---
product_id: 22567639
title: "Shakespeare Collection (Hamlet 1996 / A Midsummer Night's Dream 1935 / Othello 1965 / Romeo & Juliet 1936)"
brand: "kenneth branaghlaurence olivier"
price: "€ 93.34"
currency: EUR
in_stock: true
reviews_count: 12
url: https://www.desertcart.nl/products/22567639-shakespeare-collection-hamlet-1996-a-midsummer-nights-dream-1935-othello
store_origin: NL
region: Netherlands
---

# Shakespeare Collection (Hamlet 1996 / A Midsummer Night's Dream 1935 / Othello 1965 / Romeo & Juliet 1936)

**Brand:** kenneth branaghlaurence olivier
**Price:** € 93.34
**Availability:** ✅ In Stock

## Quick Answers

- **What is this?** Shakespeare Collection (Hamlet 1996 / A Midsummer Night's Dream 1935 / Othello 1965 / Romeo & Juliet 1936) by kenneth branaghlaurence olivier
- **How much does it cost?** € 93.34 with free shipping
- **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship
- **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.nl](https://www.desertcart.nl/products/22567639-shakespeare-collection-hamlet-1996-a-midsummer-nights-dream-1935-othello)

## Best For

- kenneth branaghlaurence olivier enthusiasts

## Why This Product

- Trusted kenneth branaghlaurence olivier brand quality
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## Description

Product Description               Shakespeare Collection (DVD)"HAMLET: ""Hamlet has the kind of power, energy and excitement that movies can truly exploit,"" award-winning actor/director Kenneth Branagh says. In this first-ever full-text film of William Shakespeare's greatest work, the power surges through every scene. The timeless tale of murder, corruption and revenge is reset in an opulent 19th-century world, using sprawling Blenheim Palace as Elsinore and staging much of the action in shimmering mirrored and gold-filled interiors. The energy is electrifying, due to a luminous cast. The excitement of the Bard's words and an adventurous filmmaking style lift the story from its often shadowy ambience to fully-lit pageantry and rage. Now presented in an amazing 2-Disc Special Edition. ROMEO & JULIET: Norma Shearer and Leslie Howard in the title roles are ""so good that one can forget they are too old for the roles"" (Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide). Adding to this allure of this nominee for four Academy Awards?* including Best Picture are lavish sets and costumes (Botticelli paintings inspired Shearer's wardrobe) that fuel the film's then-astonishing $2-million budget. OTHELLO: The original cast and soul-shattering impact of the play's 1964 staging by the National Theatre of Great Britain are captured on film. As the valiant war hero swept into a maelstrom of jealousy and revenge, Olivier won his seventh Academy Award? nomination.* The movie's Desdemona (Maggie Smith), Emilia (Joyce Redman) and ""honest Iago"" (Frank Finlay) also captured Oscar? nominations.* And the result, Bosley Crowther wrote in The New York Times, is that ""this Othello is one of the boldest you'll ever see."" A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM: Love is blind, fickle and true. And under the sway of capricious fairies it becomes blinder (a queen romances a donkey), more fickle (best friends swoon over each other's beau) and truest of all (lovers repledge their devotion). ""Lord, what fools these mortals be!"" in Shakespeare's bewitching comedy. James Cagney, screen- d"]]>                  .com               From a glittery studio extravaganza to a bare-bones stage adaptation, this box o' Shakespeare groups a quartet of high-profile productions. Judicious extra features and gorgeous prints make this the equivalent of a leather-bound volume in the family library. The earliest offering in the set is MGM's 1935 Romeo and Juliet, a lavish if heavily trimmed treatment of the tragic-romance. Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer are undeniably older than Shakespeare's headstrong youths, but they don't lack fervor; and John Barrymore, while definitely too weathered for Mercutio, works up an antic, sarcastic energy. Director George Cukor does well with the central romantic pulse, and the thing certainly zips right along, while proving the durability of a well-built story. A Midsummer Night's Dream is a moon-dappled folly based on legendary director Max Reinhardt's smash stage production at the Hollywood Bowl. It's dazzling to look at, with sparkles and fairies in every corner of the frame, even if the cast (largely filled with Warner Bros. studio players) finds variable success. Without a doubt, James Cagney and Joe E. Brown make a fine Pyramus and Thisby in the play-within-the-play, but the unstoppable performance is by 14-year-old Mickey Rooney as Puck, whose feral mockery of the other action makes him a little postmodern imp before his time. This is a one-of-a-kind production that's as much a tribute to the high studio era as it is to Shakespeare. Othello (1965) exists as a faithful capture of Laurence Olivier's elaborate stage performance of the Moor of Venice: shot on plain sets and using the stage cast, it barely exists as a movie. Yet one feels gratitude for the preservation of Olivier's volcanic turn, a fascinating example of a performer building a performance not organically but with layer upon layer of effects--blackface make-up, exotic gestures, rumbly voice--until he reaches critical mass. Frank Finlay's Iago (a much more modern and camera-scaled performance), Maggie Smith's Desdemona, and Joyce Redman's Emilia were all nominated for Oscars, as was Olivier.  The most recent film in the bunch is Kenneth Branagh's 1996 take on Hamlet, the first film to present Shakespeare's greatest text uncut. The spiffy production is undone slightly by Branagh's tendency to over-direct the big moments, but the setting is marvelous and the cast is a consistent delight. Experienced Shakespearians such as Derek Jacobi and Richard Briers thrive, but so do Julie Christie and Kate Winslet. Even the stunt casting works: Billy Crystal is surprisingly good as the Gravedigger, and Charlton Heston is an inspired choice as the Player King.  Among the extra features are a Branagh commentary on Hamlet, a mid-1930s screen test for Olivia de Havilland, and various vintage shorts--including Shake Mr. Shakespeare, a silly musical with the Bard's characters coming to life. --Robert Horton

