1171 Romeo and Juliet

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DarkImbecile
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1171 Romeo and Juliet

#1 Post by DarkImbecile » Tue Nov 15, 2022 1:44 pm

Romeo and Juliet

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One of the great Shakespeare adaptations, this sublime take on the Bard’s immortal romantic tragedy by Franco Zeffirelli breathed new life into the oft-told tale by casting actual teenagers in the title roles. As the young lovers whose affair threatens to inflame the tensions between their feuding families in Renaissance Verona, Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting vividly capture the mix of adolescent ardor and turmoil that fuels their destiny-driven liaison. A sensory banquet thanks to Nino Rota’s delicate score and the exquisite, Oscar-winning costumes and cinematography, Romeo and Juliet is Shakespeare at its most deeply felt and passionately alive.

SPECIAL EDITION FEATURES
  • New 4K digital restoration, with uncompressed monaural soundtrack
  • Excerpt from the 2018 documentary Franco Zeffirelli: Directing from Life
  • Interviews with actors Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting from 1967 and 2016
  • Trailer
  • English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing
    PLUS: An essay by scholar Ramona Wray

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FrauBlucher
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Re: 1171 Romeo and Juliet

#2 Post by FrauBlucher » Tue Nov 15, 2022 1:59 pm

Hhmmm, a new Paramount license

Gerald Christie
Joined: Wed Jun 08, 2016 12:06 pm

Re: 1171 Romeo and Juliet

#3 Post by Gerald Christie » Tue Nov 15, 2022 2:26 pm

The good news: yay, a new Paramount title and a personal favorite of mine.
The bad news: I hate to be one of those people, but why didn't they release this one as a 4k? Also, what is up with the extras? It's such a famous film, from a high profile director and we only get two archive extras?! Oh well.

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DeprongMori
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Re: 1171 Romeo and Juliet

#4 Post by DeprongMori » Tue Nov 15, 2022 2:31 pm

Gerald Christie wrote:
Tue Nov 15, 2022 2:26 pm
The good news: yay, a new Paramount title and a personal favorite of mine.
The bad news: I hate to be one of those people, but why didn't they release this one as a 4k? Also, what is up with the extras? It's such a famous film, from a high profile director and we only get two archive extras?! Oh well.
The supplements seem to be getting pretty scant on many of the new releases. Hoping the Duras documentary covers a lot of ground as that release has me curious to learn much more about the films and Duras.

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swo17
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Re: 1171 Romeo and Juliet

#5 Post by swo17 » Tue Nov 15, 2022 2:34 pm

Are we lucky to be getting this release at all from a "canceled" director?

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knives
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Re: 1171 Romeo and Juliet

#6 Post by knives » Tue Nov 15, 2022 2:35 pm

High school purchases win out. I’m more surprised that the extras acknowledge him.

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dustybooks
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Re: 1171 Romeo and Juliet

#7 Post by dustybooks » Tue Nov 15, 2022 2:39 pm

I revisited this last year and found it to be really bad and oddly cheap looking, but my Letterboxd friends page indicates I’m an outlier on it. However, every month I find it harder to resist joining the “why won’t they release only what I want” whine brigade…

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FrauBlucher
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Re: 1171 Romeo and Juliet

#8 Post by FrauBlucher » Tue Nov 15, 2022 2:48 pm

dustybooks wrote:
Tue Nov 15, 2022 2:39 pm
However, every month I find it harder to resist joining the “why won’t they release only what I want” whine brigade…
Save a space for me on the whine brigade line

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dwk
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Re: 1171 Romeo and Juliet

#9 Post by dwk » Tue Nov 15, 2022 2:57 pm

swo17 wrote:
Tue Nov 15, 2022 2:34 pm
Are we lucky to be getting this release at all from a "canceled" director?
Funnily enough, I saw a tweet celebrating this slate as making up for the von Trier and Gilliam titles in January.

