Everybody has favorite films. I list mine by decade. Working backwards here they are:
2001-2010 Star Trek
1991-2000 Much Ado About Nothing
1981-1990 It’s a tie between Raiders of the lost Ark and Glory
1961-1980 I combine these decades because I really like the two Westerns made by Richard Brooks.
In the 60s he made The Professionals and the 70’s Bite the Bullet
1951-1960 Ben Hur
1941-1950 Casablanca
1931-1940 The Thin Man
Films from 1930 back were mostly silent. I don’t have a favorite and most of these films are very hard to hear.
In 1993, Kenneth Branagh, who apparently is a big Shakespeare fan, brought Much Ado About Nothing to the screen. To my everlasting regret I did not see this film on the big screen. My initial introduction was VHS tape. Then DVD. Now BluRay. The BR version is the one to experience.
My first time out I had to mostly sit back and enjoy the marvelous visuals, beautiful scenery, incredible score and the manic “I Love Lucy” style humor. About 4 viewings later I began to understand more and more of the Shakespearean dialogue. The casting is terrific with KB in the lead, his then wife Emma Thompson as the co-star. Also in the ensemble, Keanu Reeves as the main villain, Denzel Washington, Michael Keaton and others who were staples of the Branagh Shakespeare films.
The movie was shot on location at a residence in Tuscany known as Villa Vignamagio. If you look carefully at the famous DaVinci painting of the Mona Lisa this property is in the background and said to be the place where Signora Lisa was born. It is currently a working winery and has 4 rooms for rent. At least it did when I visited there in the late 90s. Yes, I went that far to visit a place in a movie. They also have a swimming pool.
Everything about Much Ado About Nothing is dead-on big time entertainment. The only complaint I registered about it was that it had to come to an end. Now on BluRay you can own it in its greatest glory and view it over and over till you can comprehend the language. It is in English but having an interpreter on hand wouldn’t be a bad idea.
Rated 4.0 out of 4.0, this is Much Ado About Something.
