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'.
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
A Huey P Newton Story (2001)
7.1/10
Director: Spike Lee
Starring: Roger Guenveur Smith
An intimate portrait of Huey P. Newton, the late co-founder of the Black Panther Party. Director Spike Lee and Roger Guenveur Smith bring Newton's tho... Read more
The Long and the Short and the Tall (1961)
6.5/10
Director: Leslie Norman
Starring: Richard Harris, Laurence Harvey, Richard Todd, David McCallum, Ronald Fraser
A film based on the successful play by Willis Hall about a British patrol in Burma who are determined to kill an innocent Japanese prisoner in a mad r... Read more
The Galton and Simpson Playhouse (1977)
Director: Duncan Wood
Starring: Anton Diffring, Arthur Lowe, Charles Gray, Freddie Jones, Leonard Rossiter, Mona...
British comedy writing maestros Ray Galton and Alan Simpson ('Hancock's Half Hour', 'Steptoe and Son') created the 'Playhouse' series in the late Seve... Read more
Dangerous Liaisons ( Blu-ray ) (1988)
7.6/10
Director: Stephen Frears
Starring: Glenn Close, John Malkovich, Keanu Reeves, Michelle Pfeiffer, Swoosie Kurtz, Uma...
Nominated for seven Academy Awards, the hottest love affair of 1782 is notable for its sense of style and decor, and strong performances from Glenn Cl... Read more
A Man for All Seasons ( Blu-ray ) (1966)
7.9/10
Director: Fred Zinnemann
Starring: Corin Redgrave, John Hurt, Leo McKern, Nigel Davenport, Orson Welles, Paul Scofi...
Adapted by Robert Bolt and Constance Willis from Bolt's hit stage play, A Man for All Seasons stars Paul Scofield, triumphantly repeating his stage ro... 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
1918 (1985)
6.3/10
Director: Ken Harrison
Starring: Matthew Broderick
While an influenza epidemic is sweeping America, young men everywhere are succumbing to the patriotic fervor fanned by the flames of World War I. In a... Read more
Five Graves to Cairo (1943)
7.4/10
Director: Billy Wilder
Starring: Franchot Tone, Anne Baxter, Akim Tamiroff, Erich Von Stroheim, Peter Van Eyck
Filmed almost concurrently with events in North Africa during WWII, Billy Wilder's take on the propaganda genre is adapted from WWI play, 'Hotel Imper... Read more
Julius Caesar (BBC) (1979)
7.4/10
Director: Herbert Wise
Starring: Richard Pasco, Keith Michell, Virginia McKenna, Charles Gray
Richard Pasco, Keith Michell and Charles Gray star this BBC production of Shakespeare's artful telling of conspiracy in the Roman Senate. Fearful that... Read more