Shakespeare in the Cinema: Ocular Proof (SUNY Cultural Studies in Cinema/Video series) [Paperback]

Stephen, M. Buhler (Author)

Book Description

Series: SUNY Series Cultural Studies in Cinema/Video | Publication Date: November 29, 2001

A comprehensive look at film adaptations of Shakespeare's plays.

Editorial Reviews

Review

...a veritable symphony of intertextuality constructed entirely of the semiotics of Shakespeare in moving images. -- Shakespeare Bulletin 20.1 (Winter 2002): 39-41

Treating both canonical and noncanonical films . . . (the book) holds its own in a now-cluttered field. -- Choice, July 1, 2002

[This] readable and informative book . . . revels in how celluloid and electronics have challenged traditional ways of looking at Shakespeare. -- Cineaste 28.1(Winter 2002): 54 --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the Back Cover

Offering a comprehensive look at the strategies that filmmakers have employed in adapting Shakespeare's plays to the cinema, this book investigates what the task of Shakespearean adaptation reveals about film in general and focuses on patterns and approaches shared by various cinematic works. Buhler provides concise histories of each general strategy, which include non-illusionistic cinema, documentary interpretations, mass-market productions, transgressive and transitional cinema, and approaches that see film as either distinct from the stage or as an extension of theatrical traditions. The book spans more than a century of film, starting with the 1899 King John and extending through Michael Hoffman's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Julie Taymor's Titus, and later releases.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 226 pages
• Publisher: State University of New York Press (November 29, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0791451402
• ISBN-13: 978-0791451403
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #569,826 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars What Shakespeare Says About Film, October 31, 2006

By 

Macready Lawes (The Acoastal Regions) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Shakespeare in the Cinema: Ocular Proof (SUNY Cultural Studies in Cinema/Video series) (Paperback)

Fun to read and even more fun when tracking down unfamiliar films and when revisiting classic movie versions of Shakespeare's plays. Following in the tradition of critics like Kenneth Rothwell and Samuel Crowl, Buhler is warmly appreciative of most efforts to translate Shakespeare into film. Along with such theory-alert scholars as Courtney Lehmann and Richard Burt, he is also interested in how the "Shakespeare industry" fits into larger cultural movements. The chapter on the contest between Laurence Olivier and Orson Welles as directors -- and on what Kenneth Branagh learned from that battle -- is especially insightful and provocative.