The Merchant of Venice

The Merchant of Venice
(TV Movie)

Bob Peck as Shylock

1996
4/5 stars


Antonio (Benjamin Whitrow) takes out a loan from money-lender Shylock (Bob Peck) for his friend Bassanio (Paul McGann), promising a pound of flesh if he can't repay. When disaster strikes and Antonio looses everything, Shylock is determined to make him pay in full. Bassanio's new wife, Portia (Haydn Gwynne), dons male garb and takes on the role as lawyer, to teach Shylock mercy.

Peck played Shylock well, and with much emotion, though his best speech was somewhat rushed.
McGann was an earnest Bassanio, but his unattractive costumes and terrible hair style were quite distracting.  Gwynne played Portia with grace, giving her famous speech in fine style.  The rest of the cast also acted naturally and elegantly.  The costumes and sets are those of Shakespeare's intended era of Venice, and for the most part, looked lovely.  Overall, though it left out some less important scenes, it was a fine performance and worth watching.



This movie is available to watch on YouTube:

Chandni

Chandni
(translation: "moonlight")
1989
4/5 stars

Rohit (Rishi Kapoor) meets Chandni (Sridevi) at a wedding and is instantly smitten.  He woos and wins her, but before they can be married he suffers an accident that leaves him paralyzed. Rohit pushes Chandni away, not wanting her to be tied to him.  Grief-stricken, she moves to Bombay, where she takes a job as secretary to Lalit (Vinod Khanna).  Lalit falls in love with her, and she agrees to marry him.  Before they are married, though, a recovered Rohit comes to find her, and Chandni must choose between him and Lalit.

This drama has a good plot that, while predictable, keeps the viewer's interest.  It not only spotlights Sridevi's stunning beauty, but her dancing as well.  In addition, she matures her character in a believable way.  Kapoor and Khanna both give good, often emotional, performances.  The music was quite good, as was the choreography.  Sridevi's costumes, especially the traditional ones, were gorgeous.  Overall, it's an engrossing film, and quite enjoyable.

Cast also includes Anupam Kher, Waheeda Rehman, and a cameo by Juhi Chawla.

This movie is available with Amazon Prime.

Kiss Me Kate

Kiss Me Kate
1953
4/5 stars


Divorced theater actors Fred (Howard Keel) and Lilli (Kathryn Grayson) team up again to play a musical version of Shakespeare's the Taming of the Shrew, igniting a full range of emotions between the two. The situation is not helped by Fred's flirtation with another actress, Lois (Ann Miller), and finally Lilli quits in mid play. In the meantime, Lois's boyfriend Bill (Tommy Rall) runs up a debt with gangsters, but signs Fred's name. Things grow more complicated when the gangsters (played by James Whitmore and Keenan Wynn) arrive to collect the money, and refuse to let Lilli leave. All the while, the play within a play is on-going as well, adding a further dimension to plot.

It may sound complicated, but the beauty of Dorothy Kingsley's screenplay (which was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award) is how well it flows, weaving all the subplots in and out, and finally tying them together.  Keel and Grayson are excellently matched, with both having superb singing voices.  Miller, as always, steals the spotlight with her vivacity and dancing skill--helped, of course, by Hermes Pan's excellent choreography.  Costumes and sets are cheerful and colorful and look great all around.  The star of the show, however, is Cole Porter: his clever lyrics and lovely music are the groundwork that the builds this fine film.

Ann Miller

What I dislike about this movie is that it highlights the Taming of the Shrew (a horrible play) in a positive, even idolizing, light.  The modern part of the plot follows the Taming some, showing male dominance and female subservience as the expected outcome between a man and a woman.  I realize the movie is only showing the societal norm for the 1950s, and as such can enjoy the rest of the film without being affected.

The bottom line is that Kiss Me Kate is a fun, lively movie, with a few flaws, but still good enough for a universal recommendation.

Grayson, Keel

Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon

Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon
(translates as "I am crazy about Prem")
2003
4/5 stars

Sanjana (Kareena Kapoor) falls deeply in reciprocated love with Prem (Hrithik Roshan), a wealthy NRI and the choice of her parents. Every one is ecstatic over the match until another Prem (Abhishek Bachchan) arrives and also falls in love with Sanjana. He is even more eligible, and he and Sanjana have much in common. Sanjana's mother (Himani Shivpuri) pushes for this match, instead. As in any love triangle, someone must come away hurt.

