Head-to-Head: The Romeos and Juliets

Who'll win?

I should note that I tried watching a bit of the 2013 version of Romeo and Juliet and gave up pretty soon. It's dreadful and I was warned about that but I thought I might give it a shot, see what sort of new perspective I could get on how the story could be performed cinematically. Anyway Hailee Steinfield was very disappointing, really I want to see her do more stuff like True Grit as everything else I've seen her in I haven't been awfully impressed. At least she wasn't terrible, just very bland, unlike Douglas Booth who was downright dreadful from what little I saw of him. I wonder why he's cast in things because I've found him awful in everything I've seen apart from And Then There Were None where he was well-cast as a pompous twat who gets his comeuppance the soonest.

Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer played Romeo and Juliet, respectively, in the 1936 version directed by George Cukor.

This is on the whole a pretty bland effort at translating the Bard onscreen. I'll admit that given the various constraints of the time, with censorship and the Code, plus the obvious running time limitations (though it is two hours long which is quite hefty for films of the time), may have counted against it, however, besides being extremely truncated and shortened it doesn't even make use of those limitations well. It could've made the tragic love story into a compact, simple love story but does fail at that due to the boring pace of the film, and pretty much all the performances. It does look quite nice though with its extravagant costuming and all, and certainly far more watchable than the 2013 version because at least it works as an interesting product of its time.

I'll get it out of the way first that Howard and Shearer were doomed at the outset by being hopelessly miscast. Howard, in particular, could not look more uncomfortable in the role as not only is he far, far too old to play the dashing Romeo, he also just simply was not the sort of the actor who fit the 'type' of Romeo, at all. I like Howard a great deal as an actor, he being my favourite supporting turn in Gone With the Wind and thoroughly loving his performances in the likes of Pygmalion, The Petrified Forest and The First of the Few, but he was definitely a better fit for either the cold intellectual or the cynical but deep down, kindhearted, chappie, and as a classical romantic lead which this film wants him to be he's woefully out of place. He just doesn't really seem to have his heart in it, and it's a shame this was his only outing in a cinematic Shakespeare adaptation since I think he would've made a great Iago, for example, or most certainly Angelo in Measure for Measure. He's not helped by the fact he has virtually no one to play against, Basil Rathbone who I usually like is an incredibly stuffy and dull Tybalt (a role which is really fun to watch in the right hands), Mecrutio played by John Barrymore is one very odd being who never really seems like he's in the right film, anyway my point is that Howard never really gets a chance to shine in the role at all because of the constraints placed upon him by the role, and the nature of the film. He has a few moments like his reactions to Mecrutio's death, and of course the finale, where he seems like he'll be able to make something of it, but it just ends up being undercut by the film's direction, and I would say he's really quite uncomfortable to watch in the romantic scenes.

Shearer fares better, for instance her final scene is actually really well handled as she makes the eventual fate of Juliet more tragic than the film ever seemed to deserve, given the incredibly muted way it goes about leading to its conclusion. She's far too made up and ladylike to play the young and somewhat silly romantic that Juliet is, but what she lacks in these intangibles I feel she makes up for with the enthusiasm and energy she puts into her performance. She's considerably better than Howard in the romantic scenes as it was more in her vein of usual screen work, and actually averts crucial scenes from being a complete disaster, like of course the denouement which is very oddly directed, by giving enough conviction that lends weight and levity to Juliet's plight. I still won't say she's good as she has some over the top moments, has no one to really play against, and again is quite miscast for the role, but it's through no fault of her own as I felt she does do well with some aspects of the role.

Howard: 2/5
Shearer: 2.5 (verging on a 3)/5

Leonard Whitting and Olivia Hussey played Romeo and Juliet, respectively, in the 1968 version directed by Franco Ziffereli

I absolutely love this adaptation of Romeo and Juliet and it might well be, alongside the 1996 adaptation of Hamlet, my favourite Shakespearean film. I mean it was so good that Laurence Olivier himself agreed to do the opening narration and dubbing for certain characters for free, that must mean something. It makes cuts and alterations to the source material as is always necessary, but I actually think that unlike the 1936 version it thrives within these limits, for example despite Juliet having several speeches cut out she's still incredibly compelling as a character, and I think the Tybalt/Mecrutio scene while being shortened a bit, is actually made all the more compact and exciting by the unique way it's directed, the unique takes on the characters by the actors, and it's also merged quickly enough into the next scene, another great example is the first meeting between Romeo and Juliet in which an absolutely beautiful song ('What is a Youth') is employed to help enhance the scene's effect. It's a great film, as I mentioned the songs and music are great and lend the play real cinematic vigour,  the performances are uniformly solid, and the set design and costumes are not only lavish and beautiful, they also have such character, in particular Michael York (who plays Tybalt) has a get up which so wonderfully establishes him as a pompous jerk before we even get to know him.

