Do you have a favorite scene from a film version of a Shakespearean play?

The scene in Romeo and Juliet that you linked to was the exact scene that I had in mind! I love that whole movie and there are several other scenes in it that I really enjoyed, but I think the opening was probably my favorite. I also really loved this scene, where they are seeing each other for the first time through the fish tank.

This one’s fun.

There are so many it’s hard to choose! So I will say the first one that springs to mind which is the opening scene in Kenneth Branagh’s version of Much Ado about Nothing. It’s when the soldiers return to Leonato’s house and the women all run and jump in the fountain to bath and then rush inside and change into fresh white gowns to welcome them joyfully. It’s such a beautiful moment. I could not find a clip so instead I leave you with this one. “There’s a double meaning in that!” They were married when they did this scene. Hey nonny nonny.

I wrote a paper about Act V scene III of Romeo and Juliet when I was in college. On a friends suggestion, I rented a video of the Zefferelli movie that was made in the 60’s. The movie version of the scene where the Prince screams “all are punish-ed!” and it sort of echoes is really cool. In the movie he is clearly angry. On paper, he is mournful and reflective. The paper was about the tragic nature of human conflict. I handed the paper in and forgot about it. I have watched the movie and that scene several times since.

josie I love that speech too. I still have it memorized after all these years! The way he says “All are punish-ed!!!” just seeped into my brain forever when I heard it. Plus I used to have a recording of some of the scenes that I played over and over again.

In the movie Ran which a Japanese take on King Lear, I like a scene where a woman is pleading to her husband some mercies for her blood family who were subjugated by his. She was actually married to him to soothe things between the conquered and the conquerors. In any case, the scene: she is kneeling before the husband, all low sweet voice, a little tear runs on her cheek and then “SQUASH!”, she smooshes a moth or bug as it flops on the ground in front of her. In the next few seconds, she lunges and slits her husband’s throat.

I love the exchange between Hamlet and Polonius in Act 2 Scene 2. It’s from the film version of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s 2009 production.

The arrow thru the neck scene from Throne of Blood

This scene… The ending cracks me up every time.

I love the scene from Branagh’s version of Henry V where Emma Thompson, as the French princess, is getting an English lesson from her lady in waiting.