Romeo and Juliet

Plot synopsis:
The play, set in Verona, Italy, begins with a street brawl between Montague and Capulet servants who, like their masters, are sworn enemies. Prince Escalus of Verona intervenes and declares that further breach of the peace will be punishable by death. Later, Count Paris talks to Capulet about marrying his daughter Juliet, but Capulet asks Paris to wait another two years and invites him to attend a planned Capulet ball. Lady Capulet and Juliet's nurse try to persuade Juliet to accept Paris's courtship.
Meanwhile, Benvolio talks with his cousin Romeo, Montague's son, about Romeo's recent depression. Benvolio discovers that it stems from unrequited infatuation for a girl named Rosaline, one of Capulet's nieces. Persuaded by Benvolio and Mercutio, Romeo attends the ball at the Capulet house in hopes of meeting Rosaline. However, Romeo instead meets and falls in love with Juliet. Juliet's cousin, Tybalt, is enraged at Romeo for sneaking into the ball but is only stopped from killing Romeo by Juliet's father, who does not wish to shed blood in his house. After the ball, in what is now called the "balcony scene", Romeo sneaks into the Capulet orchard and overhears Juliet at her window vowing her love to him in spite of her family's hatred of the Montagues. Romeo makes himself known to her and they agree to be married. With the help of Friar Laurence, who hopes to reconcile the two families through their children's union, they are secretly married the next day.
Tybalt, meanwhile, still incensed that Romeo had sneaked into the Capulet ball, challenges him to a duel. Romeo, now considering Tybalt his kinsman, refuses to fight. Mercutio is offended by Tybalt's insolence, as well as Romeo's "vile submission", and accepts the duel on Romeo's behalf. Mercutio is fatally wounded when Romeo attempts to break up the fight. Grief-stricken and wracked with guilt, Romeo confronts and slays Tybalt.
Montague argues that Romeo has justly executed Tybalt for the murder of Mercutio. The Prince, now having lost a kinsman in the warring families' feud, exiles Romeo from Verona, under penalty of death if he ever returns. Romeo secretly spends the night in Juliet's chamber, where they consummate their marriage. Capulet, misinterpreting Juliet's grief, agrees to marry her to Count Paris and threatens to disown her when she refuses to become Paris's "joyful bride". When she then pleads for the marriage to be delayed, her mother rejects her.
Juliet visits Friar Laurence for help, and he offers her a potion that will put her into a deathlike coma for "two and forty hours". The Friar promises to send a messenger to inform Romeo of the plan so that he can rejoin her when she awakens. On the night before the wedding, she takes the drug and, when discovered apparently dead, she is laid in the family crypt.
The messenger, however, does not reach Romeo and, instead, Romeo learns of Juliet's apparent death from his servant Balthasar. Heartbroken, Romeo buys poison from an apothecary and goes to the Capulet crypt. He encounters Paris who has come to mourn Juliet privately. Believing Romeo to be a vandal, Paris confronts him and, in the ensuing battle, Romeo kills Paris. Still believing Juliet to be dead, he drinks the poison. Juliet then awakens and, finding Romeo dead, stabs herself with his dagger. The feuding families and the Prince meet at the tomb to find all three dead. Friar Laurence recounts the story of the two "star-cross'd lovers". The families are reconciled by their children's deaths and agree to end their violent feud. The play ends with the Prince's elegy for the lovers: "For never was a story of more woe/Than this of Juliet and her Romeo."

Tags: tragedy, revenge, action, murder

Review:
ROMEO AND JULIET, the scions of old Verona's two most powerful families, become the playthings of fate & the fools of fortune.This was a Very Big Film for MGM in 1936.
Several choice roles were available for MGM's brightest stars and the part of Juliet would be the desire of every young actress on the lot.Almost predictably the role went to Norma Shearer, who, as Irving Thalberg's wife, could almost pick & choose what she (or Irving) wanted.
A bit giddy at first with puppy love, he quickly matures into a tender lover & vengeful killer, finally willing, like Shearer, to forego all of his Catholic teaching and commit self-murder, thus dooming himself to Perdition.Although decades too old for their roles (Juliet was 12, Miss Shearer 34; Romeo about 16, Mr. Howard was 43) they understand and speak their lines much more beautifully & proficiently than any teenager.
Nor were they the only members of the cast whose ages were rather past the prime.In his only feature length Shakespearean film, John Barrymore amply displays his celebrated talent in a bravura performance as an aging, sottish Mercutio.
Aubrey Smith & Violet Kemble Cooper are colorful as Juliet's parents.At first blush, Andy Devine seems an odd choice for a Shakespearean production, but he is very competent as the Nurse's simpleminded servant.Somewhat lost in this excellent cast is English actor Ralph Forbes in the rather thankless role of the County Paris.
