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Romeo and Juliet (1936 film)
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Romeo and Juliet is a 1936 film adaptation of the play by Shakespeare, directed by George Cukor from a screenplay by Talbot Jennings. The film stars Leslie Howard as Romeo and Norma Shearer as Juliet. Other cast members included John Barrymore as Mercutio, Edna May Oliver as the Nurse, and Basil Rathbone as Tybalt.
Awards
Criticism
The film was highly praised, but some critics felt that the forty-two year old Howard, the thirty-four year old Shearer, and the fifty-four year old Barrymore were much too old for their roles. In those days, however, that was an accepted tradition. Leslie Howard had protested against being cast as Romeo, and repeatedly stated so in press interviews of the time. He was obliged to be in the movie by his contract. Irving Thalberg, who was married to Norma Shearer, conceived the film expressly as a vehicle for her.
Although some modern audiences and critics have a great affection for the film, most of today's younger viewers, unfamiliar with so-called Shakespeare "tradition", and having seen Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo and Juliet, find the 1936 version hopelessly outdated in its method of portraying the characters and its acting style. The film was also obviously made on Hollywood soundstages rather than on location in Italy.
Miscellany
- The movie was John Barrymore's only filmed Shakespearean role, other than a brief appearance as Richard III in the 1929 revue film Show of Shows, a short screen test for an unfilmed version of Hamlet. He played a parody of himself in his final film Playmates in 1941, the most memorable feature of which is Barrymore giving a touching reading of the "To Be or Not to Be" speech from Hamlet.
- Basil Rathbone was cast as a screen villain so often, that the only screen swordfight he ever won was as Tybalt (he defeats Mercutio before being killed in another swordfight).
- Although Rathbone was cast as Tybalt in this film, he had scored a major success playing Romeo on Broadway in 1934 opposite Katharine Cornell as Juliet.
- John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, and Robert Donat all turned down the part of Romeo before Leslie Howard took the role. Gielgud and Olivier didn't think that a Shakespearean play would transfer to film, and Donat refused to leave England.
See also
External links
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