## Product Details

- **Genre:** Drama
- **Format:** Box set, Closed-captioned, Color, Multiple Formats, NTSC, Widescreen
- **Contributor:** Kenneth Branagh, Laurence Olivier
- **Language:** English
- **Runtime:** 11 hours and 10 minutes

## Images

![Shakespeare Collection (Hamlet 1996 / A Midsummer Night's Dream 1935 / Othello 1965 / Romeo & Juliet 1936) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/611WC4Lc+ZL.jpg)

## Customer Reviews

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    Laurence Olivier Shakespeare Collection
  

*by M***E on Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2010*

Laurence Olivier Shakespeare Collection.  There are six of Olivier's Shakespeare films in this boxed set, As You Like It [1936], Henry V [1945], Hamlet [1948], Richard III [1955], The Merchant of Venice [1973], and King Lear [1984], all digital and restored to pristine condition.  The 7th (bonus) DVD contains a 32 minute Interview with Olivier himself.  All 7 DVDs are in the original English with optional subtitles; Korean titles on all 7 DVDs and English titles on all except for the Interview and As You Like It.  All in all there are 14 hours of material.  A major omission from the set is Olivier's notable Othello [1965] film and would have rounded out this collection very nicely, but Othello is readily available elsewhere and at these bargain prices complaints seem hollow when you consider what you are getting.  Olivier also voiced the brief Chorus in Zeffirilli's Romeo and Juliet film, which seems a minor omission now.As for Shakespeare, with all the tweaking that has gone on through the  ages, there is always something to nitpick no matter how it is presented, on stage or on film.  He does have his "problem" plays and one of those is here (Merchant).  You can argue about these all day and never resolve the issues but at the end of the day the power and expansion of the language, the depth of characters and situation, and presentation such as this set, saves the day and makes us rather bear these small ills.As for Olivier, his fans will be delighted.  In this set we can see him time-travel from about age 29 in As You Like It, where he shines against Elizabeth Bergner's over the top "cuteness" (never mind the accent), to about age 76 in King Lear where he is solid as the "very foolish fond old man" who makes an old man's dreadful error in judgment.  As always in Shakespeare there are perfections and imperfections.  But to paraphrase Touchstone, had he lived today, "time-travelers must be content." This is easy to do with this boxed set.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ 5.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    The Bard Goes Hollywood
  

*by R***S on Reviewed in the United States on August 2, 2011*

I had previously purchased MGM's opulent Romeo and Juliet(1936) and Warner's equally opulent and ethereal A Midsummer Night's Dream(1935) under separate packaging. Both pictures were wonderfully entertaining and had outstanding ensemble casts that illustrated perfectly that film personalities can not only act but often have serious stage backgrounds that serve them well when translated to film. Based on their close timing, it can be assumed that film goers had some appreciation of Shakespeare and classical theater in the 1930's.The other two film offerings, which are more contemporary, are moodier. However, both are equally engrossing in their own right. Both lead actors were well schooled in Shakespeare and had substantial stage training in the U.K. Kenneth Branaugh portrays the soliary Dane in Hamlet(1996) and compares favorably to Olivier's 1948 film Hamlet which is considered by many to be the definitive screen version.  Laurence Olivier's driven to the brink Othello (1965) is at least equal to Orson Welles' version, but to my mind is probably better because when it comes to Shakespeare I absolutely love Olivier who has total command of the part as well as his audience.The good news regarding this specially priced set is that it is very affordable in comparison to buying each film separately. All of the inclusions are well-done and the only obvious criticism I had was that Norma Shearer and Leslie Howard's Romeo and Juliet stretched credibility a bit because both actors were far from being teenagers in 1936.The copies are clean and the sound quality is good. This is a good choice for anyone who likes Shakespeare and wants to snag a deal.

### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4.0 out of 5 stars







  
  
    I developed a terrible crush on Leslie Howard and Shakespeare's language
  

*by C***R on Reviewed in the United States on October 21, 2014*

I admit I have a soft spot for this cheesy old Hollywood tearjerker. After I saw it on the late show at the age of 13, I developed a terrible crush on Leslie Howard and Shakespeare's language. Grandma's little black and white TV softened a lot of the detail, so I didn't notice that Mr. Howard was old enough to play Romeo's father. Everybody remembers him as Ashley Wilkes, but to me, he will always be Old Romeo who knew how to handle his iambic pentameter. Time has made this film's flaws obvious to me. I laughed when one young critic called Norma Shearer's Juliet a "dazed Disney Princess." But I watch it occasionally when I want to remember what it was like to be a romantic adolescent carried away by poetry.

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*Product available on Desertcart Netherlands*
*Store origin: NL*
*Last updated: 2026-01-25*