Originally published in 1990, this book brought a new rigor and subtlety to the interpretation of film adaptations of Shakespeare. Drawing on traditional literary analysis, psychoanalysis, and current film theory about gender and subjectivity, the author combines close readings of seven films with historical and biographical studies of the directors who made them.

Offering substantial readings of Jean-Luc Godards controversial deconstructed King Lear and of Liz Whites independent African-American Othello, Donaldson also applies his provocative and contemporary point of view to more familiar films. He reads Oliviers Henry V in relation to its treatment of sexual difference; Oliviers Hamlet in part as an expression of the directors childhood sexual trauma; Kurosawas Throne of Blood as an allegory of the relationship between Western and Japanese cinema; and Zeffirellis immensely popular Romeo and Juliet in the light of its powerful homoerotic subtext.

With striking perspectives on Shakespeare, on the movies as an expressive medium, and on the complex processes of cultural change, this is timeless useful reading for teachers and students of film and literature.