I have to admit, i didn't buy this DVD, I won it but after watching it for the first time i think i would have bought it anyway.
~ Plot ~
The story evolves around the king and his three friends, who take a vow of no women, booze and little food for three years in order to concentrate ... Read review
Having taken Shakespeare at his word onHamlet(i.e., not cutting a single syllable out of a ... more
very long play), Kenneth Branagh selects a more radical approach withLove's Labour's Lost. Here the prolific director-star weeds out much of the play's dialogue,...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Acclaimed actor/director Kenneth Branagh shakes up Shakespeare with a dazzling and ... more
imaginative adaptation of the classic comedy romance done in the elegant style of a '30s Hollywood musical.The King of Natarre asks three fellow Oxford students to swear...
Having taken Shakespeare at his word onHamlet(i.e., not cutting a single syllable out of a ... more
very long play), Kenneth Branagh selects a more radical approach withLove's Labour's Lost. Here the prolific director-star weeds out much of the play's dialogue,...
Postage & Packaging: Free! Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours...
Kenneth Branagh shakes up Shakespeare again with a dazzling and imaginative adaptation of ... more
the classic comedy romance done in the elegant style of a thirties Hollywood musical. The King of Navarre asks three fellow Oxford students to swear an oath forb...
Postage & Packaging: £0.00 Availability: 3-5 working days
The most enjoyable way to understand a Shakespeare play is through performance. This new ... more
edition of Shakespeare's dazzling comedy, developed by and for the RSC, examines the play's performance history and provides outstanding on-page notes as well as insightful interviews from important directors Terry Hands, Liz Shipman and Gregory Doran.
The most enjoyable way to understand a Shakespeare play is through performance. This new ... more
edition of Shakespeare's dazzling comedy, developed by and for the RSC, examines the play's performance history and provides insightful interviews from important directors Terry Hands, Liz Shipman and Gregory Doran, as well as outstanding on-page notes.
Shakespeare meets MGM is nothing new, ever since Cole Porter adapted The Taming of the ... more
Shrew as Kiss Me, Kate (1953). The twist with Kenneth Branagh's Love's Labours Lost, though, is that the play is made to look like a classic Hollywood musical, complete with grandly staged production numbers. It is a novel approach to resurrecting this most neglected of the Bard's comedies, although one that presented composer Patrick Doyle with some tough challenges. Doyle's music has been an inestimable asset to Branagh's previous Shakespeare movies--Henry V (1989), Much Ado About Nothing (1993) and Hamlet (1996)--but here the brief was to work around a selection of Golden Age standards from Gershwin, Porter, Kern and Berlin. Thankfully, the result really does feel like an organic whole, with the songs acting "like arias, springing out of a moment to highlight a thought or to advance the narrative", as the composer observes in the CD booklet. The original score itself is a quintessential Patrick Doyle creation--ebullient, vibrant and brimful of lyrical invention--and the tricky segues from underscore to songs and back again are seamlessly handled. The orchestrations and song arrangements are courtesy of a team led by Doyle's regular musical collaborator, Lawrence Ashmore, and they certainly have a lush, Hollywood feel without sounding quite like authentic MGM (you will have to go back to the masterful arrangements of Conrad Salinger and André Previn among others to hear the real McCoy). If there is a problem with the album it is that here we have actors who can sing instead of singers who can act. In the movie this works perfectly well, but away from the screen one can't help but miss the vocal glories of Howard Keel, Doris Day or Judy Garland. Still, with Patrick Doyle at his sunny best this is a delightful album, and one which just goes to prove that in Shakespeare, anything goes. --Mark Walker
Postage & Packaging:Free! Availability:Usually dispatched within 1 to 3 weeks...
Production Year: 2007 - Drama - Director: Mike Binder - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Adam Sandler, Don Cheadle, Jada Pinkett, Liv Tyler, Saffron Burrows, Donald Sutherland, Mike Binder
Production Year: 1998 - Drama - Director: Carl Franklyn, Carl Franklin - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Meryl Streep, William Hurt, Renee Zellweger, Tom Everett Scott, Nicky Katt, Lauren Graham
Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Advantages: It's funny, good to look at, enjoyable and fun! Disadvantages: I don't know how acurate it is and if you hate musicals i wouldn't bother watching it.
I have to admit, i didn't buy this DVD, I won it but after watching it for the first time i think i would have bought it anyway.
~ Plot ~
The story evolves around the king and his three friends, who take a vow of no women, booze and little food for three years in order to concentrate on their studies. Then who happens to show up, a French Princess and her three friends (Yes, just so happens that there are equal numbers) ... ...Of course, it being a Shakespeare play, there's lots of disguises, trickery and a funny sublet to comment on the main story line but you might just be a little bit shocked when the characters start to sing and dance. Yes, that's right folks, Kenneth's turned it into a musical.