The plot is predictable, which doesn't lessen the enjoyment, but the resolution lacked the depth of emotion that it should have had.  Kapoor was vivacious and acted her part well.  Roshan's Prem was overly enthusiastic and outgoing, and that made it hard to warm to him at first; I don't know if this was Roshan overacting, or the fault of the script.  Bachchan played his gentle Prem well, and drew the audience to him.  The musical numbers were good, with one being particularly memorable.  The scenery was lovely, giving an excellent backdrop to the film.  Overall, it's a enjoyable time pass, though weak in parts.

This cast also includes Johnny Lever, Rema Lagoo, and Pankaj Kapur.

This movie is free with Amazon Prime.

Roshan, Bachchan, Kapoor

The Taming of the Shrew (BBC Television Shakespeare)

The Taming of the Shrew
(BBC Television Shakespeare)
1980
3/5 stars


Baptista Minola (John Franklyn-Robbins) of Padua has two lovely daughters: Katherina (Sarah Badel) and Bianca (Susan Penhaligon). Bianca has many suitors, being retiring and maidenly. Katherina, on the other hand, is a shrew, short of temper and sharp of tongue. Baptisa vows that he will not allow Bianca to marry until her older sister has. Petruchio (John Cleese) comes to Padua, intent on finding a rich wife. Katherina is just such a prospect, and he quickly arranges with Baptista to marry her, and then sets about to tame her.

I truly dislike the play itself (my review here), and watched this only in hopes that seeing it staged would give me a better appreciation for it.  Unfortunately, it didn't.  However, the play was mostly well-performed, with Cleese making a surprisingly good Petruchio.  I found that some of the actors tended to speak  too quickly when the character was excited, which made it difficult to understand the lines.  Overall, though, it was generally well-staged performance of a poor play.

This can be viewed for free with Amazon Prime.

Twelfth Night (Live From Lincoln Center)

Twelfth Night 
(Live From Lincoln Center)
1998
5/5 stars


This is a tale of twins, Viola (Helen Hunt) and Sebastian (Rick Stear), who are separated by a shipwreck. Viola disguises herself as a man (Cesario) and becomes an attendant to Duke Orsino (Paul Rudd), with whom she falls in love. He loves Olivia (Kyra Sedgwick), who in turn falls in love with Cesario. The plot is further complicated when Malvolio (Philip Bosco), Olivia's steward, is tricked into believing that she is in love with him.

This production is superb, played naturally and with joy and verve, emphasizing the humor of the play.  Hunt and Rudd have good chemistry, adding spice to their relationship.  Bosco is wonderful as Malvolio, playing comedy and drama with equal skill.  David Patrick Kelly made an entertaining fool (Feste).  The best performances were from Brian Murray (as Sir Toby Belch) and Max Wright (as Sir Andrew Aguecheek); their comic timing, expressions, and gestures were perfection.

My only complaint is with the play itself: so many subplots have to be tied up in the last act that it feels unwieldy at times.  This was handled well by the director (Nicholas Hytner), so that it wrapped up smoothly.

This can be viewed on Internet Archive:
https://archive.org/details/TwelfthNightLiveFromLincolnCenter1998

Hunt and Rudd

Twelfth Night

Twelfth Night
TV movie: 1969

Raymond, Plowright

4/5 stars

This is a tale of twins, Viola and Sebastian (both played by Joan Plowright), who are separated by a shipwreck. Viola disguises herself as a man (Cesario) and becomes an attendant to Duke Orsino (Gary Raymond), with whom she falls in love. He loves Olivia (Adreinne Corri), who in turn falls in love with Cesario.   The plot is further complicated when Malvolio (Alec Guinness), Olivia's steward, is tricked into believing that she is in love with him.

This version was directed by John Sichel and John Dexter, and shows both comedy and drama equally well. Guinness is superb as Malvolio, both comedic and tragic.  Plowright, while an excellent actress, is not visually convincing, and this weakens the performance.  The other weakness is the plot itself.  As I said in my review of the play, too many ends need tying up, and it is done too quickly in the last scene.  Otherwise, this is a delightful performance of Shakespeare's light and enjoyable play.


This movie is available both on Amazon Prime and YouTube.

