With this in mind, I believe Franco Zeffirelli's 'Romeo and Juliet' is the most exciting film of Shakespeare ever made. Not because it is greater drama than Olivier's 'Henry V,' because it is not. Nor is it greater cinema than Welles' 'Falstaff.' But it is greater Shakespeare than either because it has the passion, the sweat, the violence, the poetry, the love and the tragedy in the most immediate terms I can imagine. It is a deeply moving piece of entertainment, and that is possibly what Shakespeare would have preferred.

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To begin with, Zeffirelli's film is the first production of 'Romeo and Juliet' I am familiar with in which the romance is taken seriously. Always before, we have had actors in their 20s or 30s or even older, reciting Shakespeare's speeches to each other as if it were the words that mattered. They do not, as anyone who has proposed marriage will agree. Often enough, one cannot even remember what was said at moments of great emotion; the words are outpourings of the soul.

And that is the effect Zeffirelli achieves in two almost impossible scenes: the balcony scene and the double suicide in the tomb. There are some lines in Shakespeare too famous for their own good. When Hamlet winds up for 'to be, or not to be,' the entire audience is there ahead of him, waiting for those lines, watching them come down the track. Adobe acrobat professional 10.0 free download with crack. The same is true of Juliet's 'Romeo, Romeo, oh, wherefore art thou, Romeo?' The very words bring back memories of campfire skits.

It is to the credit of Zeffirelli and his young players (Leonard Whiting and Olivia Hussey) that they have brought the lines and characters of Romeo and Juliet back to life again. In a theater filled to capacity Saturday night, not one single person found it necessary to snicker when Juliet asked so simply where Romeo was; we were looking for him, too.

The success of the film depends upon Whiting and Miss Hussey. Zeffirelli reportedly interviewed hundreds of young actors and actresses before choosing them; if so, then this is the first movie 'talent search' worth the trouble. They are magnificent. We can see why Zeffirelli didn't want older actors. The love between Romeo and Juliet, and the physical passion that comes with it, are of that naive and hopeless intensity only those in love for the very first time can comprehend.

Zeffirelli places his lovers within a world of everyday life. With the first shots of the film, we are caught up in the feud between the Capulets and the Montagues. We understand the nature of the quarrel between Tybalt (Michael York) and Mercutio (John McEnery) instinctively because Zeffirelli has picked them for their types: cocky insolence vs. sly mockery. The key supporting roles of Friar Lawrence (Milo O'Shea) and Juliet's nurse (Pat Heywood) are also superbly cast. For once, the nurse and friar are young enough to have empathy with the lovers. In most productions, they are creaking relics.

And all of this is photographed with great intensity (even a hand-held camera for the dueling scenes) and beauty. As in his first film, 'The Taming of the Shrew,' Zeffirelli has controlled his colors carefully. Everything is red and brown and yellow, dusty and sunlit, except for the fresh green of the garden during the balcony scene and the darkness of the tomb. Ios 11 launcher apk.

A lot of fuss has been made about the brief, beautiful nude love scene. I doubt whether anyone could see it and disapprove of it, but apparently someone has. The Chicago Board of Education I am informed, objects to the nudity and will not approve the film for educational use after its commercial run. This is stupidity.

If Chicago's educators could show me a city filled with students who rejoice in Shakespeare, I would yield the point. But they cannot, and Zeffirelli is so far ahead of them, so much richer and deeper, so much more inspired in his interpretation of our greatest poet, that the Board of Education cannot fly with him and must find excuses in half a dozen frames of a joyous film.

The soundtrack for the 1968 film Romeo and Juliet was composed and conducted by Nino Rota. It was originally released as a vinyl record, containing nine entries, most notably the song 'What Is a Youth', composed by Nino Rota, written by Eugene Walter and performed by Glen Weston. The music score won a Silver Ribbon award of the Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists in 1968^[1] and was nominated for two other awards (BAFTA Award for Best Film Music in 1968^[2] and Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score in 1969).^[1]

The soundtrack is referred to as 'Original Soundtrack Recording' on the front cover with further credits to the film itself. Several other editions of the soundtrack feature different covers.

