Romeo And Juliet (DVD)

...familiar with the tale of Romeo and Juliet, for those of you haven't it is a play created by William Shakespeare. Franco Zeffirelli an Italian film director made this play in to a movie in 1968.

===Cast / Characters===

Robert Stephens (Prince Escalus): This is the Prince of Verona

John McEnery (Mercutio): Mercutio is Romeo's close friend & a relative of the Prince

Paul Hardwick (Lord Capulet): ...
...
Leonard Whiting (Romeo): Romeo is the son of the Montague's & lover of Juliet.

Bruce Robinson (Benvolio): Benvolio is Romeo's cousin and friend.

Milo O'Shea (Friar Lawrence): Romeo's Advisor & confidant.

Roberto Bisacco (Count Paris): Count Paris wishes to marry Juliet.

===Synopsis===

The story is set in Verona (Italy) where two households are located the Montague's ... more

Introduction

I'm sure all of you may be familiar with the tale of Romeo and Juliet, for those of you haven't it is a play created by William Shakespeare. Franco Zeffirelli an Italian film director made this play in to a movie in 1968.

Cast / Characters

Robert Stephens (Prince Escalus): This is the Prince of Verona

John McEnery (Mercutio): Mercutio is Romeo's close friend & a relative of the Prince

Paul Hardwick (Lord Capulet): Lord Capulet is Juliet's loving father.

Natasha Perry (Lady Capulet): Lady Capulet is Juliet's mother & wife to Lord Capulet.

Olivia Hussey (Juliet): Juliet is the daughter of the Capulet's & lover of Romeo.

Michael York (Tybalt): Tybalt is the nephew of Lord Capulet & Cousin of Juliet.

Pat Heywood (Nurse): Juliet's servant and also someone she can talk to.

Antonio Pierfederici (Lord Montague): Lord Montague is the father of Romeo.

Esmeralda Ruspoli (Lady Montague): Lady Montague is Romeo's mother & wife of Lord Montague.

Leonard Whiting (Romeo): Romeo is the son of the Montague's & lover of Juliet.

Bruce Robinson (Benvolio): Benvolio is Romeo's cousin and friend.

Milo O'Shea (Friar Lawrence): Romeo's Advisor & confidant.

Roberto Bisacco (Count Paris): Count Paris wishes to marry Juliet.

Synopsis

The story is set in Verona (Italy) where two households are located the Montague's and the Capulet's. Both houses have been enemies for years, reasons for which are unknown. All of which is identical to the original play written by William Shakespeare.

The film opens at a market place where a fight broke out between members of the Montague's and Capulet's. As they were fighting with their swords they were also talking, oddly enough at the end of each sentence the shouted "Sir". Whilst they were fighting they were also laughing and joking about which let me to believe that they must have had a lot of fights between each other that they just don't care anymore. The fight is later broken up by the Prince who orders them to stop and drop their weapons, then threatens them with death next time as this is not the first time the Prince has had to stop the fight. I also noticed that they were wearing jerkins and pantaloons, these were clothing that was worn during William Shakespeare's time, so I'm guessing the director was trying to keep most of the original story the same. You may have noticed that the cut scenes are much longer than films we see nowadays. I find it kind of boring having to wait longer before we see the next scene but during the time this film was produced people were used to this.

Moving on, The Capulet's have a party planned where Count Paris is planning on winning Juliet's heart, Meanwhile Romeo, Mercutio & Benvolio crashes the party wearing masks. This party is where Romeo meets Juliet for the very first time, as soon as they saw each other they fell in love instantly. Later that night Juliet finds out that Romeo is a member of the Montague's family and is sworn enemies, but it is too late for Romeo and Juliet as their love for one another has blossomed. Now for the most memorable scenes, Romeo walks through the Capulet's garden hoping to see a glimpse of Juliet, he sees her on her balcony staring in to the sky. He describes her to himself as "The brightness of her cheek would shame those stars". He listens to her from distance talking about him, then she says "if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love, and I'll no longer be a Capulet". Romeo lets Juliet aware of his presence and pledges his love to her, as he does Juliet warns him of the Capulet's. She then tells Romeo that if his love is true then announces it faithfully if not then forget about her. What will happen to their love? Will Romeo or Count Paris marry Juliet? Watch the film and find out.

