The Best of Shakespeare - 16-DVD Box Set ( "The BBC Television Shakespeare" Romeo & Juliet / "The BBC Television Shakespeare" Julius Caesar / Hamlet, Prince of Denmark / Othello / King Lear / Antony & Cleopatra / Macbeth / The Taming of the Shrew / A Midsummer Night's Dream / The Merchant of Venic ) ( "The BBC Television Shakespeare" Romeo & Juliet / "The BBC Television Shakespeare" Julius Caesar / Hamlet, Prince of Denmark / Othello / King Lear / Antony & Cleopatra / Macbeth / The Taming of the Shrew / A Midsummer Night's Dream / The Merchant of Venic )

The Best of Shakespeare - 16-DVD Box Set (DVD) (*)

~~$61.99~~ $49.95

Original Title: "The BBC Television Shakespeare" Romeo & Juliet / "The BBC Television Shakespeare" Julius Caesar / Hamlet, Prince of Denmark / Othello / King Lear / Antony & Cleopatra / Macbeth / The Taming of the Shrew / A Midsummer Night's Dream / The Merchant of Venic
Alternate Title: "The BBC Television Shakespeare" Romeo & Juliet / "The BBC Television Shakespeare" Julius Caesar / Hamlet, Prince of Denmark / Othello / King Lear / Antony & Cleopatra / Macbeth / The Taming of the Shrew / A Midsummer Night's Dream / The Merchant of Venic
Language Selections:
English ( Mono )
French ( Mono )
French ( Subtitles )

Product Origin/Format:
France ( PAL/Region 2 )

Running Time:
2533 min

Aspect Ratio:
Fullscreen

Special Features:
Box Set
Interactive Menu
Multi-DVD Set
Scene Access

Movie filmed in 1978-1984 and produced in:
United Kingdom ( Great Britain, Ireland )
United States ( USA, Canada )

Directed By:
Alvin Rakoff
Herbert Wise
Rodney Bennett
Jonathan Miller
Jack Gold
Elijah Moshinsky
David Hugh Jones
Stuart Burge
Jane Howell
David Giles

Written By:
William Shakespeare
Christopher Marlowe
Thomas Nashe

Actors:
Patrick Ryecart ..... Romeo
Rebecca Saire ..... Juliet
Celia Johnson ..... Nurse
Michael Hordern ..... Capulet
John Gielgud ..... Chorus
Joseph O'Conor ..... Friar Laurence
Richard Pasco ..... Brutus
Charles Gray ..... Julius Caesar
Keith Michell ..... Marc Antony
David Collings ..... Cassius
Virginia McKenna ..... Portia
Elizabeth Spriggs ..... Calpurnia
Derek Jacobi ..... Hamlet
Claire Bloom ..... Gertrude
Patrick Stewart ..... Claudius
Eric Porter ..... Polonius
Lalla Ward ..... Ophelia
David Robb ..... Laertes
Anthony Pedley ..... Roderigo
Bob Hoskins ..... Iago
Geoffrey Chater ..... Brabantio
Alexander Davion ..... Gratiano
Anthony Hopkins ..... Othello
David Yelland ..... Cassio
John Shrapnel ..... Earl of Kent
Norman Rodway ..... Earl of Gloucester
Michael Kitchen ..... Edmund
Michael Hordern ..... King Lear
Gillian Barge ..... Goneril
Brenda Blethyn ..... Cordelia
John Paul ..... Canidius
Jonathan Adams ..... Ventidius
Jane Lapotaire ..... Cleopatra
Colin Blakely ..... Antony
Darien Angadi ..... Alexas
Janet Key ..... Charmian
Brenda Bruce ..... First Witch
Eileen Way ..... Second Witch
Anne Dyson ..... Third Witch
Mark Dignam ..... Duncan
James Hazeldine ..... Malcolm
Christopher Ellison ..... Captain
Simon Chandler ..... Lucentio
Anthony Pedley ..... Tranio
John Franklyn-Robbins ..... Baptista
Frank Thornton ..... Gremio
Sarah Badel ..... Katherine
Jonathan Cecil ..... Hortensio
Estelle Kohler ..... Hippolyta
Nigel Davenport ..... Theseus
Hugh Quarshie ..... Philostrate
Geoffrey Lumsden ..... Egeus
Pippa Guard ..... Hermia
Nicky Henson ..... Demetrius
John Franklyn-Robbins ..... Antonio
John Rhys-Davies ..... Salerio
Alan David ..... Solanio
John Nettles ..... Bassanio
Richard Morant ..... Lorenzo
Kenneth Cranham ..... Gratiano
Alan Bennett ..... Justice Shallow
Richard O'Callaghan ..... Slender
Tenniel Evans ..... Sir Hugh Evans
Bryan Marshall ..... George Page
Richard Griffiths ..... Sir John Falstaff
Gordon Gostelow ..... Bardolph
Lee Montague ..... Leonato
Tim Faulkner ..... Messenger
Cherie Lunghi ..... Beatrice
Katharine Levy ..... Hero
Jon Finch ..... Don Pedro
Robert Lindsay ..... Benedick
John Welsh ..... Archidamus
David Burke ..... Camillo
Robert Stephens ..... Polixenes
Jeremy Kemp ..... Leontes
Anna Calder-Marshall ..... Hermione
Jeremy Dimmick ..... Mamillius
John Benfield ..... Earl of Northumberland / 2nd Keeper / Huntsman
Peter Benson ..... Henry VI
Gerald Blackmore ..... Second Company
Antony Brown ..... Lewis, King of France / Sir John Montgomery
Michael Byrne ..... Marquess of Montague / Father that killed his son
Paul Chapman ..... Earl Rivers
John Abineri ..... Bishop of Ely
Robert Ashby ..... Earl of Salisbury
Trevor Baxter ..... Archbishop of canterbury
Rod Beacham ..... Earl of Warwick
Jocelyne Boisseau ..... Katherine
Simon Broad ..... Herald