Composition[edit]

The original track list includes anthems, song snatches, compositions for the ball and for a strolling trombone player.^[3]

The neo-Elizabethan ballad 'What Is a Youth' is performed by a troubadour character as part of the diegesis during the Capulets' ball, at which Romeo and Juliet first meet. The original lyrics of 'What Is a Youth' are borrowed from songs in other Shakespearean plays, particularly Twelfth Night and The Merchant of Venice.^[4] Although Rota's original manuscript is believed to be lost,^[5] the love theme is known to have an original published key of G minor.^[6] Romeo's theme was described as 'a slow-paced minor key idea, first played by a solo English horn with strings'.^[7] In the scene, where Romeo sees Juliet dancing with her family, the theme is sounded by a solo oboe over a background of tremolo strings.^[7]

Reception[edit]

In 1968 Billboard described the score as 'brilliant and moving'.^[8] Contemporary feedback was also provided by John Mahoney from The Hollywood Reporter, who described the score as 'one of the best and strongest components', noting that 'a period ballad with lyric by Eugene Walter, 'What Is a Youth', provides the perfect setting for the meeting of the two lovers at the Capulet party'.

Subsequently Professor of English and Shakespearean literature scholar Jill L. Levenson wrote that Rota's score 'heightened the sentiment of the lovers' relationship, doing little for their verisimilitude'.^[3] According to a BBC review, 'the suite from Romeo and Juliet is a florid symphony drawing on Rota's classical background for its lush themes – swaggering hunting horn for the amorous swain, mournful lute for the awakening girl'.^[9]

On the other hand, critic Jack Jorgens dismissed 'What Is a Youth' for being 'sickly sweet'.^[10] On Rate Your Music the soundtrack has a score of 3.89 out of 5, based on 55 ratings as of October 2013.^[11]

The Love Theme provides the background to the narrative of Our Tune, a long-standing feature on British radio hosted by Simon Bates.

Arrangements[edit]

Since 1968 numerous arrangements of 'What Is a Youth' have been released, most notably 'A Time for Us' and 'Ai Giochi Addio', both performed by various artists. The soundtrack's original label Capitol Records subsequently released three other soundtrack albums inspired by the original score. The popularity of the first of them led Capitol Records to release a four-record set of the film's entire vocal and music tracks. On June 25, 2002 the City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra released their own arrangement of the soundtrack on the Silva America label.^[5] Other arrangements were made by André Rieu, Henry Mancini (a top ten hit in 1969), Jet Stream Orchestra, and others. Lana Del Rey's song 'Old Money' from her 2014 album Ultraviolence contains samples from 'What Is a Youth'.

Original track list[edit]

• Side One

1. 'Prologue' 2:46
2. 'What Is a Youth' 7:24
3. 'The Balcony Scene' 9:26

• Side Two

1. 'Romeo & Juliet Are Wed' 3:00
2. 'The Death Of Mercutio And Tybalt' 3:35
3. 'Farewell Love Scene' 4:21
4. 'The Likeness Of Death' 2:36
5. 'In Capulet's Tomb' 7:22
6. 'All Are Punished' 2:07

See also[edit]

• 'Love Theme from Romeo and Juliet'

References[edit]

1. ^ ^ab'Nino Rota Awards & nominations'. PNOP. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
2. ^'Film Nominations 1968'. BAFTA. Archived from the original on 6 October 2013. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
3. ^ ^abLevenson, Jill (1987). Romeo and Juliet. Manchester University Press. p. 103. ISBN0719022185.
4. ^The Cambridge Companion to Shakespeare and Popular Culture. Cambridge University Press. 2007. pp. 156–157. ISBN0521844290.
5. ^ ^ab'Prague Philharmonic Orchestra - Franco Zeffirelli's Romeo & Juliet Soundtrack Audio CD'. CD Universe. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
6. ^'Romeo and Juliet (Love Theme)'. Musicnotes. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
7. ^ ^abMacDonald, Laurence (1998). The Invisible Art of Film Music: A Comprehensive History. Scarecrow Press. p. 215. ISBN188015756X.
8. ^'Album Reviews'. Billboard: 22. 19 Oct 1968. Retrieved 28 December 2012.
9. ^Morag Reavley (2003-06-24). 'The Essential Film Music of Nino Rota Review'. BBC. Retrieved 27 December 2012.
10. ^Heil, Bodo (2004). Shakespeare's 'Romeo and Juliet' in the movies: Comparing Franco Zeffirelli's (1968) and Baz Luhrmann's (1996) film versions. GRIN Verlag. p. 18. ISBN3638269809.
11. ^'Romeo & Juliet'. Rate Your Music. Retrieved 28 October 2013.

External links[edit]