Director: George Cukor
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Top Billed Actors: Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, John Barrymore
Won 0 Oscars
Nominated for 4 more:
Outstanding Production - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Best Actress - Norma Shearer
Best Supporting Actor - Basil Rathbone
Best Art Direction - Cedric Gibbons, Fredric Hope, and Edwin B. Willis
Plot: Two star-crossed lovers get entangled in a series of unfortunate miscommunications that just might cost them their lives.
Distributor: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)
Top Billed Actors: Norma Shearer, Leslie Howard, John Barrymore
Won 0 Oscars
Nominated for 4 more:
Outstanding Production - Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer
Best Actress - Norma Shearer
Best Supporting Actor - Basil Rathbone
Best Art Direction - Cedric Gibbons, Fredric Hope, and Edwin B. Willis
Plot: Two star-crossed lovers get entangled in a series of unfortunate miscommunications that just might cost them their lives.
After Warner Bros. broke the seal on Shakespeare in talkies with A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935) the previous year, Louis B. Mayer allowed Irving Thalberg to produce the first Romeo and Juliet adaptation with sound. Some unfortunate happenings put this in the same fate as the titular lovers. Thalberg passed away at the young age of 37 on the premiere of this, after fighting to produce it for over five years. The relative box office failure also made studios weary of the Bard for nearly ten years; another Shakespeare adaptation wouldn't be released until 1944. The expenses for this film kept growing and growing and the eventual $2 million budget made this the most expensive sound film to date for MGM. The lavish set design and hour and hours of research on the locales and language makes for a pricey endeavor!
This production design is the first thing to notice. The two rival families are making their way via a regal procession as we catch our first glimpse of the flashy costumes. I adore each and every set dressing in the film. It makes each scene change an event. And despite this all feeling so grand, it also feels authentic and controlled. Its not as lavish as, say, Cleopatra (1934), but its lavish enough to transport us to lovely Verona. What also transports me is the wonderful use of Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Overture. I love hearing Romantic era music in old Hollywood movies and the Tchaikovsky here elevates the film tenfold. It makes the scene with no music feel a little odd, but the scenes with music are all the more better with it. I also want to briefly discuss Norma Shearer, who was nominated for Best Actress for the Juliet role. I've come to fall in love with Shearer's performances throughout this project and I'm sorry to see her run come to an end here. She didn't make too many more movies after this (perhaps she lost her drive after Thalberg, her husband, passed away). She's fantastic here and I will sorely miss her.
Most of the other performances on the other hand are not that great. Sure Basil Rathbone is excellent as he was a Shakespearean actor, but Leslie Howard makes for a forced Romeo and John Barrymore makes for an annoying Mercutio. Some may say that Shearer and Howard are much too old for the lead roles as well. I'm not a Shakespeare snob so that doesn't bother me, but I guess it does make the whole production unfaithful in its casting. Its just a strange mix of theatrical actors and film actors - there isn't much chemistry felt throughout. The film also feels a bit long. It seems like the actual play was cut down a lot, but in order to do this, the movie lingers in many scenes. I admire the tenacity to show Romeo and Juliet for extended scenes, but the last half of the movie seems to drag.
Overall, a mixed bag of performances combined with gorgeous set and costume designs as well as musical choices make this a very competent Shakespeare adaptation.
My Score: 7/10
This production design is the first thing to notice. The two rival families are making their way via a regal procession as we catch our first glimpse of the flashy costumes. I adore each and every set dressing in the film. It makes each scene change an event. And despite this all feeling so grand, it also feels authentic and controlled. Its not as lavish as, say, Cleopatra (1934), but its lavish enough to transport us to lovely Verona. What also transports me is the wonderful use of Pyotr Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Overture. I love hearing Romantic era music in old Hollywood movies and the Tchaikovsky here elevates the film tenfold. It makes the scene with no music feel a little odd, but the scenes with music are all the more better with it. I also want to briefly discuss Norma Shearer, who was nominated for Best Actress for the Juliet role. I've come to fall in love with Shearer's performances throughout this project and I'm sorry to see her run come to an end here. She didn't make too many more movies after this (perhaps she lost her drive after Thalberg, her husband, passed away). She's fantastic here and I will sorely miss her.
Most of the other performances on the other hand are not that great. Sure Basil Rathbone is excellent as he was a Shakespearean actor, but Leslie Howard makes for a forced Romeo and John Barrymore makes for an annoying Mercutio. Some may say that Shearer and Howard are much too old for the lead roles as well. I'm not a Shakespeare snob so that doesn't bother me, but I guess it does make the whole production unfaithful in its casting. Its just a strange mix of theatrical actors and film actors - there isn't much chemistry felt throughout. The film also feels a bit long. It seems like the actual play was cut down a lot, but in order to do this, the movie lingers in many scenes. I admire the tenacity to show Romeo and Juliet for extended scenes, but the last half of the movie seems to drag.
Overall, a mixed bag of performances combined with gorgeous set and costume designs as well as musical choices make this a very competent Shakespeare adaptation.
My Score: 7/10