ROMEO
AND Juliet

1936 *** 126 mins.

There are two main faults with this film. One is obvious: Leslie Howard and Norma Shearer are way too old to be playing William Shakespeare's star-cross'd lovers. Of course, as Leonard Maltin put it, their acting is "so good one can forget they are too old for the roles." Of course, the main acting honour must go to John Barrymore in the role of Mercutio. The second flaw is that parts of the story were too close to Shakespeare's play. It seems as though, at parts, the actors are not sure what the words mean, so they simply say them. For example: the phrase "I am for you" comes out, "I am foryou," thereby taking the purpose of the line away. Visually, though, this film is pleasing for the eyes, especailly remembering that it was released in 1936. Seeing as how this was the first film version of Shakespeare's play, it must be respected in that manner. However, the 1968 film is much better.