Adaptations - Chekov, Ibsen, Strindberg, Shaw
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- DirectorJoseph LoseyStarsJane FondaEdward FoxTrevor HowardNora Helmer, years earlier, committed a forgery in order to save the life of her authoritarian husband, Torvald. Now she is being blackmailed and lives in fear of her husband finding out and the shame such a revelation would bring to his career. But when the truth comes out, Nora is shocked to learn where she really stands in her husband's esteem.
- DirectorPatrick GarlandStarsClaire BloomAnthony HopkinsRalph RichardsonYears ago, Nora Helmer (Claire Bloom) committed a forgery in order to save the life of her authoritarian husband Torvald (Sir Anthony Hopkins). Now she is being blackmailed and lives in fear of her husband finding out, and of the shame such a revelation would bring to his career. But when the truth comes out, Nora is shocked to learn where she really stands in her husband's esteem.
- DirectorGeorge SchaeferStarsSteve McQueenBibi AnderssonCharles DurningA scientist stands against an entire town when he discovers their medicinal spa is polluted.
- DirectorHenri SafranStarsLiv UllmannJeremy IronsLucinda JonesA loving family's world is shattered by an old friend's arrival, carrying a dark secret.
- DirectorTrevor NunnStarsGlenda JacksonTimothy WestPeter EyreHenrik Ibsen's enduring drama about a Nordic femme fatale, a neurotic, controlling, strong-willed woman who is nonetheless alluring to the males in her town. She is a solitary woman in a society held together by kinship and class. If she had had more brains she would have thought her way out of it. If she had had more courage she would have bolted long ago with Løvborg, the only true creative force in the vicinity whose manuscript she burns in the stove as if she were aborting their unconceived child.
- DirectorJonathan DemmeStarsWallace ShawnJulie HagertyLarry PineA successful, ego-maniacal architect who has spent a lifetime bullying his wife, employees and mistresses wants to make peace as his life approaches its final act.
- DirectorAlf SjöbergStarsAnita BjörkUlf PalmeMärta DorffAn heiress begins to realize her attraction to one of her family's servants.
- DirectorMike FiggisStarsSaffron BurrowsPeter MullanMaria Doyle KennedyA footman seduces a count's daughter.
- DirectorAndrey KonchalovskiyStarsInnokentiy SmoktunovskiySergey BondarchukIrina KupchenkoThe ordinary life of the Russian provincial intellectuals seems to them gray and bleak. Are exceptions possible?
- DirectorLouis MalleStarsWallace ShawnPhoebe BrandGeorge GaynesNew York actors rehearse Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" in a dilapidated theatre.
- DirectorIosif KheifitsStarsIya SavvinaAleksey BatalovNina AlisovaA love story among the nobility of the Russian Empire: a man and a woman, both married, fall in love.
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsJames MasonVanessa RedgraveSimone SignoretFilm adaptation of Anton Chekhov's story of life in rural Russia during the latter part of the 19th century.
- DirectorYuli KarasikStarsAlla DemidovaVladimir ChetverikovNikolai PlotnikovBased on Chekhov's homonymous play, "The Seagull" narrates the story of a disturbed family and their acquaintances during summertime in the countryside.
- DirectorMichael MayerStarsAnnette BeningCorey StollGlenn FleshlerIn the early twentieth century, an aging actress and her lover visit the estate of her elderly brother.
- DirectorSamson SamsonovStarsSergey BondarchukLyudmila TselikovskayaVladimir DruzhnikovOsip Ivanovich Dymov, the titular counselor and the doctor of thirty one years, serves in two hospitals at the same time: intern and anatomist. From nine o'clock in the morning and in the forenoon accepts patients, then goes to open corpses. But its income is hardly enough for a covering of expenses of the wife mad about talents and celebrities in the art and artistic environment whom it daily accepts in the house.
- DirectorNikita MikhalkovStarsAleksandr KalyaginElena SoloveyEvgeniya GlushenkoIn Imperial Russia, the nobility has its own entertainments, disputes and worries.
