Favourite Shakespeare Play on Film?

The Lion King is by far the best adaption of Shakespeare

The Ethan Hawke Hamlet (2000) is one of those weird ones where it's set in modern times, but the actors are still reciting the original script... making the whole thing seem quite bizarre.
But most bizarre is Bill Murray as Polonius! (And seriously, how many people know someone in modern day New York City named "Polonius" or "Laertes"?)

Oh I don't know. Bill Murray's perfect casting for Polonius I would think.

I agree with Much Ado. Branagh trims the play with reluctance, and uses a razor. Franco Zefferelli trims with glee, and uses a chain saw. How could a director cut out the entire first scene of Hamlet?
There was a film version of King Lear starring Paul Scofield. His performance was fantastic, but the movie's concept didn't work. It was set it prehistoric England. And in it, I also liked The Fool who was played by...this actor played, in Tom Jones, the guy who turned out not to be Tom's father.

I was just reading this article (http://www.theguardian.com/film/2014...nedo-interview) about Sophie Okonedo, who plays Queen Margaret in The Hollow Crown Series 2. Disturbingly it seems she was instructed by the BBC to avoid questions about the part, which as the interview says, is that of a white Frenchwoman.

I must say that when the trailer came on I was baffled as to how Okonedo could be part of the production, and it's a troubling climate when we (and the actors themselves) can't talk about historical fact because of a drive to present a diversity of ethnicities on screen.

The interview also mentions Okonedo's contemporary Adrian Lester playing Henry V on stage – I remember seeing a clip at the time. My feeling is that on stage there's a greater sense of freedom about who can play a Shakespearean character and it's easier to buy into. In a film it's somehow more indelible and assertive on the part of the production if a character you know is a certain ethnicity – especially historically – becomes something else.

This comes not long after ITV's Beowulf: Return to the Shieldlands which depicted an anachronistic mix of ethnicities for the setting and time period, and the worry is that we're starting to see our own history through an increasingly misleading lens.

It is funny because when I first saw that she was in it (I'd only seen her name and photo), for some reason it didn't dawn on me that she is starring in a historical play. I don't know if I just wasn't thinking clearly enough, but I honestly didn't think about it at first.

Later on, when I was reading about it, I came to my senses about who she was playing. That kind of bothers me a little. I don't really get the point to having an actor portray someone from history who isn't of the same race as the actor. It just doesn't make sense.

I have always said that with Shakespeare, it really doesn't matter what your ethnic background is, anyone can act in one of his plays. I really do believe that.

My one exception is when it is a history. That just seems silly to me. She may be perfectly fine with her performance, but history is history. And that just seems silly.

I've said for years that I think, too, that there is more freedom with actors on stage. I think film/TV is much more intimate, and they should be a little more accurate when it comes to telling a story - particularly one that is historical.