Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7124 in VHS
• Rating: Parental Guidance
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Mono, PAL, Colour, Full Screen
• Original language: English
• Number of tapes: 1
• Running time: 147 minutes

Synopsis
A man is condemned to death and a nun defends herself against the advances of a corrupt judge. Classic Shakespearean drama.

Customer Reviews

Should she sleepwith him?????
It's always difficult to put Shakespeare on the small screen and you are left with the quandary of whether to go for something that seems to have been written as a script for the movies anyway - Kenneth Branagh's screen versions of Shakespeare provide an excellent example of this - or you forget the screen and basically film the stage play. Alternatively you provide aversion of Shakespeare that is stuck somewhere between screen and film - just see Olivier's "Henry V" and you'll know exactly what I mean. Much of the BBC Shakespeare is like the latter.

"Measure for Measure", a dark comedy, is most definately a difficult animal to produce and you may initally feel the akwardness in this production. As the central dilemma of the plot develops - (should Isbella a trainee nun sleep with Angelo to save her brother from being executed) - we forget the somewhat pantominish feel of this production. Isbella has been portrayed with adequate integrity to keep you still thinking about whether she should have, or whether she was right not to long after the video has ended.

True, there is comedy in this play but in this production the faithful historic context in which it is presented defeats the chance of making the comic but convaluted Shakespeare lines relevant and amusing to a modern audience(and this is where Branagh excels!).

As I said, "Measure for Measure" is a difficult production, expecially for the small screen and that why there are few attempts at it in this medium. If you need to see it you could do worse than buy this version; at least you will feel a bit better than totally flumuxed by this particular gem of Shakespeare. Finally, having let the cat out of the bag about Isabella not sleeping with Angelo, you'll need to know whether her brother is still executed. Well, watch the video and find out!