- DirectorIosif KheifitsStarsAndrei PopovAnatoliy PapanovNonna Terentyeva"In the City of S." is a Soviet film adaptation of one of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov's most famous short stories "Ionich". This is a story about a young promising doctor Dmitry Ionich Startsev, who moves to a county town where he was appointed a doctor. At first, the life of a budding newcomer in these parts was literally in full swing. He had a lot of new acquaintances and discoveries ahead of him. He met the Turkins, a well-known family in these parts, who were known in the district for their education. Over time, he began to visit them often, where he fell in love with the young Ekaterina Turkina. However, the ambitious girl did not want to stay further in the province and went to Moscow to enter the conservatory, refusing Startsev's offer. Ionich remained where it all began, sinking more and more into the abyss of a well-fed and sluggish existence.
- DirectorMichael BlakemoreStarsSam NeillGreta ScacchiJohn HargreavesAdaptation of Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya" set in rural Australia in the 1920's. Jack Dickens and his niece Sally run the family farm to support brother-in-law Alexander as a (supposedly brilliant) literary critic in London. Action begins when Alexander returns with his beautiful young wife Deborah, revealing himself as an arrogant failure and wanting to sell the farm out from under Jack. Blakemore introduces themes about Australia's separation from England, as well as expanding the pacifist and ecological philosophies espoused by the local Doctor Max Askey.
- DirectorSergey BondarchukStarsOleg KuznetsovNikolay TrofimovVladimir SedovA boy in Russia, circa 1900, makes a daunting trip from his home village to a school in the city.
- DirectorEmil LoteanuStarsGalina BelyaevaOleg YankovskiyKirill LavrovA romantic drama in which a beautiful but poor young woman has to choose between three suitors: an old widower, a decadent nobleman and a handsome but poor young man.
- DirectorDouglas SirkStarsLinda DarnellGeorge SandersAnna LeeIn this filmed Chekhov adaptation, Olga is an alluring peasant woman who lures cynical aristocrat Fedor away from his milquetoast fiancée, with tragic consequences.
- DirectorMichael CacoyannisStarsCharlotte RamplingAlan BatesTushka BergenAbandoned by her lover, the aristocratic Madame Lubov Ranevskaya returns to Russia, only to see her fragrant cherry orchard in full bloom: a painful reminder of her dire economic state and the imminent foreclosure of the enviable property.
- DirectorRichard EyreStarsJudi DenchBill PatersonAnton LesserMadame Ranevsky (Dame Judi Dench) is a spoiled aging aristocratic lady, who returns from a trip to Paris to face the loss of her magnificent Cherry Orchard estate after a default on the mortgage. In denial, she continues living in the past, deluding herself and her family, while the beautiful cherry trees are being axed down by the re-possessor Lopakhin (Bill Paterson), her former serf, who has his own agenda.
- DirectorGabriel PascalStarsClaude RainsVivien LeighStewart GrangerAt the height of the Roman Civil War, a young Cleopatra (Vivien Leigh) meets a middle-aged Julius Caesar (Claude Rains), who teaches her how to rule Egypt.
- DirectorJoe LaytonStarsNorman WisdomNoël CowardEd AmesThe story of Androcles, the simple-hearted Christian tailor whose friendship with a lion saves himself and his friends from martyrdom in the Roman Colosseum.
- DirectorJames Cellan JonesStarsAlec GuinnessGeneviève BujoldMargaret CourtenayJulius Caesar's arrival in Egypt proves to be more than interesting to the beautiful Cleopatra, ambitious sister to the boy pharaoh.
- DirectorChester ErskineNicholas RayStarsJean SimmonsVictor MatureAlan YoungStory of a Christian in ancient Rome who befriends a lion.
- DirectorPatrick DromgooleAlex KirbyStarsPeter O'TooleLisa HarrowJames GroutA story of modern London life, where the ordinary man strives to maintain his position as a gentleman, and the ordinary woman is concerned with marriage.
- DirectorGabriel PascalHarold FrenchStarsWendy HillerRex HarrisonRobert MorleyA young and idealistic woman, who has adopted the Salvation Army and whose father is an armament industrialist, will save more souls directing her father's business. A comedy with social commentary.
- DirectorAnthony AsquithStarsLeslie CaronDirk BogardeAlastair SimA single doctor about to be awarded a knighthood for his claim of curing tuberculosis is infatuated by a woman's beauty and charm, promising to save her husband's life, only to change his mind after discovering the man's immoral character.
