A&E Biography - William Shakespeare- Life of Drama -1996-

Romeo & Juliet Director franco zeffirelli adds wit charm and stunning visual life to this well-known love story. Special features: widescreen version enhanced for 16x9 dolby digital english mono english subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing interactive menus scene selection and theatrical ...	Romeo & Juliet - The Music Edition Baz Luhrmann (Strictly Ballroom) takes a shot at reinventing Shakespeare's story of star-crossed lovers as a visual pastiche inspired by MTV imagery, Hong Kong action-picture clichés, and Luhrmann's own taste for deliberate, gaudy excess. The result is explosive chaos, both in...	To Kill a Mockingbird (Collector's Edition) Contains: feature commentary with director robert mulligan fearful symmetry featuring interviews with cast members plus historic stills of the town of monroeville original location footage and interviews with residents and theatrical trailer. Studio: Uni Dist Corp. (mca) Releas...	The Reduced Shakespeare Company - The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) Ah, Shakespeare. The great bard. You've heard he's a terrific writer. One of these days, you may actually get around to catching one of his plays. Yeah, right. Well, with the help of the Reduced Shakespeare Company, not only can you catch all of Shakespeare's plays at once, but y...	William Shakespeare's Hamlet (Two-Disc Special Edition) Studio: Castle Rock Hm Video Release Date: 08/14/2007 Run time: 242 minutes
Macbeth / McKellen, Dench (Thames Shakespeare Collection) Two of England's greatest actors, Sir Ian McKellen and Dame Judi Dench, electrify in this lean, stripped-down production of Shakespeare's darkest tragedy. In the wake of a battle, the Scottish warrior Macbeth (McKellen, Gods and Monsters, Lord of the Rings) receives a prophecy...	Hamlet Hamlet prince of denmark finds out that his uncle claudius killed his father to obtain the throne and plans revenge. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 02/08/2005 Starring: Mel Gibson Helena Bonham Carter Run time: 130 minutes Rating: Pg Director: Franco Zeffirelli	Of Mice & Men Lennie is mentally retarded and doesnt know his own strength causing frequent problems for brother george. An incident with a young girl leads to a tragic end for this classic american tale. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 03/04/2003 Starring: John Malkovich Ray Walston Run t...	The Crucible Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 12/13/2005	A Midsummer Night's Dream When two pairs of star-crossed lovers a troop of inept amateur actors a feuding pair of supernatural sprites and a love potion gone awry all come together in an enchanted moonlit forest the result is an unequalled mixture of merriment and magic. Studio: Tcfhe Release Date: 01/1...

Great Teaching Tool
I'm a High school drama teacher and while doing a lesson on Shakespeare I bought this video to teach the kids about Shakespeare's life. It has a lot of great information and it doesn't dumb it down (if you get what I mean). Its not just a biography of the events in Shakespeare's life, it looks at him as a man and explores how events in his life triggered his creative process. There is a lot of great commentary from well respected scholars and classical actors and directors. Great teaching tool for anyone trying to make Shakespeare cool.

Will's got it going on
Lots of stuff about Shakespeare out there, but this contains so much information in a condensed and entertaining format. HIgh school and college level students really respond positively. Ther are discussion questions that go along with it at the A&E bio website.

It's ok...
As an English teacher about to teach several of Shakespeare's works, I purchased this video in the hopes that it would provide a short history of his life. In actuality, it proved to be just that--short. I was left with many questions. Nevertheless, it is a good buy since it does cover most of the basic info and is only 50 min in length (my class meets for 45 min).

Informative and Helpful Resource for Shakespeare
This video by A and E contains a 50 minute biography about the life and works of Shakespeare. What is gratifying is that this is not a video that tries to portray only the good of Shakespeare, but also the conflicts and controversies that presented themselves during his time. Some controversial topics are thrown in (whether you can choose to believe or not believe), such as the possibility that Shakespeare was bisexual and the idea that Shakespeare "borrowed" material from other written fiction. Still, this is a great film that can be used as an introduction to Shakespearean works (I am an English teacher, and use this before a drama unit with Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, or Julius Caesar). The biography divides the life and times of Shakespeare into 5 "scenes" (although if they were totally accurate, they might have chosen the "seven" stages of his life). We learn a little bit of the background with his wife, Anne Hathaway, and their children, with a section on the devastating loss of one of Shakespeare's sons, Hamnet. We also learn about Shakespeare's upbringing, as well as some of the aspects of his life in Stretford. While some of the "gossip" included in the documentary might not be that appealing, I thought it was an exceptional video for its Elizabethan information background. For instance, we get some information on Shakespeare's rivals and how plays were viewed in London's society during that era, as well as the devastating aspects of such things as the Plague and sickness. There are plenty of tidbits from some of Shakespeare's plays and poems, such as brief clips from popular movies and plays (Hamlet, King Lear, The Tempest for example), as well as information about these dramas and their impact on his overall success. Overall, a very informative look at not only Shakespeare, but the times he lived in. If you need a little background information on Shakespeare, this is a great video to take a look at.

Maybe not.
After whetting our appetites with the observation that little is known about the man behind the plays, the A&E team provides a bland, surprisingly unengaging "5-act" biography of William Shakespeare. As the story proceeds, the producers rely more and more on quotations from the plays rather than on any "extrinsic" evidence. The result is a program that confirms what we already knew, or should have known, all along--the life of William Shakespeare is at best a mere footnote to the life of the plays themselves. Credit the producers for not indulging in this series' customary approach and sensationalizing the records (by claiming Shakepeare was really Queen Elizabeth, etc.). On the other hand, teachers and students of Shakespeare, as well as fans of the Bard, may find it difficult to justify an investment of money in a video this slight when, say, Olivier's "Henry V" or Branagh's "Much Ado About Nothing" are available at a comparable price.