Day 20: Your favorite movie adaptation of a play

[a_t_rain]

I feel slightly guilty for stealing angevin2's probable answer to this question, especially since she introduced me to the movie in question, but hey -- there cannot be too many posts about this film.



I'm going to assume that Chimes at Midnight counts as an "adaptation" rather than a "version" of the Henry IV plays, even though virtually all of the dialogue is Shakespearean, since the text has been significantly cut and reshaped. This is definitely Falstaff and Hal's story, not the king's (although one can make a good case that the Henry IV plays, or at least Part 2, aren't really the king's story either) -- but at any rate, this film strips down the multiple story lines of the second tetralogy and shapes them into a single one, about fathers and sons and friendship and betrayal, and it works surprisingly well. Orson Welles is a terrific Falstaff, capturing both the warmth and humor and the tragic, willful blindness of the character. And the ending is a total gut-punch.

A snippet, comprising Hal's "I know you all" speech, Hotspur and Kate being adorable, and Falstaff disguised as a monk. (I repeat: FALSTAFF AS A MONK. It's worth seeing for that alone.)



Day #1: Your favorite play
Day #2: Your favorite character
Day #3: Your favorite hero
Day #4: Your favorite heroine
Day #5: Your favorite villain
Day #6: Your favorite villainess
Day #7: Your favorite clown
Day #8: Your favorite comedy
Day #9: Your favorite tragedy
Day #10: Your favorite history
Day #11: Your least favorite play
Day #12: Your favorite scene
Day #13: Your favorite romantic scene
Day #14: Your favorite fight scene
Day #15: The first play you read
Day #16: Your first play you saw
Day #17: Your favorite speech
Day #18: Your favorite dialogue
Day #19: Your favorite movie version of a play
Day #20: Your favorite movie adaptation of a play
Day #21: An overrated play
Day #22: An underrated play
Day #23: A role you've never played but would love to play
Day #24: An actor or actress you would love to see in a particular role
Day #25: Sooner or later, everyone has to choose: Hal or Falstaff?
Day #26: Your favorite couple
Day #27: Your favorite couplet
Day #28: Your favorite joke
Day #29: Your favorite sonnet
Day #30: Your favorite single line

Comments

[cisic.livejournal.com]

hmm... great film... but not sure whether I would call it an adaption or a version... I suppose there are arguments on both sides. But I think I'm more inclined to go with version due to the presence of Shakespeare text.

[a-t-rain.livejournal.com]

Eh, I think significant transformation of the original work = adaptation.