The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 12.1566 Wednesday, 20 June 2001
[1] From: Mike Jensen <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Tuesday, 19 Jun 2001 08:51:58 -0700
Subj: Re: SHK 12.1550 Re: Hall's Dream
[2] From: Kristine Batey <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Tuesday, 19 Jun 2001 11:00:47 -0500
Subj: Re: SHK 12.1532 Hall's Dream
[1]-----------------------------------------------------------------
From: Mike Jensen <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Tuesday, 19 Jun 2001 08:51:58 -0700
Subject: 12.1550 Re: Hall's Dream
Comment: Re: SHK 12.1550 Re: Hall's Dream
First, thanks to all who've written both on and off-list sharing your
memories about Hall's film version of *MND*. To clarify, Richard Nathan
wrote:
>5. You don't watch much television, do you? There would be no problem
>with a television broadcasting this today. I remember it being
>broadcast with the near nudity in 1968, and being startled by it, but
>being appreciative.
>
>6. It was not cut, blocked or cropped. But it was never full nudity.
You sure it was broadcast as filmed? There is a two shot, to site one
example, with Judi Dench and Ian Richardson. Dame Judi is almost in
profile. Except for green make-up, and a faux leaf serving as a pasty,
she is quite topless, and quite clearly so. America's raciest show
visually, NYPD Blue, has never broadcast anything as clear as this shot
in its 8 years. For this to go out on one of America's three big
networks in 1968 is stunning. I know of nothing like it until *Roots*
was broadcast by ABC in the mid seventies, and that was roundly
criticized by restricting nudity to black actresses. One more time, Are
you sure?
Bill Gelber helpfully wrote:
>At Stratford, the Shakespeare Centre Library has an old black-and-white
>video of a television version of the play directed by Hall. This is
>introduced by Charles Laughton. I don't know if a comparison of the two
>productions would be instructive or not but. . .
Thank you. I shall look for it. Why can't I find it in Rothwell and
Melzer, Rothwell, *Shakespeare Survey 39,* or McKernan and Terris? (To
name the books I consulted after reading your message - there are others
I'll look at later.) You are sure it is black and white? If you are,
are you sure it was directed by Peter Hall?
All the best,
Mike Jensen
[2]-------------------------------------------------------------
From: Kristine Batey <This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.>
Date: Tuesday, 19 Jun 2001 11:00:47 -0500
Subject: 12.1532 Hall's Dream
Comment: Re: SHK 12.1532 Hall's Dream
Mike Jensen wrote:
I am working on Peter Hall's 1968 film of A Midsummer Night's Dream...
>1) Do you think the film is funny? Do you actually laugh at it? A yes
>or no answer is fine, unless you have a answer to question #2.
I haven't seen it since its original US broadcast. All of us artsy-type
high school students watched it. The publicity, as I recalled, centered
around Diana Rigg, then at the peak of her popularity as The Avengers'
Mrs. Peel. I recall it being very Cool and sixties, but not
laugh-out-loud funny. It was the first televised play production I ever
recall seeing that made use of quick cuts and a variety of camera
angles.
>There is a bit of near nudity in the film, mostly Judy Dench. It is
>hard to imagine the Standards and Practices Division (the censors) of an
>American network broadcasting it today, and even harder to imagine it in
>1968.
>
>5) Do you remember if there was nudity when the film was first
>broadcast?
>
>Was it cut, blocked, or cropped?
In the US version, it was near-nudity. Female nipples were artfully
covered by long hair and bits of flora. There was no full-frontal
nudity: all shots were cut off at or just a tad below the waist,
prompting my now-gone-and-much-lamented friend Nelson Hembree to comment
that he'd tried to find a second TV to put under his other set so that
he could see the bottom halves.
Kristine Batey
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