Anyway, what about our star-crossed lovers? Well the film actually sets up the two characters very well by firstly casting the roles with actors of the right sort of age, Whitting was 17 when cast and Hussey 15, so they fit Shakespeare's conceptions of the characters as lovelorn teenagers particularly well, though this too gives their performances a certain challenge. With Romeo he's first shown in a romantic fit of contemplation, gazing in the distance in deep thought and oblivious to the Capulet/Montague conflict going on in town. Whitting is very good in just being the straightforward silly romantic in these establishing scenes. It's technically speaking all a bit silly as he's clearly very young, the youth of the character presenting a challenge to Whitting because it could all come across as needlessly selfish and foolish longings. Well, Whitting does not exactly hide the silliness of Romeo's desire to find companionship for his still-young lonely heart, but instead infuses his performance with a great deal of exuberance that makes him quite endearing and sympathetic in his depiction of desire for love, and immediately makes us root for him. He also shares good chemistry with Benvolio (Bruce Robinson) and Mecrutio (John McEnery) and together they make their friendship not only very realistic but quite funny, as Mecrutio's extravagance plays off very well to the relative straightforwardness of Benvolio and Romeo.

With Hussey her portrayal is considerably more subdued than Whitting's youthful romantic from the outset, which makes sense due to the position of her character within the family, whereas Whitting's Romeo is pretty much free to do as he pleases within the Montague family, Juliet is a more contained and repressed figure, her parents wanting to marry her off to the good prospective husband of Paris and just generally directing her every action. Hussey is good at showing her character's reserve in many regards as not being that of an unpleasant sort, since it's clear she's leading a very comfortable life and has a loving relationship with her parents (Paul Hardwick and Natasha Parry). Most importantly she gives her depiction of Juliet such a sweetness through her screen presence, which alongside her youthfulness makes her such an appealing figure. Alongside that too, though, she also adds an undercurrent of wanting to break free and explore the world, kind of like Ariel in The Little Mermaid, and that Hussey at the tender age of 15 handles all these aspects of the character so well from the outset, is quite remarkable.

Which leads to the first encounter between the two. Romeo's first sight of Juliet is a wonderful scene, and a lot of the strength of it must be given to the direction, but Whitting services the scene very well by the look of pure infatuation on his face at seeing what he feels must be the love of his life. Now love at first sight is something you either buy or don't buy in films (in real life, that's another matter), well for me personally it works completely here due to Whitting's performance.

Is it a bit superficial? Yes I'll admit it all is a bit, but you have to accept that whenever a film plays the 'love at first sight' card and I can think of very few films which navigate this tricky territory than this film, and this scene. Whitting and Hussey do a great job at making this first brief encounter more than just a shallow infatuation as it's really built up as well as it could be within the confines of a single scene, 'What is a Youth' helps add a bit more to the romance and the direction of course is outstanding in making so much out of so little time, but the two young stars must also be commended for their excellent chemistry with one another in their first kiss, and of course their first balcony encounter. Both excel in particular ways, Hussey I think is excellent at emphasising the playful nature of Juliet as well as adding some light comedy to her exchanges with her nurse, Whitting on the other hand is a bit simpler in his declaration of outright love, but gives the right sort of energy to lines like 'O trespass sweetly urged! Give me my sin again.'

Although I will say despite this being my favourite version of Romeo and Juliet it's still not my favourite performance of this very scene, this would be it:

So having nailed their first encounter, everything else comes very naturally. In their scenes together I would say Whitting and Hussey are pretty much as evenly matched as possible, they speak the Bard's verse incredibly well, never seeming awkward with their declarations of love, and have such a strong chemistry that is palpable to the very end. Individually I would say Whitting is a bit of a mixed bag, he's mostly quite understated and does well with that, and is also very effective in the scene where he tries to avert tragedy in a duel between Tybalt and Mecrutio, also I think particularly worthy of note is his anti-chemistry with Michael York as the two create such a sense of opposites within relatively brief screentime. He is however, not nearly as effective in the scenes where he's depicting Romeo's grief and growing madness, due to the occasional odd line delivery here and there, he's not bad though and it doesn't hurt the film due to the gravitas given to the lovers' unfortunate plight by Milo O'Shea as the Friar, and of course Hussey.

