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
Face to Face (2011)
6.8/10
Director: Michael Rymer
Starring: Sigrid Thornton, Vince Colosimo, Luke Ford, Matthew Newton
A young construction worker rams into the back of his boss's expensive sports car in a fit of anger at being sacked. Rather than fronting court, he's... Read more
The Ides of March (2011)
7.1/10
Director: George Clooney
Starring: George Clooney, Marisa Tomei, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeffrey Wright, Paul Giama...
Ryan Gosling stars in this tense political thriller as a talented, optimistic staffer campaigning for a Democratic presidential candidate (George Cloo... Read more
Rabbit Hole (2010)
7/10
Director: John Cameron Mitchell
Starring: Aaron Eckhart, Nicole Kidman
Powerful adaptation of the play by David Lindsay-Abaire stars Nicole Kidman and Aaron Eckhart as a married couple whose lives are shattered when their... Read more
Alan Bennett at the BBC (2010)
Director: David Hinton, Giles Foster, John Schlesinger, Malcolm Mowbray, Richard Eyre, Stephen Frears, Stuart Burge, Udayan Prasad, Jonathan Stedall
Starring: Alan Bates, Alan Bennett, Daniel-Day Lewis, James Fox, Janet McTeer, Jim Broadbe...
Alan Bennett is one of Britain's most popular and prolific authors and playwrights. He initially wrote for the stage, but found that with his observan... Read more
Hamlet (2009)
8.1/10
Director: Gregory Doran
Starring: Patrick Stewart, David Tennant, Oliver Ford Davies
The RSC puts a modern spin on Shakespeare's Hamlet in this filmed-for-television version of their stage production. The Prince of Denmark seeks vengea... Read more
Blessed (2009)
6.8/10
Director: Ana Kokkinos
Starring: Deborra-Lee Furness, Frances O'Connor, Miranda Otto, Victoria Haralabidou, Willi...
A tender and stirring portrayal of a single day from two very different perspectives. Seven children wander the streets in an urban odyssey but not al... Read more
Good (2008)
6.2/10
Director: Vicente Amorim
Starring: Viggo Mortensen, Jason Isaacs, Jodie Whittaker, Steven Mackintosh, Mark Strong,...
Viggo Mortensen is the bespectacled Professor Halder, living in 1930s Germany with a neurotic wife, two demanding children and a mother suffering from... Read more
The Anton Chekhov Collection (2008)
Starring: Anthony Hopkins, Bill Paterson, David Warner, Eileen Atkins, Ian Holm, Janet Suz...
This collection includes productions of Chekhov's greatest plays. The one-act "The Proposal" (1959) finds rich families building wealth through marria... Read more
Easy Virtue (2008)
6.7/10
Director: Stephan Elliott
Starring: Jessica Biel, Ben Barnes, Kristin Scott Thomas, Colin Firth, Katherine Parkinson...
An entertaining adaptation of Noel Coward's play, set in 1929 and starring Jessica Biel as the brash American divorcee who shocks the prim English fam... Read more