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'.
Picnic (1955)
7.4/10
Director: Joshua Logan
Starring: William Holden, Rosalind Russell, Kim Novak
One of the biggest box-office attractions of the 1950s, "Picnic" was adapted by Daniel Taradash from the Pulitzer Prize-winning William Inge play abou... Read more
Pink String and Sealing Wax (1946)
6.7/10
Director: Robert Hamer
Starring: Mervyn Johns, Googie Withers, Gordon Jackson, Sally Ann Howes
Belying its whimsical title, this Victorian era thriller tells the story of an adulterous wife who hatches a cunning plan to kill her abusive husband... Read more
Play It Again, Sam (1972)
7.7/10
Director: Herbert Ross
Starring: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Jerry Lacy
Woody Allen's first film with Diane Keaton. Allen plays a fanatical movie buff with an outrageous recurring hallucination, Humphrey Bogart offering ti... Read more
Proof (2005)
6.8/10
Director: John Madden
Starring: Gwyneth Paltrow, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anthony Hopkins, Hope Davis
Gwyneth Paltrow reprises her West End stage role as Catherine, the daughter of math genius, Anthony Hopkins. Before her father died he began to slip... Read more
Pygmalion / Androcles and the Lion (1973)
Director: Cedric Messina
Starring: Lynn Redgrave, James Villiers, Ronald Fraser, Billy Connolly, Anna Calder-Marsha...
Perhaps Shaw's most well-known play, 'Pygmalion' stars Lynn Redgrave in the Eliza Doolittle role being taught her Ps & Qs by professor Henry Higgins.... Read more
Quartet (2012)
6.8/10
Director: Dustin Hoffman
Starring: Billy Connolly, Maggie Smith, Michael Gambon, Pauline Collins, Tom Courtenay
Dustin Hoffman directs this comedy drama adapted by writer Ronald Harwood from his own stage play of the same name. Beecham House is a retirement home... Read more
Rabbit Hole (2010)
7/10
Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Nicole Kidman
Powerful adaptation of the play by David Lindsay-Abaire stars Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart as a married couple whose lives are shattered when their... Read more
Richard III (McKellen) (1995)
7.5/10
Director: Richard Loncraine
Starring: Ian McKellen, Annette Bening, Kristin Scott Thomas
Shakespeare's melodrama of treachery and murder during the War of the Roses is transplanted to the 1930s with evil King Richard (Ian McKellen) portray... Read more
Richard III (Olivier) (1954)
7.5/10
Director: Laurence Olivier
Starring: Claire Bloom, John Gielgud, Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Cedric Hardwicke...
Shakespeare's tragic, twisted king is brilliantly portrayed by Laurence Olivier, who also produced and directed. With Cedric Hardwicke, Ralph Richards... Read more
Richard III (Olivier) ( Blu-ray ) (1954)
7.5/10
Director: Laurence Olivier
Starring: Laurence Olivier, Stanley Baker, Claire Bloom, John Gielgud, Cedric Hardwicke, R...
Shakespeare's tragic, twisted king is brilliantly portrayed by Laurence Olivier, who also produced and directed. With Cedric Hardwicke, Ralph Richards... Read more