Criterion 2023, the year of cancelled directors.

beamish14
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Re: 1171 Romeo and Juliet

#10 Post by beamish14 » Tue Nov 15, 2022 3:21 pm

They couldn’t even snag a Michael York interview? SOMETHING from a Shakespeare scholar? Wow, what a bare release

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ryannichols7
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Re: 1171 Romeo and Juliet

#11 Post by ryannichols7 » Tue Nov 15, 2022 3:37 pm

dwk wrote:
Tue Nov 15, 2022 2:57 pm
swo17 wrote:
Tue Nov 15, 2022 2:34 pm
Are we lucky to be getting this release at all from a "canceled" director?
Funnily enough, I saw a tweet celebrating this slate as making up for the von Trier and Gilliam titles in January.

Criterion 2023, the year of cancelled directors.
I will keep insisting for that Knife in the Water bluray upgrade till it happens, especially if we're seeing more continually cancelled directors!

even then...ridiculous to see so few features. on any of these titles, truly

beamish14
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Re: 1171 Romeo and Juliet

#12 Post by beamish14 » Tue Nov 15, 2022 3:41 pm

ryannichols7 wrote:
Tue Nov 15, 2022 3:37 pm
dwk wrote:
Tue Nov 15, 2022 2:57 pm
swo17 wrote:
Tue Nov 15, 2022 2:34 pm
Are we lucky to be getting this release at all from a "canceled" director?
Funnily enough, I saw a tweet celebrating this slate as making up for the von Trier and Gilliam titles in January.

Criterion 2023, the year of cancelled directors.
I will keep insisting for that Knife in the Water bluray upgrade till it happens, especially if we're seeing more continually cancelled directors!

even then...ridiculous to see so few features. on any of these titles, truly

The dearth of new commentaries over the last 6+ years is really frustrating

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bainbridgezu
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Re: 1171 Romeo and Juliet

#13 Post by bainbridgezu » Tue Nov 15, 2022 3:53 pm

A staid, uninspired release for a film of equal merit. They could've interviewed Bruce Robinson, but perhaps they're saving that for the Withnail reissue -- since that film was inspired by his experience with Kirkland Visconti.

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domino harvey
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Re: 1171 Romeo and Juliet

#14 Post by domino harvey » Tue Nov 15, 2022 4:17 pm

This looks like a contractual obligation release given the zero thought put into it. Hussey and John McEnery are great in their roles as Juliet and Mercutio, and I would align myself with those who think this is a good (but not great) adaptation. I thought it was gonna be that awful Baz Luhrmann atrocity when I saw this thread title, so let’s count our blessings

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dwk
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Re: 1171 Romeo and Juliet

#15 Post by dwk » Tue Nov 15, 2022 4:22 pm

bainbridgezu wrote:
Tue Nov 15, 2022 3:53 pm
A staid, uninspired release for a film of equal merit. They could've interviewed Bruce Robinson, but perhaps they're saving that for the Withnail reissue -- since that film was inspired by his experience with Kirkland Visconti.
I wonder if such an interview would run afoul of Paramount's legal department and would more than likely appear, as you suggest, on a Withnail release.

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Fred Holywell
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Re: 1171 Romeo and Juliet

#16 Post by Fred Holywell » Tue Nov 15, 2022 9:23 pm

Disappointed by the dearth of extras, of course. Not even the vintage Paramount promo The Teen-age Lovers of Verona. It's a typical studio puff piece perhaps, but there's some colorful behind-the-scenes footage that many may find interesting.

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furbicide
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Re: 1171 Romeo and Juliet

#17 Post by furbicide » Wed Nov 16, 2022 12:06 am

Can only echo (mostly) everyone else's thoughts here: love the film, love in theory that it's been picked up by Criterion, but the lack of extras kind of makes me wonder what the point was (given it's been such an easily available film on disc previously). Not sure I'll bother upgrading my old Paramount R4 DVD.

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andyli
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Re: 1171 Romeo and Juliet

#18 Post by andyli » Wed Nov 16, 2022 12:59 am

The primary point is to publish the new 4K restoration, I guess.

