Film Distributors United Artists [1] |
Release dates |
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Running time | 138 minutes |
Countries |
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Languages | English Italian |
Romeo and Juliet (Italian : Giulietta e Romeo) is a 1954 film adaptation of the Shakespearean tragedy of the same name. It is directed and written for the screen by Renato Castellani, and stars Laurence Harvey as Romeo and newcomer Susan Shentall as Juliet, with Flora Robson, Mervyn Johns, Bill Travers, Sebastian Cabot, Enzo Fiermonte and John Gielgud. A British and Italian co-production, [2] it was released in the United Kingdom by General Film Distributors on September 1, 1954.
The film won the Golden Lion at 15th Venice International Film Festival, and was nominated for three BAFTA Awards, including Best Film and Outstanding British Film. The American National Board of Review named it Best Foreign Film and Castellani the Best Director of 1954. Despite the critical acclaim, the film was a commercial disappointment.
Joan Collins was originally announced to play Juliet, [3] but was replaced by Susan Shentall. A well-known stage Romeo, John Gielgud, played Castellani's chorus (and would reprise the role in the 1978 BBC Shakespeare version). Laurence Harvey, as Romeo, was already an experienced screen actor, who would shortly take over roles intended for the late James Dean in Walk on the Wild Side and Summer and Smoke . [4] By contrast, Susan Shentall, as Juliet, was a secretarial student who was discovered by the director in a London pub, and was cast for her "pale sweet skin and honey-blonde hair." [5] She surpassed the demands of the role, but married shortly after the shoot, and never returned to the screen. [5] [6]
Other parts were played by inexperienced actors, also: Mercutio was played by an architect, Montague by a gondolier from Venice, and the Prince by a novelist. [6]
The film was shot at Pinewood Studios near London and on location in Italy, utilizing Renaissance-era architecture in Verona, Venice, Siena, and other cities. [7] The costumes were designed by Leonor Fini.
Renato Castellani won the Grand Prix at the Venice Film Festival for his 1954 film of Romeo and Juliet. [8] His film contains interpolated scenes intended to establish the class system and Catholicism of Renaissance Verona, and the nature of the feud. Some of Castellani's changes have been criticised as ineffective: interpolated dialogue is often banal, and the Prince's appearances are reimagined as formal hearings, undermining the spontaneity of Benvolio's defence of Romeo's behaviour in the duel scene. [9]
The major supporting roles are vastly reduced, including that of the nurse; Mercutio becomes (in the words of Daniel Rosenthal) "the tiniest of cameos", as does Tybalt, and Friar Laurence "an irritating ditherer", [6] although Pauline Kael, who admired the film, praised Mervyn Johns's performance, claiming that he transformed the Friar from a tiresome presence to "a radiantly silly little man". [10] Castellani's most prominent changes related to Romeo's character, cutting back or removing scenes involving his parents, Benvolio and Mercutio in order to highlight Romeo's isolation, and inserting a parting scene in which Montague coldly pulls his banished son out of Lady Montague's farewell embrace. [9]
Another criticism made by film scholar Patricia Tatspaugh is that the realism of the settings, so carefully established throughout the film, "goes seriously off the rails when it come to the Capulets' vault". [9] Castellani uses competing visual images in relation to the central characters: ominous grilles (and their shadows) contrasted with frequent optimistic shots of blue sky. [11] The fatal encounter between Romeo and Tybalt is here not an actual fight; the enraged Romeo simply rushes up to Tybalt and stabs him, taking him by surprise.
Critics responded to the film as a piece of cinema (its visuals were especially admired in Italy, where it was filmed) but not as a performance of Shakespeare's play: Robert Hatch in The Nation said "We had come to see a play... perhaps we should not complain that we were shown a sumptuous travelogue", and Time ′s reviewer added that "Castellani's Romeo and Juliet is a fine film poem... Unfortunately it is not Shakespeare's poem!" [12]
Commercially response to the film was underwhelming. One journalist described it as the "unchallenged flop of the year". [13]
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with Hamlet, is one of his most frequently performed. Today, the title characters are regarded as archetypal young lovers.
Romeo and Juliet is a 1968 period romantic tragedy film, based on the play of the same name by William Shakespeare. Directed and co-written by Franco Zeffirelli, the film stars Leonard Whiting as Romeo and Olivia Hussey as Juliet. Laurence Olivier spoke the film's prologue and epilogue and dubs the voice of Antonio Pierfederici, who played Lord Montague but was not credited on-screen. The cast also features Milo O'Shea, Michael York, John McEnery, Bruce Robinson, and Robert Stephens.
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Romeo and Juliet is a 1936 American film adapted from the play by William Shakespeare, directed by George Cukor from a screenplay by Talbot Jennings. The film stars Leslie Howard as Romeo and Norma Shearer as Juliet, and the supporting cast features John Barrymore, Basil Rathbone, and Andy Devine.
Tybalt is a character in William Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. He is the son of Lady Capulet's brother, Juliet's short-tempered first cousin, and Romeo's rival. Tybalt shares the same name as the character Tibert / Tybalt "the prince of cats" in the popular story Reynard the Fox, a point of mockery in the play. Mercutio repeatedly calls Tybalt "prince of cats", in reference to his sleek, yet violent manner.
Mercutio is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's 1597 tragedy, Romeo and Juliet. He is a close friend to Romeo and a blood relative to Prince Escalus and Count Paris. As such, Mercutio is one of the named characters in the play with the ability to mingle around those of both houses. The invitation to Lord Capulet's party states that he has a brother named Valentine.
Benvolio Montague is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet. He is Lord Montague's nephew and Romeo's cousin. Benvolio serves as an unsuccessful peacemaker in the play, attempting to prevent violence between the Capulet and Montague families.
Roméo et Juliette is an opera in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. It was first performed at the Théâtre Lyrique, Paris on 27 April 1867. This opera is notable for the series of four duets for the main characters and the waltz song "Je veux vivre" for the soprano.
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Count Paris or County Paris is a fictional character in William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. He is a suitor of Juliet. He is handsome, wealthy, and a kinsman to Prince Escalus.
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Romeo Montague is the male protagonist of William Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet. The son of Lord Montague and his wife, Lady Montague, he secretly loves and marries Juliet, a member of the rival House of Capulet, through a priest named Friar Laurence.
William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet may be one of the most-screened plays of all time. The most notable theatrical releases were George Cukor's multi-Oscar-nominated 1936 production Romeo and Juliet, Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 film Romeo and Juliet, and Baz Luhrmann's 1996 MTV-inspired Romeo + Juliet. The latter two were both, at the time, the highest-grossing Shakespeare films. Cukor featured the mature actors Norma Shearer and Leslie Howard as the teenage lovers while Zeffirelli populated his film with beautiful young people, and Baz Luhrmann produced a heavily cut fast-paced version aimed at teenage audiences.
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