- DirectorAnthony AsquithLeslie HowardStarsLeslie HowardWendy HillerWilfrid LawsonA phonetics and diction expert makes a bet that he can teach a cockney flower girl to speak proper English and pass as a lady in high society.
- DirectorAlan CookeStarsPeter O'TooleShelagh McLeodNancy KerrThe standard My Fair Lady (1964) story, with a provocative rendition by Peter O'Toole. He knows how to talk, but does he know how to behave towards a lady?
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsAudrey HepburnRex HarrisonStanley HollowayIn 1910s London, snobbish phonetics professor Henry Higgins agrees to a wager that he can make crude flower girl, Eliza Doolittle, presentable in high society.
- DirectorOtto PremingerStarsJean SebergRichard WidmarkRichard ToddIn 1456, French King Charles VII recalls the story of how he met the seventeen-year-old peasant girl Joan of Arc, entrusted her with the command of the French Army, and ultimately burned her at the stake as a heretic.
- DirectorGordon FlemyngStarsPeter O'TooleZero MostelJeanne MoreauSlapstick comedy based on the play by George Bernard Shaw. A stiff English officer, captain Charles Edstaston (Peter O'Toole), and his fiancée Claire arrive in St. Petersburg. Edstaston is brought to the imperial court to seek audience with the empress Catherine (Jeanne Moreau). He obtains an interview with her courtier, the drunken Potemkin (Zero Mostel), who ends up carrying him in his arms to the empress and dumping him into her royal bed. From this moment on, the hapless Edstaston endeavours to escape from the clutches of the sex-crazed empress and leave the city with his English fiancée.
- DirectorAnthony AsquithStarsSophia LorenPeter SellersAlastair SimA millionairess and a doctor cannot marry until they meet conditions set up by their respective parents.
- DirectorLaslo BenedekStarsFredric MarchMildred DunnockKevin McCarthyAn over-the-hill salesman faces a personal turning point when he loses his job and attempts to make peace with his family.
- DirectorMario BavaStarsMichèle MercierLidia AlfonsiBoris KarloffBoris Karloff hosts a trio of horror stories concerning a stalked call girl, a vampire-like monster who preys on his family, and a nurse who is haunted by her ring's rightful owner.
- DirectorSergei YutkevichStarsNikolay GrinkoMarina VladyIya SavvinaTheatrical tableau style portrait of a period in the life of Chekhov.
- DirectorRichard A. LukinJohn StixStarsPhyllis LoveE.G. MarshallJames PatersonProduced by David Susskind, this production of one of Henrik Ibsen's most famous plays focuses on an older man's fear that he will be replaced by the younger generation before he has been able to reconcile his success with his personal sacrifices.
- DirectorJohn GlenisterRobin PhillipsStarsHelen MirrenDonal McCannHeather CanningA televised Royal Shakespeare Company production of August Strindberg's classic play. Miss Julie (Dame Helen Mirren), a nineteenth century aristocrat's daughter, is attracted to one of the servants in her father's house.
- DirectorJohn J. DesmondStarsBlythe DannerFrank LangellaLee GrantThis quintessential Chekhov drama--his first success--is both comic and tragic. A group of friends and relations gather at a country estate to see the first performance of an experimental play written and staged by the young man of the house, Konstantin (Frank Langella), an aspiring writer who dreams of bringing new forms to the theatre.
- DirectorMichael DarlowStarsLeo McKernJane LapotaireMiranda RichardsonIbsen's play is the story of Halvard Solness, Master Builder of a town in Norway. Solness is a successful architect but he's afraid of the being surpassed by those younger than himself. The arrival of a young woman called Hilda stirs up memories and feelings with stories of a promise he made her many years ago.
- DirectorElijah MoshinskyStarsJudi DenchMichael GambonKenneth BranaghOswald Alving is dying. His mother is anxious to keep the precise nature of his illness a secret.
- DirectorMichael SimpsonStarsJanet McTeerPatrick MalahideSarah PorterComplex battle of the sexes and classes as a neurotic rich woman has an affair with her father's calculating valet.
- DirectorJames Cellan JonesStarsHelena Bonham CarterKika MarkhamPatsy Kensit1865: Swiss captain Bluntschli fights as mercenary in the war between Bulgaria and Serbia. When his group's attacked by a few Bulgarian troopers, he learns that he's got the wrong ammunition for his cannon and has to flee. His flight leads him right into the bedroom of his enemy's fiancée.
