After suggesting Franco Zeffirelli’s Romeo and Juliet for Valentine’s Day and commenting on the current release Coriolanus, I decided to make a list of Best Shakespeare Movies. You may be surprised at who makes my list – and who doesn’t.
Filmmakers have advantages not available to Shakespeare. They can depict realistic combat in the battle scenes. They can add sex and nudity to romance. And they can enhance Macbeth‘s witches and visions with trippy special effects.
The actor and director Kenneth Branagh is the best modern interpreter of Shakespeare (and shows up on this list three times). Branagh gives us a Henry V that is not just a Dead White Guy, but a young and impulsive king, fueled more by personal ambition and testosterone than national interest. Here is Branagh’s charismatic St. Crispin’s Day speech from his Henry V.