The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare on Film. Edited by Russell Jackson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000; pp. xiv + 342. $54.95 hardcover, $19.95 paperback

Extract

Ever since films of Shakespeare's plays have been available, first on cumbersome sixteen-millimeter celluloid reels, and more recently on inexpensive videotape and DVd, they have found their way into theatre classrooms and theatre scholarship. Whether viewed as records (albeit inadequate ones) of great stage performances, as examples of the differences between the theatrical and cinematic arts, or as evidence of Shakespeare's iconic position in high culture (and more recently in popular culture as well), the increasing availability and growing accessibility of Shakespeare films have expanded their usefulness far beyond the “Introduction to Theatre” course or articles in Shakespeare Quarterly. This has been particularly true in the past dozen or so years, as several major Shakespeare films, and even a purported biography (Shakespeare in Love), have appeared in the wake of Kenneth Branagh's 1989 film of Henry V.