For those of you who want to know more read on otherwise please scroll down to the conclusion.

Here I have cut out some main parts so that I don't spoil the whole story for you, Romeo has returned after an exciting event, to the Market Square in search for his friends where he is intercepted by Tybalt. Romeo shakes his hand instead of getting involved in another fight, is there a reason why Romeo suddenly wants to respect Tybalt? Tybalt does not take kindly to Romeo's handshake and decides to wash it in the fountain as he does he splashes it on Mercutio and Benvolio deliberately. Mercutio calls to Tybalt and both of them star fighting, although Romeo objected to it. During the fight Tybalt accidently stabbed in the chest, he panicked and ran away, everyone cheered Mercutio's victory. Mercutio was injured but he says "a scratch", where is implies that it is a painless scratch so that no one gets worried. Mercutio repeats three times: "A plague of both your houses" then collapses to the floor. He is trying to imply that there is a curse between both their houses and that they will never get along. Will Mercutio be alright? Will the two families ever get along and acknowledge Romeo & Juliet's love?

Romeo who is not easily provoked completely lost himself after seeing his friends state and rushed after Tybalt. He caught Tybalt up then says "Either thou, or I, or both, must go with him". Which means either Romeo or Tybalt will also be in the same state as Mercutio. This portrays Romeo as a forgotten soul who does not care of his own well being, his only intent is to avenge for his friend. They fight vigorously and in the end Romeo is the successor as Tybalt is lying on the ground dead. Romeo exits the scene then appears in front of Friar Laurence where he explains what had happened. Friar Laurence holds Romeo's hand forgiving him for his sins. Here the director is trying to show the good side of Romeo so that the viewers feel pity for him and make them feel some emotion towards him. At this point the Director wants the Viewers to ask questions like: Will Romeo tells Juliet that he murdered her cousin Tybalt? Will she still accept him?

I am going to leave it at that and let those of you who have not seen it yet guessing, so if you want to know more buy the film!!!!

Conclusion

This film is the closest to the original play written by William Shakespeare. I found that in this film the characters used more dialogue which made it less interesting for me to watch; therefore the story was much slower compared to films nowadays including the Luhrmann version. One of the differences I noticed between the film and the play is that, in the play Tybalt stabs Mercutio deliberately unlike in the film where he is stabbed accidently. I think that the director made the right decision to change it because when Romeo killed Tybalt we felt more pity towards him knowing that he did not stab Mercutio on purpose. I think that there was more chemistry between the actors from this film compared to the Luhrmann film which made me feel into the movie. I may add that it is hard to understand what they are saying at times because of the english that was used during the time of Shakespeare. I would recommend this film to anyone as I loved this film, one of the best romance films I have seen. I also recommend Romeo + Juliet for those of you who are not so keen on watching an old film. First time I watched this film was during school years when I was doing GCSE's, I was asked to do a comparison between the two films for my english coursework.

Finally I would like to end this review on an amusing note, Below is a note taken from Wikipedia about the classification of the film.

The film was once rated G in the United States, but was later re-rated PG, in 1968 the only rating below R, primarily because of a nude scene featuring Whiting and Hussey. Zeffirelli had to get special permission for Hussey to appear nude in the film as she was only 15 years old at the time. Hussey later amusingly recalled that she was not permitted to view the film because it contained her own nudity.

Can be purchased for £4.98 at:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Romeo-Juliet-Leonard-Whiting/dp/B000085RNN/r ef=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1198560466&sr=8-2

also can be purchased for £5.99 at:

http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/110830/Romeo-And-Juliet/Product.html 

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