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Shakespeare
A specially selected folio of Shakespeare adaptations exclusively for BFI Player subscribers.
From Kurosawa's classics to acclaimed productions from the RSC, here are some key works in the history of Shakespeare on film. Scholarly subscribers can rewatch to their hearts desire; the uninitiated can journey to the “undiscovered country from whose bourn no traveler returns.”
Henry VHenry V
Biopic 1944 131 minsDirector: Laurence Olivier
Laurence Olivier rouses an all-star cast and an imperiled nation with his magnificent adaptation of Shakespeare's warrior monarch.
HamletHamlet
Drama 1948 153 minsDirector: Laurence Olivier
The first British film to win the Best Picture Oscar remains one of the strongest examples of Shakespeare on film.
Throne of BloodThrone of Blood
Drama 1957 110 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
A master of period-drama, Kurosawa (Rashomon, Seven Samurai) recasts Macbeth as a Japanese warlord in one of the greatest Shakespearean adaptations
The Bad Sleep WellThe Bad Sleep Well
Crime 1960 151 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
The first film made by Akira Kurosawa's own production company is a dark tale of greed, corporate corruption and revenge.
RanRan
Drama 1985 154 minsDirector: Akira Kurosawa
Akira Kurosawa’s visually spectacular epic transplants Shakespeare’s King Lear from Celtic Britain to feudal Japan.
Julius CaesarJulius Caesar
Drama 2012 151 minsDirector: Gregory Doran
Gregory’s Doran’s innovative Shakespeare interpretation transplants the action to post-independence Africa.
MacbethMacbeth
Drama 2001 128 minsDirector: Gregory Doran
Antony Sher stars in the Gregory Doran’s acclaimed RSC production, lauded as the finest adaptation of the Scottish play for over a quarter of a century.
MacbethMacbeth
Drama 2009 151 minsDirector: Rupert Goold
Sir Patrick Stewart and Kate Fleetwood star as Macbeth and his Lady in Rupert Goold's immediate and visceral adaptation.
Time FliesTime Flies
Comedy 1944 88 minsDirector: Walter Forde
Fast-talking funny man Tommy Handley visits Elizabethan England - and ends up teaching Good Queen Bess con tricks - in this snappy time-travel comedy.