He would have made a great Romeo.Movie mavens will spot Katherine DeMille as the fair Rosaline (her cousin Agnes de Mille was the film's choreographer) and Ian Wolfe as the impoverished apothecary, both uncredited.The film has wonderful production values - the sets, costumes and background score (borrowing themes from Tchaikovsky) all of the highest quality.
For years, I put off watching this version of Shakespeare's classic love story, knowing that all the main players were about thirty years too old for their roles.
Finally, when the film came on late on night, I decided to take a look, because I do admire the work of so many of the players.Provided you can put aside the problems of the ages of the actors, the result is a very pleasant surprise.
The biggest surprise for me was the performance of Norma Shearer - I've always liked her work, but considered her rather lightweight for Shakespeare.
Her age became irrelevant; this was a young girl new to love, completely swept off her feet and ready to surrender all - for the first time.Leslie Howard was also comfortable with the Shakespearean dialogue, if slightly lacking the boyish passion we rightly expect to see.
His lovely voice delivered the lines with ease and fluency.John Barrymore's Mercutio was much more the ageing playboy than the dashing young blade, but his sure touch with the dialogue showed clearly why he was considered the preeminent Shakespearean actor of his day in America.
His body was way too old, but his spirit lacked nothing.Flora Robson came near to stealing most of her scenes, as she so often did, and Basil Rathbone was fully at home in the role of Tybalt; fine performances from these two, as we would expect from their backgrounds.It was, to my mind, rather over-produced, with the actors in danger of being lost in the expansive sets, but remembering that had these actors been performing on stage, we wouldn't bat an eyelid at their ages, they provide us with an engrossing experience and deliver a play that even the experts couldn't fault..
Despite the fact we have a 47 year old Romeo, a 36 year old Juliet, and a 54 year old Mercutio; George Cukor's production for MGM of Romeo and Juliet manages to entertain and well.Of course these protagonists are all teenagers, but these players have all played romantic parts in an age when romance was not something to be cynical about and they do fit their roles well.
No Romeo was ever more dashing than Leslie Howard or a Juliet as passionate as Norma Shearer.John Barrymore as Mercutio is a bit of an exception.
That would be Falstaff in Henry IV in both parts and if you think of Barrymore's Mercutio in that way, his interpretation makes a lot of sense.My favorite in this film has always been Tybalt and Basil Rathbone plays him with fire and passion.
It's a lesson people and nations could learn.Norma Shearer got an Oscar nomination for playing Juliet, but lost to Luise Rainer in The Great Ziegfeld as Best Actress.
George Cukor and the film itself also were up, but lost for best director and best picture.Andy Devine plays the small part of Peter, a Capulet servant and I'm sure you're wondering what Andy Devine was doing in Shakespeare.
The fine cast and production make this adaptation of "Romeo & Juliet" a satisfying one, both as a movie and as a realization of Shakespeare's play.
Most of the cast is matched up very well with their characters, and the lavish settings provide a good backdrop for the drama.Although it's soon clear that Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer are quite a bit older than the original characters were, in other respects they are well cast.
Shearer's eager innocence and Howard's refinement fit together well, and although they are clearly not the teenage characters of the original, their romance is believable and convincing in itself.The other roles include some nice casting.
Reginald Denny as the loyal Benvolio, Basil Rathbone as the hard-hearted Tybalt, and Edna May Oliver as Juliet's bustling nurse are all enjoyable to watch.
But the highlight of the cast is John Barrymore, who steals every scene as the fun-loving, ill-fated Mercutio, a character who is well-suited to Barrymore's strengths.
It's a blessing that at least one of Barrymore's numerous Shakespearean roles was captured in a film for posterity.The script abridges many of the scenes for cinematic purposes, and it does well in fleshing out the basic story with the duels, festivities, and other events, at times also dramatizing developments that in the original text are only mentioned by the characters.
The lavish treatment given to this by MGM and Irving Thalberg (his final production showcasing his wife Norma Shearer as Juliet) does work, as do the mature lovers and their supporting cast (Leslie Howard fitting the part of Romeo perfectly, John Barrymore and Basil Rathbone out-swashing each other as Mercutio and Tybalt), Edna May Oliver as the Nurse, typically loud, and Ralph Forbes as a bizarre Paris (no, I can't see why Juliet would want to marry him either, despite her parents' wishes).
The Best of Cinema's ROMEO AND JULIETs. This is quite simply the best version of Shakespeare's beloved tragic drama that has ever hit the screen.
By casting Norma Shearer (around 36) and Leslie Howard (over 40) as the two, M-G-M lost the supreme youth, but gained a near-perfect asset of understanding of the characters.
