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Shakespeare & Beyond

"A goodly prize": Award-winning Shakespeare movies

Photograph from Laurence Olivier's movie of Henry V: Olivier as Henry V. United Artists Corp. Folger Shakespeare Library.
Photograph from Laurence Olivier's movie of Henry V: Olivier as Henry V. United Artists Corp. Folger Shakespeare Library.

Since we’ve just completed the annual Hollywood marathon called “Awards Season” — several self-congratulatory months filled with the Independent Spirit Awards, the Golden Globe Awards, various guild awards from around the world, the British Film & Television Academy Awards (the Baftas), and capped off by the Academy Awards (the Oscars) — it might be interesting to see how well William Shakespeare has succeeded in collecting “gallant prize[s].”

Despite having written only 38 plays, William Shakespeare has racked up almost 1,500 writing credits in the Internet Movie Database (IMDb), making him the most-filmed author in the history of the movies. These date back to the very first appearance of a Shakespeare play on film, a short silent excerpt, from 1899, of Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree’s production of King John, to the recent 2018 TV production of King Lear starring Anthony Hopkins.

The first filmed Shakespeare play to receive any “honorable spoil[s]” was Max Reinhardt’s 1935 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, based on his epic live extravaganza staged at the Hollywood Bowl. Starring James Cagney as Bottom, Mickey Rooney as Puck, and Olivia de Havilland as Hermia, the film received a nomination for Best Picture and two Academy Awards for Best Cinematography and Editing. 1936’s Romeo and Juliet received acting nominations for Norma Shearer and Basil Rathbone but took home no prizes, and Laurence Olivier’s Henry V in 1946, despite four Oscar nominations (including Best Picture and Best Actor), only won an Honorary Award for Olivier’s “Outstanding Achievement” in his triple capacity of actor, director, and producer in bringing Shakespeare’s play to the screen.

Comments

I Like Branagh’s “HENRY V” & “HAMLET” More. I Keep Sir Larry O’s Shakespeare Films In The Always Interesting Viewing Catagory. **** Sean X.

Sean Andrew Heaney — February 19, 2020