- DirectorDavid Hugh JonesStarsElizabeth SpriggsCheryl MaikerGraham TurnerThe black sheep of a family (Dick Dudgeon) and the local minister (Anthony Anderson) discover their true vocations during the Revolutionary War.
- DirectorDeborah WarnerStarsFiona ShawBrid BrennanSusan ColverdHedda Gabler is a beautiful woman married to the solid and respectable academic George Tesman. Then an old flame, the dreamer Eilert Lovborg, turns up on the scene with tragic results.
- DirectorSimon CurtisStarsJohn MalkovichKate NelliganMiranda RichardsonA married couple are visited by a friend from their past, who causes them unease and even embarrassment.
- DirectorDavid ThackerStarsJuliet StevensonTrevor EveGeraldine JamesYears ago, Nora Helmer committed a forgery in order to save the life of her authoritarian husband Torvald. Now she is being blackmailed, and lives in fear of her husband finding out.
- DirectorGregory MosherStarsDavid WarnerIan HolmMary Elizabeth MastrantonioWhen Vanya's brother-in-law declares his intention to sell the family's house, polite facades begin to crumble and long repressed feelings start to emerge with devastating consequences.
- DirectorPatrick MarberStarsKathy BurkePhil DanielsGeraldine SomervilleAfter Miss Julie is an adaptation of the 1888 play Miss Julie by August Strindberg. The narrative takes place on the night of July 26 1945, after the British Labour Party's landslide defeat of the Conservatives (led by Winston Churchill). The atmosphere is lively, and the action takes place on a property owned by Miss Julie's rich father. Christine (Kathy Burke) and John (Phil Daniels) work for Miss Julie's father and are planning on getting married. Miss Julie (played by Geraldine Somerville) complicates this when she, slightly drunk from celebrating, begins to flirt with John. Christine is aware of this, but is so tired from working that she goes to bed. Once Christine is gone, John and Miss Julie begin talking about the past, flirting with each other all the while. John admits that he has always "loved" her, and Miss Julie responds to that sexually. They sleep together, and in the early morning Christine walks in on them in John's room. She leaves, shocked by it. The next morning Miss Julie is panicking about sleeping with one of her father's employee's. She talks with John and he says that he had seduced her and did not really love her. Miss Julie, ashamed that he took her virginity, plans to leave. Christine confronts John and Miss Julie begins to seem suicidal. The open ending leaves their fates up to the audience, with Christine planning to go to church, Miss Julie leaving for the barn with a razor and John receiving orders from Miss Julie's father.
- DirectorAlex SegalStarsIngrid BergmanMichael RedgraveRalph RichardsonA scheming woman marries a nice but dimwitted intellectual out of convenience. She hears that her old lover is back in town. She decides to destroy his life, jealous of his love affair with another.
- DirectorChristine GernonStarsReece ShearsmithJulia DavisJulian BarrattRude and boorish landowner Smirnoff calls on the recently widowed Popova to collect a debt owed to him by her late husband. When the grieving widow is unable to pay him, Smirnoff simply refuses to leave. In the passionate, fiery altercation which follows, they agree to fight a duel to the death with a pair of pistols.
- StarsMackenzie CrookSheridan SmithSteve CooganThese star-studded adaptations, commissioned to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Chekhov's birth, feature some of the most acclaimed and celebrated actors from British stage and screen comedy. The plays were chosen because of their wonderful comic tone and are regarded as some of the Russian playwright's finest short works.
- DirectorCedric MessinaStarsJenny AgutterRay BrooksLaurence CarterMadame Ranevskaya is a spoiled, aging aristocratic lady who returns from a trip to Paris to face the loss of her magnificent Cherry Orchard estate after a default on the mortgage. In denial, she continues living in the past, deluding herself and her family, while the beautiful cherry trees are being axed down by the re-possessor Lopakhin, her former serf, who has his own agenda.
- DirectorMichael ElliottStarsCelia JohnsonTom CourtenayDonald WolfitA young student idealizes the lives of the inhabitants of a stylish apartment building in Stockholm only to find that it is a nest of betrayal and sickness.