Now where Whitting stumbles slightly, Hussey soars. She's pretty much flawless in showing the gradual descent of Juliet into angst and sadness by the toll her infatuation with Romeo has on her, and the desperation that drives her to resort to extreme measures in order to be with him. It could've all come across as whiny but Hussey is just about perfect in wrenching our hearts with her anguish, and with her reunion with Romeo for one night of passion gives just the briefest bright spot to the second half of her performance, that makes the sadness of the rest of it resonate all the more. Both actors do incredibly well in bringing the tragic tale of Romeo and Juliet to a close, and Hussey is particularly brilliant in showing the final step towards Juliet taking her own life, by showing the mess of emotions she has been degraded into. Together, Whitting and Hussey make so affecting the plight of two teenagers which could've easily left the viewers cold, and instead create one of the finest onscreen romances of all-time.

Whitting: 4/5

Hussey: 5/5 

Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes played Romeo and Juliet, respectively, in the 1996 adaptation by Baz Luhrmann

Well I'm definitely a Baz apologist when it comes to defending the quality of his films. Granted, I haven't seen the apparent train wreck of dullness that is Australia but I've thoroughly enjoyed all of his films I've seen. I love Moulin Rouge though I'll admit that there's a great many flaws to its over the top approach and paper-thin characterisations outside of Ewan McGregor's Christian, I really like The Great Gatsby and think it's by far the best adaptation of the novel (granted it doesn't have much competition), as for this film, well it's definitely far, far, below the 1968 version in terms of overall quality due to the mixed bag of supporting actors (Harold Perrineau as Mecrutio is kind of awesome, John Leguizamo as Tybalt, not so much), also I'll warn you if Luhrmann's style is not for you, stay away as this film presents him at his most excessive. Anyway, I really take to his use of dizzying camerawork, eclectic musical choices and odd colour schemes, but do they work for the film? Well there's a couple of points where it could've been toned down a bit, also was a car chase really needed for the showdown between Romeo and Tybalt? But when it works it works incredibly well. It really helps bring out a lot of the youthful energy and ballast of the source material albeit in a different way than usual, and I must say I thoroughly enjoyed it when I first watched it, and when I re-watched it again recently.

Well in terms of specific story beats DiCaprio and Danes go through similar territory to Whitting and Hussey, so I'll focus instead on how their performances fit in with Luhrmann's overall vision. It's very interesting to watch DiCaprio in this middle period between his child actor days and his breakout role in Titanic, and he showcases a great deal of youthful exuberance in the role. I won't say he seems entirely comfortable in the role though from the start, as it takes a bit of time to get used to DiCaprio spouting out the Bard's language. He's not really helped by the fact that it is quite odd to watch actors in a modern-day setting say lines essentially verbatim from Shakespeare's text, but after a while of getting used to it it's not too distracting. Where DiCaprio, and Danes excel best at, though, are at the silent glances and essentially, all of their silent moments of passion together. The way in which they are brought together, and conduct their relationship, is particularly stylized by the film's direction, but neither actor gives in to just playing as an instrument to the film's bag of tricks.

Danes in particular is really good at showing pure emotion, Juliet in this adaptation is not given as much of an emotional arc by the film as Hussey had due to the nature of the direction, but in terms of just conveying the feelings of Juliet Danes excels with that famous teary-eyed face of hers that works effectively. DiCaprio, I'm glad to say, gives a performance that improves as the film goes along. As I mentioned before he's a bit awkward at the outset, but as Romeo seems to find his stride so does DiCaprio. He shows hints of his future dramatic prowess in any scene he's required to react to the deaths around him, it's technically far simpler work than say his great performances in Catch Me If You Can and The Wolf of Wall Street but as Romeo, DiCaprio looks the part, fits in well with the film and with Danes, make a simple but effective screen couple who work perfectly with the film as a whole.

DiCaprio: 3.5/5

Danes: 3.5/5