Catholic Film Reviews

My two oldest and I drove fifty miles to an art house cinema several years ago to see the Michael Radford film adaptation of one of Shakespeare’s thorniest “Problem Plays”, The Merchant of Venice.
Fascinating how many of Shakespeare’s alleged Comedies–defined primarily by the fact that there’s a “happy ending” for the main characters–are actually [...]

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Buy BBC Hamlet on DVD from Ambrose Video
Buy BBC Hamlet on VHS from Ambrose Video
It is also available from Ambrose Video as part of a boxed set of 5 DVDs of the BBC Shakespeare Tragedies. (Enter “BARD” in the appropriate discount code box for a special $2 discount for bardolatry.com readers!) Or buy the set [...]

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Happy birthday, Lord Larry!
Yesterday, May 22, was Laurence Olivier’s 100th birthday, in honor of which  BBC Radio 4’s "Archive Hour" of May 19 included a discussion of Laurence Olivier’s legacy as an actor. It is still available on streaming audio for at least a few days. Here’s the blurb:

Mark Lawson reassesses Laurence Olivier’s reputation. 100 [...]

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Heads up, thesps!
A very young Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie teach you how it’s done in this “Shakespeare Master Class.”
(Remember, boys and girls, it all comes from the buttocks!)

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…in a sauna.
I’m not kidding.
This is a clip from Dame Edna’s show, filmed around the time of the release of Mel’s Hamlet, and posted on Mel’s MySpace page: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog&friendID=98949622(And here’s our review of Mel’s Hamlet, directed by Franco Zeffirelli.)
(And if you can’t get enough of Dame Edna waxing Shakespearean, check out her wonderfully hammy [...]

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