Sangdil Sanam

Sangdil Sanam
(translation: "heartless beloved")
1994
3/5

Kishan and Sanam are childhood sweethearts, and are officially betrothed by their families.  However, Kishan's father (Alok Nath) is framed by Sanam's father (Kiran Kumar) for a bank theft, and Kishan and his mother (Reema Lagoo) are left with nothing and retire to a village.  Twelve years later, Kishan (Salman Khan) goes to retrieve Sanam (Manisha Koirala) and bring her home as his bride.  Unfortunately, Sanam has changed for the worse and wants nothing to do with him.

This romantic drama/comedy starts off well with a great premise, but dissolves into a ridiculous slapstick in which Kishan ignores the fact that "no" means "no"; the film then becomes serious again, and quite interesting (despite the Stockholm syndrome plot line), but even the solidly good songs can't make it better than average.

This movie is available on YouTube.

Mujhse Dosti Karoge!

Mujhse Dosti Karoge!
(translation: "will you be my friend")
2002
5/5 stars

As a young boy, Raj moves with his family to London.  He asks his crush, Tina, to write to him.  She says she will, but as she has no interest in so doing, their mutual friend Pooja writes to him instead, and in Tina's name, for fifteen years. After these fifteen years,  Raj (Hrithik Roshan) returns to India, halfway in love with the writer of the letters.  When Tina (Kareena Kapoor) turns out tobe  so beautiful and bubbly, Raj is certain that he loves her, not realizing that Pooja (Rani Mukherji), who loves him, is the letter writer and the one he truly loves.

The plot is standard Bollywood fare, but is good nonetheless.  The chemistry between Roshan and Mukherjee is excellent--so good it's palpable at times.  The loves songs were good, and the group choreography pleasant to watch. Kapoor's costumes, while fitting for her character, were so skimpy as to be almost painful to see.  This film works it way up to a tremendous ending, but instead it ties up too nicely and quickly.  This keeps it from being an exceptional movie, but it is overall good entertainment.

August 2020: After rewatching this, I have to up the rating to five stars.  Yes, it wraps up quickly, but it is effective, nonetheless, and a truly greet movie.

This movie is available on Amazon Prime.

Bombay Talkie

Bombay Talkie
1970
4/5 stars

Lucia Lane (Jennifer Kendal), self-absorbed and demanding, is a British author who has come to Bombay to research her next novel.  She falls in love with Vikram (played by Kendal's real-life husband Shashi Kapoor), a younger, popular Bollywood hero. The already complicated relationship is worsened by the fact that Vikram's wife (Aparna Sen) knows of the affair, and that his friend, Hari (Zia Mohyeddin), is in love with Lucia and roiling with jealousy.

Ruth Prawer Jhabvala has written a screenplay that is both credible and compelling, with dark undertones. One simply can't like Lucia and Vikram, and yet one must continue to watch as they head towards disaster.  As with many Merchant Ivory films, this one relies heavily on the actors' facial expressions to show emotions and set the mood, and these four main actors do an excellent job.  Overall, it's a rather unpleasant movie that will simultaneously grip and repel, and keep the viewer watching till the very end.

(Cast also includes Nadira, and  a cameo by Helen.)

Kapoor, Kendal

This movie is available on YouTube:

Judaai

Judaai
(translates as "separation")
1997
5/5 stars

Kajal (played by Sridevi) is obsessed with money, and as a result begins to disrespect her upstanding, honorable husband, Raj, (Anil Kapoor) for not giving her what she wants.  When rich Janhvi (Urmila Matondkar) falls in love with Raj, Kajal bullies him into marrying Janhvi in exchange for a large sum of money.  Kajal soon discovers that the wealth she has so desired will not bring the happiness she expected.

The incomparably beautiful Sridevi gives an outstanding performance as Kajal, easily working the audience for and against her as the scene required.  Matondkar is also excellent in her role.  Kapoor, though playing his part well, is overshadowed by the two strong performances by the actresses, but that is as it should be for this film.  The direction is superb, the music is good, the choreography average, the traditional costumes stunning, and the supporting cast some of the finest.  I was surprised at just how fantastic this movie was, and it is written well enough that I was uncertain as to how it would finally end.  I highly recommend this film, if for nothing else than Sridevi's performance.

The star-studded cast also includes Kader Khan, Farida Jalal, Johnny Lever, Paresh Rawal, Upasana Singh and Saeed Jaffrey

Sridevi, Kapoor, Matondkar

Movie is available on YouTube: