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'.
Under Milk Wood (1971)
6.3/10
Director: Andrew Sinclair
Starring: Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Peter O'Toole
This film version of a wonderfully evocative radio play weaves a magical tapestry of words around the lives and dreams of the inhabitants of the tiny... Read more
Venus in Fur (2013)
7.2/10
Director: Roman Polanski
Starring: Emmanuelle Seigner, Mathieu Amalric
Welcome to Roman Polanskis hall of mirrors. David Ive's play Venus in Fur is a two-hander, set in a theatre, about a director auditioning an actress... Read more
Wait Until Dark (1967)
7.8/10
Director: Terence Young
Starring: Alan Arkin, Audrey Hepburn, Jack Weston, Richard Crenna
Classic suspense story stars Audrey Hepburn as a blind woman terrorized in her apartment by crooks looking for a doll given to her by her husband that... Read more
Waterloo Bridge (1940)
7.8/10
Director: Mervyn LeRoy
Starring: Vivien Leigh, Robert Taylor, Lucile Watson
The second of three adaptations of Robert E Sherwood's acclaimed play, this 1940 film was noticably dampened by the omnipotent Motion Picture Producti... Read more
We're No Angels (1955)
7.5/10
Director: Michael Curtiz
Starring: Humphrey Bogart, Aldo Ray, Peter Ustinov, Leo G Carroll, Basil Rathbone, Joan Be...
This entertaining black comedy would be the last collaboration of Humphrey Bogart with director Michael Curtiz. Not best-known for his comedic work, B... Read more
What's in a Name? ( Le prenom ) (2012)
7.3/10
Director: Matthieu Delaporte, Alexandre de La Patelliere
Starring: Charles Berling, Francoise Fabian, Valerie Benguigui, Patrick Bruel, Judith El Z...
A.k.a. "Le prénom". Vincent (Patrick Bruel), a successful forty-something Parisian businessman, is about to become a father for the first time. He is... Read more
Who Laughs Last?: A Documentary About Roger Hall (2006)
8.5/10
Director: Shirley Horrocks
Starring: Peter Elliott, John Clarke, Ginette McDonald, Fiona Samuel, Roger Hall, Grant Ti...
One of New Zealand's best known playwrights, Roger Hall has been tickling the kiwi funnybone for 30 years. This documentary from Shirley Horrocks inv... Read more
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966)
8.1/10
Director: Mike Nichols
Starring: Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, George Segal, Sandy Dennis
Based on Edward Albee's smash hit play; Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton star in the story of the love-hate relationship between a middle-aged prof... Read more
Whose Life Is It Anyway? (1981)
7.4/10
Director: John Badham
Starring: Richard Dreyfuss, John Cassavetes, Christine Lahti
Richard Dreyfuss is phenomenal as a sculptor who is left a quadriplegic after a car accident and decides that he wants to be allowed to die, a choice... Read more
Wit (2001)
8.1/10
Director: Mike Nichols
Starring: Emma Thompson, Christopher Lloyd, Eileen Atkins, Audra McDonald, Jonathan M Wood...
Vivian Bearing (Emma Thompson) is an English professor with a biting wit that educates but also alienates her students. With her teaching and life bot... Read more