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'.
The Sunset Limited (2011)
7.4/10
Director: Tommy Lee Jones
Starring: Samuel L Jackson, Tommy Lee Jones
Adapted by Cormac McCarthy from his stage play, this philosophical made-for-cable drama finds characters named Black (Samuel L. Jackson) and White (To... Read more
Oh! What A Lovely War (1969)
7.2/10
Director: Richard Attenborough
Starring: Laurence Olivier, Ralph Richardson, Ian Holm, John Gielgud, Kenneth More, Jack H...
Based on a 1963 stage show by Charles Chilton, lampooning World War I and war in general, and focused on the Smith family who have five sons to send o... Read more
The Taming of the Shrew (BBC) (1988)
7.2/10
Director: Jonathan Miller
Starring: John Cleese, Sarah Badel
Jonathan Miller's sympathetic, vibrant and hilarious adaptation brilliantly blends the more subtle essences of Shakespeare's classic comedy with the p... Read more
The Millionairess (1972) / The Apple Cart (1975)
Director: William Slater, Cedric Messina
Starring: Maggie Smith, Tom Baker, Charles Gray, James Villiers, Helen Mirren, Prunella Sc...
George Bernard Shaw's brilliant farce on the true relationships between class, capital, power and labour stars Maggie Smith as Epifania, glamourous, c... Read more
Doubt (2008)
7.5/10
Director: John Patrick Shanley
Starring: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Viola Davis
Outstanding performances highlight John Patrick Shanley's adaptation of his award-winning stage play. At a Bronx Catholic school, scandal and speculat... Read more
Hamlet (Gibson) (1990)
7.8/10
Director: Franco Zeffirelli
Starring: Alan Bates, Glenn Close, Mel Gibson, Paul Scofield, Ian Holm, Helena Bonham Cart...
'God has given you one face, and you make yourselves another' wrote William Shakespeare in his classic tale of vengeance and obsession. Franco Zeffire... Read more
The Women (2008)
4.9/10
Director: Diane English
Starring: Meg Ryan, Annette Bening, Eva Mendes, Debra Messing, Jada Pinkett Smith, Bette M...
A modern re-telling of George Cukor's classic 1939 film, based on Clare Booth Luce's play. A close-knit group of female friends find their neat suburb... Read more
A Soldier's Story (1984)
7.2/10
Director: Norman Jewison
Starring: Howard E Rollins Jr, Adolph Caesar, Art Evans
A spellbinding mystery and drama about a black army attorney, sent to investigate a murder on a black army base. Starring Howard E Rollins, music by H... Read more
The 47 Ronin ( aka Chushingura ) (1962)
7.6/10
Director: Hiroshi Inagaki
Starring: Yuzo Kayama, Koshiro Matsumoto, Toshiro Mifune, Tatsuya Mihashi, Yosuke Natsuki,...
One of the most retold stories in Japanese cinema is this historical samurai saga set at the turn of the 18th century, in which 47 loyal ronin seek ve... Read more
The Edge of Love (2007)
6.3/10
Director: John Maybury
Starring: Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Matthew Rhys, Cillian Murphy
The complex and passionate romantic entanglements of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas are explored in this lush bio-pic starring Matthew Rhys as Thomas, and Si... Read more