Romeo & Juliet (1978) (TV)

User Rating:

6.4/10   

Director:

Alvin Rakoff

Writer:

William Shakespeare (play)

Release Date:

3 December 1978 (UK)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Plot:

Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge break...

Plot Keywords:

Shakespeare's Romeo And Juliet | Secret From Family | William Shakespeare | Secret From Father | Tragedy

Cast

Patrick Ryecart	...	Romeo
Rebecca Saire	...	Juliet
Celia Johnson	...	Nurse
Michael Hordern	...	Capulet
John Gielgud	...	Chorus
Joseph O'Conor	...	Friar Laurence
Laurence Naismith	...	Prince Escalus
Anthony Andrews	...	Mercutio
Alan Rickman	...	Tybalt
Jacqueline Hill	...	Lady Capulet
Christopher Strauli	...	Benvolio
Christopher Northey	...	Paris
Paul Henry	...	Peter
Roger Davidson	...	Balthasar
John Paul	...	Montague

Also Known As:

The Complete Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet (USA) (video title)

Runtime:

USA:168 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Mono

Company:

British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

Trivia:

Unlike in most versions of the play, the actress cast to play Juliet was similar to Juliet's actual age; in the play, Juliet is only 13, but in most stagings and adaptations a girl in her late teens/early twenties plays the role. Rebecca Saire was only 14 when she made this film.

Movie Connections:

Version of Tromeo and Juliet (1996)

Not Good

Celia Johnson is good as the Nurse. Michael Hordern is good as Capulet, though it's his usual neighing and whinnying and not a patch on his King Lear. John O'Conor reads the verse well as Friar Laurence though he never takes it anywhere. Alan Rickman is good as Tybalt, in the first of his "yuk" roles that would make him famous. Christopher Strauli's Benvolio is sympathetic.

The sets are pretty, if not stunning as in some of the other BBC Shakespeare's.

And that's it. The rest is weak to dreadful. Rebecca Saire turned 15 during production, and hasn't a clue about how to act Juliet - she opens her eyes real wide and whines every line in exactly the same way. Patrick Ryecart is poorly matched to her, and his self-regard is inexplicable. The Balcony Scene flows smoothly and uneventfully with zero emotional or erotic impact. Their deaths come as a relief. If I had a dagger, I would have offered it to them hours earlier.

Anthony Andrews is unspeakable as Mercutio, a great shock if you remember his fine work in "Brideshead Revisited." He breaks the mirror of Shakespeare's verse into a thousand shards of two or three words each, and then shouts the fragments in as disconnected and unintelligible manner as possible. In this production, Queen Mab abdicates. Awful.

The director, Alvin Rakoff, shows only an intermittent gift of putting the camera where it will show us what we want to see. The opening brawl is notably incoherent. However there is humor when in a later fight, Romeo apparently knees Tybalt right in the cobblers. Tybalt then grabs the offended region. However did that get through?

R&J is a long play. This version is not recommended for classroom use, or much else.