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'.
Witness for the Prosecution ( Blu-ray ) (1957)
8.4/10
Director: Billy Wilder
Starring: Charles Laughton, Elsa Lanchester, Marlene Dietrich, Tyrone Power
Agatha Christie's play about a sensational London murder trial features great performances from Charles Laughton as the ageing lawyer, and from Tyrone... Read more
The Admirable Crichton (1957)
8.2/10
Director: Lewis Gilbert
Starring: Cecil Parker, Diane Cilento, Kenneth More
Comedy based on James Barrie's classic play in which Kenneth More's English butler, shipwrecked with his employers, resourcefully leads them in their... Read more
Timelock (1957)
2.8/10
Director: Gerald Thomas
Starring: Robert Ayres, Robert Beatty, Betty McDowell, Lee Patterson, Sean Connery
A textbook example of how a talented director and cast can do a lot with a little. Lensed in Canada, the story gets under way when a child is accident... Read more
Witness for the Prosecution (1957)
8.4/10
Director: Billy Wilder
Starring: Marlene Dietrich, Tyrone Power, Charles Laughton
Agatha Christie's play about a sensational London murder trial features great performances from Charles Laughton as the ageing lawyer, and from Tyrone... Read more
The Lower Depths (1957)
7.5/10
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Ganjiro Nakamada
Adapted from a play by Maxim Gorky and following the adventures of a boarding home's odd residents, especially the love triangle that develops between... Read more
Throne of Blood (1957)
8.1/10
Director: Akira Kurosawa
Starring: Toshiro Mifune, Isuzu Yamada, Takashi Shimura
Kurosawa's version of 'Macbeth' spares no effort in creating an atmosphere of obsessive madness and supernatural compulsion. The black and white contr... Read more
Anastasia (1956)
7.1/10
Director: Anatole Litvak
Starring: Akim Tamiroff, Helen Hayes, Ingrid Bergman, Yul Brynner, Martita Hunt, Natalie S...
Ingrid Bergman won an Oscar for her performance in this strange but engrossing story about Czar Nicholas' missing daughter Anastasia. Yul Brynner is a... Read more
The Teahouse of the August Moon (1956)
6.9/10
Director: Daniel Mann
Starring: Marlon Brando, Glenn Ford, Machiko Kyo, Eddie Albert, Paul Ford
A whimsical, poignant adaptation of the hit Broadway play about an American G.I.'s experiences in Okinawa in 1944. Glenn Ford is given the task of 'de... Read more
Forbidden Planet (1956)
7.6/10
Director: Fred M Wilcox
Starring: Robby the Robot, Warren Stevens, Walter Pidgeon, Leslie Nielsen, Anne Francis
'The best of the science fiction interstellar productions of the fifties', according to Pauline Kael. The action takes place in the year 2257 on the p... Read more
Summertime (1955)
7.4/10
Director: David Lean
Starring: Katharine Hepburn, Rossano Brazzi, Darren McGavin
An American spinster's dream of romance finally becomes a bittersweet reality when she meets a handsome - but married - Italian man while vacationing... Read more