Films of Kenneth Branagh

Samuel Crowl is Trustee Professor of English at Ohio University where he has taught since 1970. He is the author of two books on Shakespeare, as well as numerous essays, articles, reviews, and interviews on all aspects of Shakespeare in performance. He has been honored many times for outstanding teaching and has lectured widely on Shakespeare at universities and conferences here and abroad, including the Shakespeare Institute and the International Globe Center.

• Preface..3Chapter 1- Actor as Filmmaker7Chapter 2- Henry V.41Chapter 3- Dead Again77Chapter 4- Peter's Friends..111Chapter 5- Much Ado About Nothing144Chapter 6- Mary Shelley's Frankenstein188Chapter 7- A Midwinter's Tale…222Chapter 8- Hamlet…250Chapter 9- Love's Labour's Lost291Appendix 1: Interview with Kenneth Branagh326Appendix 2: Kenneth Branagh ChronologyAppendix 3: Kenneth Branagh Filmography

[T]he present effort seems to be the only book available on Branagh's oeuvre in general (up to 2000), both modern and Shakespearean. Crowl limns Branagh's life and comments on how his directing developed from Henry V (1989), which heralded a new era of Shakespeare in motion pictures, to Love's Labour's Lost (2000), which wedded Shakespeare to movie musicals. Along the way Crowl discusses Dead Again (1991), Branagh's surprising homage to Hitchcock; Peter's Friends (1992), with its exploration of Emma Thompson's Cambridge pals; Much Ado about Nothing (1993), which was shot in Tuscany and was a critical and financial success; Frankenstein (1994), his most faithful adaptation of Mary Shelley's work; In the Bleak Midwinter (i.e., A Midwinter's Tale, 1995), perhaps Branagh's most autobiographical work; and his uncut Hamlet (1996), which the critics loved. Also included is an interview with Branagh, a chronology, and chapter notes, along with other scholarly apparatus. Those who can afford only one Branagh book should go for this one. Highly recommended. All readers; all levels.