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Forbidden Planet
(1956) Leslie Nielsen before his comic reincarnation, playing an interstellar sailor who runs across a Prospero (Walter Pidgeon) with a whole planet to himself. Indestructible. Most memorable scene: Robby the Robot fords the s
tream.
98/95 min., Color, remastered $14.99 Laser $24.99 CAV $59.99
Macbeth
There are two: Orson Welles' 23-day wonder from 1948 (89 min., B/W, $19.99 Laser $49.99) is as Scottish as they get. Roman Polanski tackled the play in 1971 and made the best of the supernatural elements; but according to Time Out unde
rplayed (?) the acting (140 min., Color, Rated R, $19.99).
Midsummer Night's Dream
(1968) Beatles haircuts, leather minis,
green body paint and a babyfaced Helen Mirren highlight this Peter Hall
RSC production. And what's a mod 60s romp without Diana Rigg?
124
min., Color, Unrated, $24.95
Also look for the Max Reinhardt's 1935
version, with such unlikely chaps as Jimmy Cagney doing unusually well,
117 min. in glorious B/W, still on tape for $19.99; or a 1982 Britten
performance with
the Glyndenbourne Opera, starring James Bowman and Ileanna Cotrubas, 194
min., Color, $29.99.
Prospero's Books
(1991) Peter Greenaway is not to everyone's taste, but John Gielgud had the last laugh over all the onscreen nudity. The venerable actor plays all "Tempest" roles in voiceover as the imagery explores alchemy and its intellectua
l temptations. Even Roger Ebert warned you would have to play this on a
laser machine with single frame advance: it's really a CD-Rom posing as
a movie. But did it ever come out on laser? Nooooo... Hmmph!
120 min.,
Color, Rated R, $19.99
The Tempest
An enviable cast for British TV: Maurice Evans, Richard Burton, Roddy McDowall, Lee Remick... Tom Poston? This one is sadly no longer available; and neither is the Hollywood double-cassette production starring Efrem Zimbalist, Jr.
with Ron "Horshack" Palillo as Trinculo, nor the Derek Jarman "Stormy Weather" curtain call with Heathcote Williams.
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