FanFare

British director Basil Dearden followed his gay blackmail thriller Victim with 1962’s All Night Long, which re-imagines Shakespeare's Othello at a late night London jazz jam. Patrick McGoohan is drummer Johnny Cousins, the scheming, pot-smoking Iago who prowls the party stirring up jealousy and fear to tear the interracial couple of bandleader Aurelius Rex and his wife Delia apart so Delia will sing with Johnny when he leaves Othello's band. An excellent score helps drive the tightening downward spiral, with Charles Mingus and Dave Brubeck showing up as themselves throughout the party. [more inside]
posted by mediareport on Apr 25, 2023 - 4 comments

When a secret marriage is planned between Othello (Orson Welles), a Moorish general, and Desdemona (Suzanne Cloutier), the daughter of Senator Brabantio (Hilton Edwards), her old suitor Roderigo (Robert Coote) takes it hard. He allies himself with Iago (Micheál MacLiammóir), who has his own grudge against Othello, and the two conspire to bring Othello down. When their first plan, to have him accused of witchcraft, fails, they plant evidence intended to make him believe Desdemona is unfaithful. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Nov 9, 2022 - 3 comments

Rewatch! Hamlet (a prince)'s dad (so, the king) is killed by a guy who wants to marry his mom, so he pretends to be crazy to gather evidence of the murder. It's a German production of the famous play, with two of the voices being Ricardo Montalban and John Banner. It's cut down a lot for time and has sparse sets. This is a challenging one. Previously.
posted by JHarris on Oct 20, 2022 - 7 comments

At the age of seventy, after years of consolidating his empire, the Great Lord Hidetora Ichimonji (Tatsuya Nakadai) decides to abdicate and divide his domain amongst his three sons. Taro (Akira Terao), the eldest, will rule. Jiro (Jinpachi Nezu), his second son, and Saburo (Daisuke Ryu) will take command of the Second and Third Castles but are expected to obey and support their elder brother. Saburo defies the pledge of obedience and is banished. [more inside]
posted by DirtyOldTown on Oct 14, 2022 - 5 comments

Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself. Directed by Joel Cohen, starring Denzel Washington in the title role and Frances McDormand as the Lady.
posted by chrchr on Jan 3, 2022 - 17 comments

A Ferengi DaiMon kidnaps Riker, Deanna, and Lwaxana Troi. [more inside]
posted by hanov3r on Dec 7, 2020 - 18 comments

A film of an adaptation of the Shakespeare play, performed at the Bridge Theatre in London, available via the National Theatre in the UK's NT At Home. Starring Gwendoline Christie, Oliver Chris, David Moorst, and Hammed Animashaun. Available to watch for free via YouTube till 7pm UK time on Thursday 2 July. (More about the production, including a full cast list.) [more inside]
posted by brainwane on Jun 28, 2020 - 7 comments

Q grants Riker godlike power, yet surprisingly, he doesn't use it to give himself an awesome beard. [more inside]
posted by CheesesOfBrazil on May 4, 2020 - 27 comments

Set in contemporary Georgia with an election race underway, Great Performances: Much Ado About Nothing finds the community of Messina celebrating a break from an ongoing war, but not all is peaceful amid the merriment. Former rivals battle it out, revenge is sought and trickery runs amok in this timeless comedy of romantic retribution and miscommunication. [more inside]
posted by the primroses were over on Jan 11, 2020 - 3 comments

Hal, wayward prince and heir to the English throne, is crowned King Henry V after his tyrannical father dies. Now the young king must navigate palace politics, the war his father left behind, and the emotional strings of his past life.
posted by nicolas léonard sadi carnot on Nov 4, 2019 - 5 comments

The play presents love in all its glory, warts and all: Love at first sight, innocent love, love twisted by the mind, by drugs, by lust, by jealousy, by a marriage on the rocks and even violence. [more inside]
posted by unliteral on Apr 4, 2017 - 2 comments

Back after another long break, and given the lack of any inter-episode continuity within most of Season One I'm jumping ahead to 'Death's Other Dominion', featuring BRIAN BLESSED. (Also, lots and lots of Shakespearean thesping, and one of the series' more memorable denouements.) [more inside]
posted by Major Clanger on Nov 26, 2016 - 3 comments

Macbeth, the Thane of Glamis, receives a prophecy from a trio of witches that one day he will become King of Scotland. Consumed by ambition and spurred to action by his wife, Macbeth murders his king and takes the throne for himself.
posted by Alexandra Michelle on Jan 17, 2016 - 7 comments

A farewell; a return; a new career opportunity, twice; another return.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering on Aug 10, 2014 - 8 comments

A show opens; a show doesn't open; the past is revisited; the future is changed. [more inside]
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering on Aug 3, 2014 - 25 comments