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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'.

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

Caesar and Cleopatra (1945)

6.4/10
Director: Gabriel Pascal
Starring: Vivien Leigh, Claude Rains, Stewart Granger, Flora Robson

George Bernard Shaw's exuberantly witty play about Rome's titanic leader and Egypt's young queen was transferred to the big screen with stars Vivien L... Read more

Blithe Spirit (1945)

7.2/10
Director: David Lean
Starring: Constance Cummings, Kay Hammond, Rex Harrison, Margaret Rutherford

David Lean adapts Noel Coward once again ('This Happy Breed', 'Brief Encounter') with excellent results. Rex Harrison is an author writing a book on... Read more

Henry V (Olivier) ( Blu-ray ) (1944)

7.7/10
Director: Laurence Olivier
Starring: Laurence Olivier, Leslie Banks, Robert Newton, Esmond Knight, Renee Asherson, Fe...

'Henry V' is one of Shakespeare's most compelling historical plays. Laurence Olivier won a special Oscar for outstanding achievement as an actor, prod... Read more

Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)

8/10
Director: Frank Capra
Starring: Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey, Peter Lorre, Josephine Hull, Jean Ad...

An hilarious adaptation of Joseph Kesselring's hit play about two seemingly harmless old ladies who murder lonely gentlemen callers - out of the goodn... Read more

Henry V (Olivier) (1944)

7.7/10
Director: Laurence Olivier
Starring: Laurence Olivier, Leslie Banks, Robert Newton, Esmond Knight, Renee Asherson, Fe...

'Henry V' is one of Shakespeare's most compelling historical plays. Laurence Olivier won a special Oscar for outstanding achievement as an actor, prod... Read more

This Happy Breed (1944)

7.3/10
Director: David Lean
Starring: Robert Newton, Celia Johnson, John Mills, Kay Walsh

This fine understated drama looks at a typical British household and how it is affected by the events of those years between World Wars I and II. Base... 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

Thunder Rock (1942)

6.8/10
Director: Roy Boulting
Starring: Barry Morse, James Mason, Michael Redgrave, Jean Sheppard

An adaptation of Robert Ardrey's stage play. Michael Redgrave plays a writer who tries to reveal what is happening in Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy,... Read more

The Little Foxes (1941)

8.2/10
Director: William Wyler
Starring: Bette Davis, Dan Duryea, Herbert Marshall, Richard Carlson, Teresa Wright

It's the turn of the century in the Deep South, and the Hubbard siblings are embroiled in their own money-driven, power-hungry civil war. The most cal... Read more