As Tybalt, a role cut down from the original length but nonetheless impressive, Basil Rathbone is astonishing; he earned a Best Supporting Actor nomination for his work here.
Far superior to Zeferelli's version, and any other one I've seen, George Cukor's Romeo and Juliet is another masterpiece from one of the all-time great directors, who helmed such classic, well-regarded productions as Dinner at Eight, David Copperfield, The Philadelphia Story, and Adam's Rib..
While I was looking for new materials to help teach "Romeo and Juliet," I found the 1936 version of the play and naturally I was intrigued.
I'm assuming that most people know the basic plot and have seen other versions of the film, if this is not the case you may want to stop reading and keep the surprise for viewing.This version is faithful if not to the exact order of all the dialogue then to the acts and scenes written by Shakespeare.
However, the death of Lady Montague is omitted.The movie leaves a little to be desired by modern audiences and the typical class of high school freshman many need some heavy prep work to get them ready to view "black and white" and "old" as something other than "lame." But, I think that segments of the film would be well worth showing to the class and viewed as a treat and not a torture when it's not the whole product being shoved down in one lump.I recommend checking it out as an additional resource to add a balanced movie perspective to the characters Shakespeare created.
Sumptuous sets and costumes, good swordplay and only Shakespeare's words make this movie a pleasure for those who know the play..
Thalberg, who was showcasing his wife, Norma Shearer, playing Juliet: two years of research, a crew sent to Verona to photograph parts of the city; reconstruction of Verona's Church of San Zeno on the back-lot; thousands of extras; beautiful costumes and sets, etc.
(On the other hand, I studied Hamlet and Macbeth in school and relish watching movie versions of those plays.)  Still, I enjoyed this film, since I knew the general story, and there were sections that didn't tax my knowledge of Shakespearean English.
The title characters were supposed to be teenagers, so that both Leslie Howard (at 54) and Norma Shearer (at 31) were a bit old for their parts, but that was a minor point.
This version of Shakespeare's ROMEO AND JULIET was very famous in its day, and a number of critics that I greatly admire continue to praise it even now.
On the stage, Shakespeare's star-crossed lovers are usually played by mature actors in full command of both Shakespearean language and their own art, and the physical distance between the stage and the audience allows the cast to create the illusion of youth.
But the camera is merciless, particularly in close up, and this film production presents us with the middle-aged Leslie Howard, Norma Shearer, John Barrymore, and Basil Rathbone in roles that would be better served on the screen by much younger players.To give the cast its due, several of the stars fought tooth and nail against making the film--most notably Leslie Howard, who even went so far as give press interviews stating that he was much too old to play Romeo in a screen production.
All of this might be forgiven if the stars actually generated any sense of passion, but they do not--and it is really here that their ages tell, for instead of the white-hot passions of youth that lead to disaster we have instead a gentle love story with an unhappy ending.Still, the film really is pretty to look at--it has an engraved quality in its glossy black and white--and if you close your eyes, you can enjoy the 'grand manner' readings, which is a great deal more than one can say for most cinematic Shakespearean interpretations.
There is also Edna May Oliver's performance, and she is excellent in the role of Juliet's babbling nurse.Fans of this film's stars will no doubt wish to add it to their library, and those interested in seeing how Hollywood approached Shakespeare in the 1930s will enjoy seeing it at least once--but I would hesitate to recommend this film to any one outside that circle.
In her opening scene, she gushily keeps herself wide-eyed and smiling--all the time acting innocent, while Olivia Hussey and other screen Juliets don't have to act innocent: they are innocent.That said, this film has much to offer, despite its lacking the passion of other more recent versions.
However, don't believe producer Thalberg's ballyhoo that every word spoken in this film is from Shakespeare's play: it isn't, although it's close..
And I imagine that, even with Shakespeare, there would have been some complaints about showing a 14-year-old girl having sex with a 16-year-old-boy back then, and theaters might have been raided if they used actors of that age to play the roles.
Yes, the stage lends distance to our acceptance of such characters' ages, and if you think Barrymore at 54 was old for Mercutio, please be advised that in 2016, that character was played on the London stage by Derek Jacobi, 78 at the time!
As for those two, I've always loved Howard but feel that this is one of the least impressive film performances he ever gave, whereas I think Juliet may be Shearer's best film performance - and I think she looks a lot younger than her 34 years here anyway.
Barrymore, who was past his 40th birthday when he first did his famous Hamlet on the stage, is properly hammy here, but I couldn't understand much of him in his set speeches (like the Queen Mab one), and I always love Edna May Oliver, but also couldn't understand much of her dialogue.
