Alice's Playhouse
In Alice's Playhouse you will discover an exceptional collection of feature films adapted from some of the most celebrated plays ever written. Often featuring towering performances, outstanding direction and exceptional writing, this collection is a superb archive of contemporary drama masterfully transferred to the silver screen.
Filmizations of The Bard's work may be scrolled via the 'Shakespeare' sub-feature in green on the left, along with other notable playwrights who have been adapted for celluloid.
For adaptations of novels and short stories, check the 'Special Interest' link and click on 'Based on...'
Right: Marlon Brando and Vivien Leigh relax during the filming of Tennessee Williams' masterpiece, 'A Streetcar Named Desire'.
King Lear (Holm) (1997)
8.3/10
Director: Richard Eyre
Starring: Ian Holm, Barbara Flynn, Victoria Hamilton, Timothy West, Amanda Redman
Director Richard Eyre stages a bold, expressionistic interpretation of perhaps Shakespeare's most vivid and striking tragedy eliciting stunning perfor... Read more
King Lear (Olivier) (1984)
8.3/10
Director: Michael Elliott
Starring: Laurence Olivier, John Hurt, Robert Lindsay, Diana Rigg
Laurence Olivier stars in and produces this adaptation of Shakespeare's famous tragedy, made exclusively for television. The ageing King Lear (Olivier... Read more
King Lear (Scofield) (1970)
8.3/10
Director: Peter Brook
Starring: Paul Scofield, Irene Worth, Jack MacGowran
To see Paul Scofield as Lear is to see nobility turn to pauperdom, pride to a frenzy of madness, manhood to senility, in the course of a single and un... Read more
La Ronde (1950)
7.7/10
Director: Max Ophuls
Starring: Anton Walbrook, Serge Reggiani, Simone Simon, Danielle Darrieux
Simone Signoret, Anton Walbrook, and Simone Simon lead a roundelay of French stars in Max Ophuls's delightful, acerbic adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler... Read more
Lackawanna Blues (2005)
7.9/10
Director: George C Wolfe
Starring: S Epatha Merkerson, Julie Benz, Robert A Bradley, Thomas Jefferson Byrd, Kathlee...
Based on a one-man show by Ruben Santiago-Hudson (played by Hill Harper) this is the inspiring story of Nanny Crosby (S. Epatha Merkerson) a big-heart... Read more
Last Train to Freo (2006)
6.6/10
Director: Jeremy Sims
Starring: Steve Le Marquand, Gigi Edgley, Tom Budge, Glenn Hazeldine, Gillian Jones
Jeremy Sims switches from actor to director for this taut Aussie thriller that began life as a short play. Set in real time, a woman boards a train c... Read more
Look Back in Anger (1989)
7.2/10
Director: David Jones, Judi Dench
Starring: Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson
John Osborne's classic, searing post-war drama caused a sensation when it was published in 1956. In the figure of Jimmy Porter, Osborne had unleashed... Read more
Look Back In Anger (1958)
8.4/10
Director: Tony Richardson
Starring: Richard Burton, Claire Bloom, Mary Ure, Edith Evans, Gary Raymond
Richard Burton is perfectly cast as angry young Brit Jimmy Porter, in this scathingly realistic look at British life in the 1950s. Bristling with heat... Read more
Looking for Richard (1996)
7.4/10
Director: Al Pacino
Starring: Penelope Allen, Alec Baldwin, Kevin Conway, Al Pacino, Estelle Parsons, Aidan Qu...
A fascinating, documentary-style film about Al Pacino's staging of Richard III and his simultaneous exploration of the relevance of Shakespeare to peo... Read more
Loot (1970)
5.7/10
Director: Silvio Narizzano
Starring: Richard Attenborough, Lee Remick, Hywel Bennett, Milo O'Shea
An adaptation of Joe Orton's hilarious stage play, in which a young hood robs a bank and hides the money in his mother's coffin, but isn't able to ret... Read more