- DirectorWaris HusseinStarsJanet SuzmanIan McKellenTom BellHedda Gabler is a beautiful woman married to the solid and respectable academic George Tesman. Then an old flame, the dreamer Eilert Lovborg, turns up on the scene with tragic results.
- DirectorPaul BogartStarsLuther AdlerWilliam Paul BurnsTamara DaykarhanovaIn a small Russian town at the turn of the century, three sisters (Olga, Irina, and Masha) and their brother Andrei live but dream daily of their return to their former home in Moscow, where life is charming and stimulating meaningful. But for now they exist in a malaise of dissatisfaction. Soldiers from the local military post provide them some companionship and society, but nothing can suffice to replace Moscow in their hopes. Andrei marries a provincial girl, Natasha, and begins to settle into a life of much less meaning than he had hoped. Natasha begins to run the family her way. Masha, though married, yearns for the sophisticated life and begins a dalliance with Vershinin, an army officer with a sick and suicidal wife. Even Irina, the freshest, most optimistic of the sisters, begins to waver in her dreams until, finally, tragedy strikes.
- DirectorAlf SjöbergStarsUlla JacobssonJarl KulleUlf PalmeThe movie starts with a silent section of slapsticks in BLUE and white and with piano music, giving an outline of Karin's rise and fall. The rest is normal B&W movie. Karin does not belong to the nobility but nevertheless marries the mentally ill king Erik XIV and becomes queen of Sweden. The king's skilled counsellor Göran Persson wants a royal policy supporting the people and supported by it. But in relation to the nobility the king oscillates between provocative strength and unpredictable weakness. Göran arranges that some very powerful noblemen are killed. Subsequently the king tries to have them convicted of high treason by the parliament. He forgets the manuscript, mixes up all facts, and the noblemen are acquitted. But Göran speedily gathers another parliament and has them convicted. Meanwhile Erik apologises because of the unjust murders. Hence Erik is dethroned and imprisoned. Göran is executed. Karin is restricted to a castle in Finland. In the prison Erik believes that he is still the king and gives the guards presents such as all fishes in the Baltic Sea.
- DirectorRichard CallananStarsMax WallLeo McKernGraham CrowdenTwo derelicts, Vladimir and Estragon, occupy themselves as they wait for 'Godot' to make an appearance on Pozzo's estate.
- DirectorDavid Rayner ClarkStarsMax WallPatricia HayesRichard GooldenAn exploration of the philosopher Berkeley's dictum that "to be is to be perceived", from Samuel Beckett's only screenplay, originally written for Buster Keaton.
- DirectorNigel WattisStarsSuzanne BertishBrian CoxRoger Lloyd Pack
- DirectorMichael ElliottStarsPeggy AshcroftJohn GielgudDorothy TutinMadame Lyubov Andreyevna Ranevsky (Peggy Ashcroft) is a spoiled aging aristocratic lady, who returns from a trip to Paris to face the loss of her magnificent Cherry Orchard estate after a default on the mortgage. In denial, she continues living in the past, deluding herself and her family, while the beautiful cherry trees are being axed down by the re-possessor Yermolai Alexeyevich Lopahin (George Murcell), her former serf, who has his own agenda.
- DirectorEduardo CoutinhoStarsPaulo AndréTeuda BaraArildo de BarrosIn Moscou, Eduardo Coutinho accompanies Grupo Galpão, directed by Enrique Diaz, in the rehearsals of the play "The Three Sisters", from Chekhov. The film consists in fragments of workshops, improvisations and rehearsals of the play.
- DirectorAlan CookeStarsColin BlakelyWendy HillerFrancesca AnnisThe classic tale by Henrik Ibsen; a complete opposite of a hero is banished from his village for his (in)actions. He then travels the world with more or less the same result trying to impress.
- DirectorVadim KurchevskiyStarsOleg YankovskiyAnna KamenkovaNikita PodgornyBased on the play by H. Ibsen and the musical fantasy of E. Grieg.
- DirectorLaurence OlivierJohn SichelStarsJeanne WattsJoan PlowrightLouise PurnellNearly a thousand miles away from their beloved Moscow, Chekhov's Three Sisters live in virtual exile. Olga, a schoolmistress, attempts to support her siblings and the home that is the sole legacy of their late father.