There isn't any real new opinion I can share with regards to George Cukor's version of "Romeo and Juliet".
This is a story of transcendent, evanescent love, and having it be slow and anemic doesn't do it justice IMO.In short, the 1936 version may be the most literal, but the Zeffirelli and Luhrmann films both are more faithful to the spirit of Shakespeare's "Romeo and Juliet"..
Norma Shearer gives the strength to Juliet that Leslie Howard Lacks in Romeo.Barrymore was by the time of this movie considered to be washed up in Hollywood.
Aside from that, if you can get past the studio-built sets and the fact that this film offers a forty year old Romeo and a fifty-four(!) year-old Mercutio with a slight paunch, the acting is excellent, though not nearly as passionate as the acting in the 1968 Zeffirelli version--these "teen-agers" seem rather formal and polite.
Why did they cast people who were old enough to be Romeo and Juliet's parents?
Next time, watch the 1968 version where Romeo and Juliet are actually played by teenagers.
This can and does work in some pictures (for example Anne Bancroft only being a little older than Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate), but for Romeo and Juliet it essential that we get that impression of flighty, passionate young lovers whose eventual demise is a tragic waste of life.But there is worse yet than Shearer and Howard.
Norma Shearer and Leslie Howard play Shakespeare's star-crossed young lovers Juliet Capulet and Romeo Montague.
As this version of "Romeo and Juliet" is a relatively faithful adaptation of Shakespeare's original play, the ages of the characters are relevant; thus, Ms. Shearer, Mr. Howard, and others are, obviously, too old for the parts.
******* Romeo and Juliet (8/20/36) George Cukor ~ Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, John Barrymore, Basil Rathbone.
Some very fine actors - John Barrymore may have been drunk much of the time, but he still gives a memorable performance as Mercutio.
This movie is often impressive, but, for me, it was never magical.Some will criticize the casting of Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer as Romeo and Juliet.
She very much overdoes Juliet, to my eyes, though I could see a teen-age girl acting just the same way.If you like the play, or even if you don't, watch this movie once.
An enjoyably lavish version of the classic play, it is gloriously shot in simple black and white, and good locations, sets and costumes provide a great feel for both the time and setting.
The production and direction were both wonderful but there are some things that didn't click with the movie.The casting was poor and the actors in the film were well over the ages of 14 and 15, especially Leslie Howard (Romeo), Norma Shearer (Juliet), and John Barrymore (Mercutio).
The acting wasn't poor but is somewhat mediocre except for John Barrymore's portrayal of Mercutio, one of Romeo's friends.This is a great movie but if you want a much better adaptation of Shakespeare's romantic tragedy, rent Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 version of it with Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey instead..
Romeo and Juliet (1936) *** (out of 4) Perhaps the greatest story known, MGM didn't spare any money in this lavish production of William Shakespeare's play and they were rewarded with a major hit and four Oscar-nominations.
Norma Shearer, 35-years-old at the time, and Leslie Howard, 42-years-old, were cast as teenage lovers Romeo and Juliet and one would have a laughing fit seeing how old they were for their roles but that really doesn't matter because the two are so great in the roles that you can overlook their age.
The main reason to watch this film are the wonderful performances by the all-star cast.
Shearer and Howard are way, way, way too old for their roles and the first time you see them it will somewhat catch you off guard because these are suppose to be teenagers after all.
NOTES: Romeo and Juliet was nominated for the following prestigious Hollywood awards (actual winners in brackets): Best Picture (The Great Ziegfeld); Norma Shearer, Best Actress (Luise Rainer in The Great Ziegfeld); Basil Rathbone, Best Supporting Actor (Walter Brennan in Come and Get It); Gibbons, Hope and Willis (only!), Best Art Direction (Richard Day for Dodsworth).
Shakespeare would have thought Howard was the right age for the part (even though Romeo is supposed to be a teenage youth) but found his impersonation too under-stated, lacking passion, fire and color.
Brilliantly directed by George Cukor, this Romeo and Juliet is easily the finest Shakespeare on film.
Could they not find any octogenarian actors to play the teenage roles of Romeo and Juliet?
Aubrey Smith, Reginald Denny, and Edna May Oliver, whose old-fashioned New England is easily transposed into Elizabethan English via fair Verona.The two leads -- Leslie Howard as Romeo and Norma Shearer as Juliet -- are problematic.
And she's less convincing than Leslie Howard, but that may be only because British accents seem so much more fitting.John Barrymore as Mercutio is WAY too old for the part but is nevertheless in a class by himself.
Not a great success commercially or critically at the time of its release, even now this version seems hated upon by many, mainly because the leads are much too old to be playing teenagers and the film is so covered in MGM gloss that it occasionally seems almost vulgar.