Shakespeare in the Cinema : Ocular Proof

A comprehensive look at film adaptations of Shakespeares plays.

Offering a comprehensive look at the strategies that filmmakers have employed in adapting Shakespeares plays to the cinema, this book investigates what the task of Shakespearean adaptation reveals about film in general and focuses on patterns and approaches shared by various cinematic works. Buhler provides concise histories of each general strategy, which include non-illusionistic cinema, documentary interpretations, mass-market productions, transgressive and transnational cinema, and approaches that see film as either distinct from the stage or as an extension of theatrical traditions. The book spans more than a century of film, starting with the 1899 King John and extending through Michael Hoffmans A Midsummer Nights Dream, Julie Taymors Titus, and later releases.