Synopsis:

"The BBC Television Shakespeare" Romeo & Juliet: Two households, both alike in dignity, in fair Verona where we lay our scene, from ancient grudge break to new mutiny where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. From forth the fatal loins of these two foes a pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life whose misadventur'd piteous overthrows doth with their death bury their parents' strife. "The BBC Television Shakespeare" Julius Caesar: The assassination of the would be ruler of Rome at the hands of Brutus and company has tragic consequences for Brutus and the republic. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark: Hamlet comes home from university to find his uncle married to his mother, and his father's ghost haunting the battlements and scaring the watch. Then his father's ghost directs him to seek revenge. Othello: Iago (Bob Hoskins) and a comrade-in-arms are outside the Venice home of Desdemona's father, Brabantio (Geoffrey Chater), who does not yet know that she has eloped with Othello (Sir Anthony Hopkins). Iago confides to his friend, who had hoped to marry Desdemona (Dame Penelope Wilton), that he serves Othello to further his own ends. Venice needs Othello to protect its commercial interests in Cyprus where the Turkish fleet is headed. Desdemona insists on going to Cyprus, too. In Cyprus, Iago plots to convince Othello that Desdemona has betrayed him with Cassio (David Yelland). A lot more than political ambition seems to be motivating Iago. King Lear: King Lear (Sir Michael Hordern), old and tired, divides his kingdom amongst his daughters, giving great importance to their protestations of love for him. When Cordelia (Brenda Blethyn), youngest and most honest, refuses to idly flatter the old man in return for favor, he banishes her and turns for support to his remaining daughters. But Goneril (Gillian Barge) and Regan (Dame Penelope Wilton) have no love for him and instead plot to take all his power from him. In a parallel, King Lear's loyal courtier the Earl of Gloucester (Norman Rodway) favors his illegitimate son Edmund (Michael Kitchen) after being told lies about his faithful son Edgar (Anton Lesser). Madness and tragedy befall both ill-starred fathers. Antony & Cleopatra: Octavius Caesar (later renamed Augustus Caesar, adoptive son of the murdered Julius Caesar), Mark Antony, and Lepidus form the triumvirate, the three rulers of the Roman Empire. Antony, though married to Fulvia, spends his time in Egypt, living a life of decadence and conducting an affair with Queen Cleopatra. In Antony's absence, Caesar and Lepidus worry about Pompey's increasing strength. Caesar condemns Antony for neglecting his duties as a statesman and military officer. Hearing that his wife, Fulvia, has died and that Pompey is raising an army to rebel against the triumvirate, Antony feels he must return to Rome. Caesar and Antony try to patch up their quarrel through the marriage of Antony to Caesar's sister Octavia. In Egypt, Cleopatra is told that Antony has married and is furious with jealousy. However, when the messenger says that Octavia is not very beautiful, Cleopatra feels confident that she can win Antony back. The triumvirs meet Pompey, who agrees to keep peace in exchange for control of Sicily and Sardinia. When Antony and Octavia leave for Athens, Caesar breaks his truce, wages war against Pompey, and defeats him. After using Lepidus's army to secure a victory, he imprisons Lepidus. Antony learns this with anger; Octavia pleads him to stay friends with her brother. Antony sends her to Rome, then returns to Cleopatra. In Egypt he raises an army to fight Caesar. Antony decides to fight him at sea, although Caesar has the better