~ Music and Dance ~
The play is set in the glitz and glamour of the 1930's, with the second world war as a more sober back drop, and so the ... more
I have to admit, i didn't buy this DVD, I won it but after watching it for the first time i think i would have bought it anyway.
~ Plot ~
The story evolves around the king and his three friends, who take a vow of no women, booze and little food for three years in order to concentrate on their studies. Then who happens to show up, a French Princess and her three friends (Yes, just so happens that there are equal numbers) and all of the vows go out of the window! Of course, it being a Shakespeare play, there's lots of disguises, trickery and a funny sublet to comment on the main story line but you might just be a little bit shocked when the characters start to sing and dance. Yes, that's right folks, Kenneth's turned it into a musical.
~ Music and Dance ~
The play is set in the glitz and glamour of the 1930's, with the second world war as a more sober back drop, and so the musical numbers reflect this. If you listen to Branagh's commentary on the DVD, he mentions how some of the songs he used are well know, but people tend not to recognize the versus. I found out that a lot of the lyric that i knew were wrong. Here's a list of the songs. "I Get a Kick Out of You" "They Can't Take That Away from Me" "The Way You Look Tonight" "Cheek to Cheek" "I've Got a Crush on You" "Let's Face the Music and Dance" "No Strings (I'm Fancy Free)" "There's No business Like Showbusiness" All songs from in and around the 30's period that fit in with what is actually happening in the play. The actors also do their own singing and dancing, they spent three and a half weeks in special rehearsals, and i think that it could have turned out to tacky if it was pushed to far but it works with this story and actually completes the narrative and design.
~ Cast ~
Kenneth Branagh (Wild Wild West) directed and wrote the adaptation, but he also starts as Berowne, the King's second hand man. Alessandro Nivola (Best Laid Plans) as the King and Alicia Silverston (Clueless, of course) as the Princess. There's also Matthew Lillard (Remember him in Scream?), Natascha McElhone (Trueman's love interest in the Truman show), Timothy Spall, and the list goes on and on! Watch out for Adrian Lester, his dance moves are excellent. All of the cast give a funny and entertaining performance, better than i thought they would since this is a new medium for them. ~ Design ~ The overall affect of the movie is spectacular and surreal at times. The costumes compliment the story (And help you remember which character is which, just in case you get confused) and some of the scenery designed is beautiful.
~ DVD Extra's ~
Where do i start? 5 deleted scenes, which are explained if you listen to the commentary over the movie. Out-takes that are very funny, a featurette showing them rehearsing the songs and dance routines and the original trailer that was shown.
~ Overall ~
Well, i think I've rambled on for far too log now. I enjoyed the movie and the extras were great I'm not sure how much of it is true to the original Shakespeare play (There's a great bit where Branagh taps out the Iambic Pentameter.) as i haven't read it but still enjoyable. If you hated Casablanca, Singing in the Rain and all that type of stuff, then you may not like this, but watch it anyway because it's fun!
Commentary By Kenneth Branagh, Out Takes And Featurette, Five Deleted Scenes, Original Theatrical Trailer
Aspect Ratio
1.85 Wide Screen
Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1
Dubbing Sound
Dolby Digital 5.1 English
Professional reviews
Review
"...This particular Shakespearean romp qualifies as a winning example of actors stepping outside their usual personas and scoring a knockout." (Movieline, pp.34-5, 01/06/2000)
"...The film ends with a long, sweetly melancholic sequence....You leave the theater tipsy on Shakespeare's raillery and Ira Gershwin's wit, as though you'd had a glass or two of cheap champagne..." (New York Times, p.E12, 12/06/2000)
"...The intimate moments often sparkle. Nivola, Lester and McElhone display a lovely ease..." (Rolling Stone, p.140, 22/06/2000)
"...[The film features] Natascha McElhone's typically striking presence..." (USA Today, p.11E, 21/06/2000)
"...A luscious labor of love....The overall effect is knowing and joyful at the same time..." (Variety, p.36-7, 21/02/2000)
DVD Description
Kenneth Branagh's musical adaptation of Shakespeare's comedy sets the action in the last few days before the start of World War II. In the fictional kingdom of Navarre, King Ferdinand (Alessandro Nivola) and three chums take vow to study rigorously and avoid women for three years. Their vow is immediately tested with the surprise visit of the Princess of France (Alicia Silverstone) with three ladies-in-waiting. Romantic merriment ensues as each of the men fall in love and attempt to woo the ladies without being caught. Branagh's film features musical numbers by Cole Porter, Irving Berlin, and others performed in the classic style of 1930s MGM musicals.
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