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Re: 1171 Romeo and Juliet

#19 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Wed Nov 16, 2022 1:55 am

Thom Yorke explaining it’s influence on “Exit Music” is the first thing that comes to mind about this.

pistolwink
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Re: 1171 Romeo and Juliet

#20 Post by pistolwink » Wed Nov 16, 2022 1:57 am

I remember classroom screenings of this film in my high school being mildly scandalous.

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therewillbeblus
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Re: 1171 Romeo and Juliet

#21 Post by therewillbeblus » Wed Nov 16, 2022 2:06 am

Same, but I think only for the cleavage in Act II scene II. I doubt it’d stir any feathers today

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DarkImbecile
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Re: 1171 Romeo and Juliet

#22 Post by DarkImbecile » Wed Nov 16, 2022 2:15 am

My 9th grade English teacher blocked the TV with his body as he fast-forwarded through

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domino harvey
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Re: 1171 Romeo and Juliet

#23 Post by domino harvey » Wed Nov 16, 2022 2:24 am

Just noticed that the release date for this is Valentines Day. That’s cute

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colinr0380
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Re: 1171 Romeo and Juliet

#24 Post by colinr0380 » Wed Nov 16, 2022 2:45 am

Wasn't the selling point for this entire adaptation that it was the first 'age appropriate' screen version of the story? Which of course is a little awkward now. That's what the making of documentary (which I am surprised is not on the disc) is playing up. The 1967 and 2016 interviews with Hussey and Whiting are likely to be the Now and Then interview and the later BFI interview. So there does not look to me too much new material on here.

On the film itself, I remember liking it when I last saw it but its very much a 'traditional' adaptation, just with the opportunity to see the story played out on castle locations and with its iconic score (making it part of a tradition of the time of the scores to romantic films being better than the accompanying films: see A Man and a Woman and Love Story. And, uh, Bilitis 8-[ ), and with the age aspect being the new wrinkle to its production. Its about on par with the BBC production from a decade later (which has the first screen performance by Alan Rickman as Tybalt) and I always think it is good to see a 'normal' version of a Shakespeare play before seeing all the revisionist takes on it, although that opinion should be taken with the knowledge that I put this on a par with the 2012 Swarovski-crystal sponsored, post-Twilight and Young Adult in general influenced film of the play (which I also quite like but which is a similarly conservative adaptation. Though I would argue that the big twist with that particular production is that - following on in the tradition of all the Young Adult films - the pouting and smouldering boys are made up to out-prettify the more down to earth girls!)

I am definitely not upset to see it join the collection, mostly though because without this making Olivia Hussey a star we may not have gotten her later great starring roles in 70s films All The Right Noises (which really plays on the underage angle!) and of course in the original Black Christmas.

Plus having the main characters played by actual teens does add an interesting spin on the material, in the sense that it does make the star-cross'd lovers seem much more adolescent (even petulant and impulsively hot-headed) than when they are played by actors in their mid-20s. And it kind of makes Juliet's father seem more sympathetic and a little less of a tyrant when he is actually making sweeping demands of a child that he feels responsible for rather than a full grown woman! (Which is perhaps where Romeo & Juliet makes for a fun contrast against The Taming of the Shrew, where it is a father desperately trying to offload an adult daughter who he feels should have been married off long ago!)

It also makes more sense of the nanny figure being there too, to look after the child. Although then the nanny being complicit in the illicit adolescent love affair might become more awkward!
Last edited by colinr0380 on Wed Nov 16, 2022 4:09 am, edited 7 times in total.

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domino harvey
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Re: 1171 Romeo and Juliet

#25 Post by domino harvey » Wed Nov 16, 2022 2:52 am

beamish14 wrote:
Tue Nov 15, 2022 3:21 pm
SOMETHING from a Shakespeare scholar?
The booklet essay is by Ramona Wray, a Shakespeare scholar. She wrote about this film for one of the Arden Shakespeare collections on adaptations

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