navy; and he allows Cleopatra to command a ship, ignoring the protests of Enobarbus, his best friend. Enobarbus deserts him and joins Caesar's army, but then in remorse kills himself. Antony's forces lose the battle when Cleopatra's ship flees and Antony's follows, leaving the rest of the fleet vulnerable to attack. Antony swears he will kill Cleopatra, so she sends word that she has committed suicide. Full of grief, Antony commands his attendant to kill him, but the man kills himself instead. Antony then falls on his own sword. Caesar takes Cleopatra prisoner, planning to display her in Rome as a trophy, but she kills herself with the help of several poisonous asps. Caesar has the two lovers buried beside each other. Macbeth: Macbeth and his wife murder Duncan in order to gain his crown, but the bloodbath doesn't stop there, and things supernatural combine to bring the Macbeths down. The Taming of the Shrew: Baptista has two daughters: Kate and Bianca. Everyone wants to wed the fair Bianca, but nobody's much interested in problem child, Kate. Baptista declares that he won't give Bianca away in a marriage until he's found a husband for Kate, so all the suitors begin busily hunting out a madman who's willing to do it, and they find Petruchio: a man who's come to wive it wealthily in Padua. And Petruchio marries Kate with a plan to tame her, while everybody else begins scheming to win Bianca's hand. A Midsummer Night's Dream: The adventures of four young lovers, a group of amateur actors and their interactions with fairies come to light in a moonlit forest. The Merry Wives of Windsor: When Sir John Falstaff decides that he wants to have a little fun he writes two letters to a pair of Windsor wives: Mistress Ford and Mistress Page. When they put their heads together and compare missives, they plan a practical joke or two to teach the knight a lesson. But Mistress Ford's husband is a very jealous man and is pumping Falstaff for information of the affair. Meanwhile the Pages' daughter Anne is besieged by suitors. Much Ado About Nothing: Benedick and Beatrice fight their merry war of words. But when Beatrice's friend, Hero, is humiliatingly jilted by Benedick's best friend, Claudio, Benedick has to choose which side he's on. But unknown to all, Claudio's been tricked by the bastard Don John, and (unfortunately), it's up to Dogberry and Verges to solve the case. The Winter's Tale: King Leontes of Bohemia suspects his wife, Hermione, and his friend, Polixenes, of betraying him. When he forces Polixenes to flee for his life, Leontes sets in motion a chain of events that lead to death, a ferocious bear, an infant left in the snow, young love, and a statue coming to life. The Third Part of Henry the Sixth: Following his father's early death and the loss of possessions in France young Henry VI comes to the throne, under the protection of the duke of Gloucester. He is unaware that there are other claimants to the throne, Plantagent of York and Somerset of Lancaster, whose factions will ultimately cause the Wars of the Roses. Ignorant of the schisms Henry tries to unite them in the Hundred Years War, capturing Joan of Arc, before he marries Margaret of Anjou to unite England and France, but there is no dowry, angering the court. Margaret finds the pious Henry a dull husband and embarks upon an affair with Somerset as well as crossing Gloucester's wife Eleanor. When Gloucester is arrested for alleged treason because of Eleanor, Henry is too feeble to prevent his death or the country slipping into civil war. Henry V: In the midst of the Hundred Years' War, the young King Henry V of England embarks on the conquest of France in 1415.

This product was added to our catalog on Sunday 13 August, 2023.