Moderated
Moderated
“The Petrified Forest”!
All the early Marx Brothers movies.
Most definitely King Lear and its adaptation by Grigori Kozintsev, though I also love the adaptation of Who´s afraid of Virginia Woolf?
King Lear, Peter Brook’s version. One part Samuel Beckett, one part Ingmar Bergman. And Paul Scofield as Lear is genuinely fucking great.
LONG DAYS is great. MEMBER OF THE WEDDING is wonderful too.
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Glengarry Glen Ross
Wit
Closer
Angels in America
Lumet’s film of The Seagull – Vanessa Redgrave, James Mason, David Warner, Simone Signoret, Denholm Elliott…
And Lumet’s film of Deathtrap is pretty fun (man, haven’t seen it in so many years).
Mike Figgis’ film of Strindberg’s Miss Julie is damned good—and Figgis, a musician, also wrote the score.
Friedkin’s Bug (adapted from Tracy Letts) is well worth seeing.
Closer is good. Hated Doubt.
Great call on Angels in America Fredo. Mike Nichols, Tony K & team really pulled that off!!!
>>Bergman supposedly developed The Seventh Seal from one of his own plays.<<
Developed would be the key word here. It’s a one-act & it bears very little resemblance to the film.
>>All the early Marx Brothers movies.<<
Only the first two at Paramount.
Though perhaps the first two MGM’s might get a provisional status as the Marxes’ key scenes were developed and honed on a tour.
I don’t think anyone’s mentioned Ian McKellan’s RICHARD III which is an astonishing adaptation.
Private Fears in Public Places
Amadeus
I don’t have favorite plays. I NEVER go to the theater. I don’t “get” it.
>I don’t think anyone’s mentioned Ian McKellan’s RICHARD III which is an astonishing adaptation.
Richard Loncraine, the director of that Richard III, also directed the film adaptation of Dennis Potter’s Brimstone and Treacle
Another great one – Alex Cox’s Revenger’s Tragedy
12 Angry Men
A Streetcar Named Desire
Closer
death of a sales man
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Sunday in the Park With George (even though it was tv, it was still good)
But I cant wait for rabit hole and August: Osage County
A long time ago, I chanced upon seeing a small off-B’way pproduction that was performed on one set in a single night with only two characters and a DJ’s voice on the radio. It was lovely and starred a young, at-the-time unknown actress by the name of Kathy Bates. It was titled “Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune”, written by Terrence McNally.
In the early 90’s, Garry Marshall directed the film with a screenplay by McNally more simply entitled “Frankie and Johnny” starring Pacino and Pheiffer. What a difference! The two-character play was transformed by McNally into a large ensemble piece. He opened up the play beautifully for this movie.
It remains one of my favorite cinematic adaptations of a play.
I agree with most all those mentioned above. This one, though, is a rare gem, particularly if you’ve seen the stage version.
Olivier’s Henry V will do as my favourite play-to-film (until someone can do a good Winter’s Tale film). Kozintsev’s King Lear is up there too.
Friedrich Durenmatt’s “The Visit”, reimagined by Djibril Diop Mambety as “Hyenas”.
Also second Herzog’s “Woyzeck”, Kurosawa’s Shakespeare adaptations and Julie Taymor’s “Titus”.
>>Friedrich Durenmatt’s “The Visit”, reimagined by Djibril Diop Mambety as “Hyenas”.<<
This really is a fantastic film, made on an (apparently) nonexistant budget. I wish more people would check it out.
A Streetcar Named Desire
Cat On a Hot Tin Roof
Glengarry Glen Ross
12 Angry Men
Baby, the Rain Must Fall
As Matt Parks said, Private Fears in Public Places (Renais made Coeurs from this play). Was pretty great and I’ve seen it twice so far.
was MY DINNER WITH ANDRE originally a play? If not, it could be made into one very easily.
bump
Terrence Young’s adaptation of Wait Until Dark was a brilliant stage-to-screen adaptation, as was Stoppard’s adaptation of his own Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead
I’d really love to see McDonagh adapt his own The Pillowman to the big screen, but not getting an NC-17 rating would be difficult. Not that he would give a shit.
Though not contemporary, I continue to enjoy A Taste of Honey (1961), which Tony Richardson directed from a play by Shelagh Delaney.
Another might be Separate Tables (1958) a play by Terence Rattigan, brought to the screen by Delbert Mann.
Francois Ozon’s version of 8 Women, filmed from a Robert Thomas play in 2002 is a great romp.
Though Oscar Wilde’s Salomé has been filmed numerous times, I especially liked the silent 1923 version by Charles Bryant, starring Alla Nazimova as the lead, and with stunningly artistic designs and costumes by Natacha Rambova .
Peter Brook’s 1967 film Marat/Sade was something of a revelation to me, from the stage play by Peter Weiss.
Electra, My Love the amazing Miklós Jancsó film from 1974 was not from the original Greek source play by Euripides, but by a brother Hungarian playwright, László Gyurkó. A favorite.
Tom Noonan directed Wife from his own play, Wifey in 1995, and also acted as one of the four characters along with Wallace Shawn, Karen Young and Julie Hagerty. His work deserves more attention.
Although the story was made into film many times in Japan, Chûshingura, was originally a jôruri (puppet) play in 11 acts written in 1748. I prefer the Hiroshi Inagaki directed production from 1962.
Hamlet (1996) – Kenneth Branagh
As You Like It (2006) – Kenneth Branagh
Vanya on 42nd Street (1994) – Louis Malle
Long Day’s Journey Into Night (1962) – Sidney Lumet
Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982) – Robert Altman
Holiday (1938) – George Cukor
The Importance of Being Earnest (1952) – Anthony Asquith
The Member of the Wedding (1952) – Fred Zinneman
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935) – William Dieterle / Max Reinhardt
The Tragedy of Othello: The Moor of Venice (1952) – Orson Welles
Othello (1965) – Stuart Burge
A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) – Elia Kazan
Marat/Sade – Peter Brook
Forgot The Iceman Cometh (1973) – John Frankenheimer. A shame they passed over Jason Robards who had been widely praised for his stage performance of Hickey in favour of the far more bankable Lee Marvin.
Still, it does have the brilliant final film performances of both Fredric March and Robert Ryan as well as a terrific young Jeff Bridges. So close to perfect!
puttermesser
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