Stars: Henry Goodman, David Bamber, Alexander Hanson

Director: Trevor Nunn

Summary: An adaptation of William Shakespeare's 'The Merchant Of Venice'.

Like many Shakespeare comedies, THE MERCHANT OF VENICE features a complicated web of characters who distract themselves with inventive ways to capture their heart's desire, and their exuberance usually results in some delightful trouble. THE MERCHANT OF VENICE finds Antonio, a merchant, trying to help his friend Bassanio to come up with the money to visit and court Portia, a wealthy heiress. They borrow money from the vengeful Shylock (Henry Goodman), who agrees to lend the money with no interest. The catch is, if the debt is not re-paid, he will have instead a pound of Antonio's flesh. Things go fine with the romance between Bassanio and Portia, but disaster with Antonio's business means he cannot repay the debt. This version of the film promises to be superior, as director Trevor Nunn was a longtime director of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

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Rarely has The Merchant of Venice, one of Shakespeare's most complex plays, looked as ravishingly sumptuous as in this adaptation, directed by Michael Radford (Il Postino). In a decadent version of renaissance Venice, a young nobleman named Bassanio (Joseph Fiennes, Shakespeare in Love) seeks to woo the lovely Portia (Lynn Collins), but lacks the money to travel to her estate. He seeks support from his friend, the merchant Antonio (Jeremy Irons); Antonio's fortune is tied up in sea ventures, so the merchant offers to borrow money from a Jewish moneylender, Shylock (Al Pacino). But Shylock holds a grudge against Antonio, who has routinely treated the Jew with contempt, and demands that if the debt is not repaid in three months, the price will be a pound of Antonio's flesh. The Merchant of Veniceis famous as a "problem play"--the gritty matters of moneylending and anti-Semitism sit uncomfortably beside the fairy tale elements of Portia and Bassanio's romance, and some twists of the plot can seem arbitrary or even cruel. The strength of Radford's intelligent and passionate interpretation is that he and the excellent cast invest the play's opposing facets with full emotional weight, thus making every question the play raises acute and inescapable. Irons is particularly compelling; kindness and blind prejudice sit side by side in his breast, rendering the clashes in his character as vivid as those in the play itself. --Bret Fetzer, Amazon.com

Main Language:	English
Region:	Region 2
Year:	2001
Release Date:	October 20, 2003
Runtime:	162 minutes
Certification:
Catalogue Number:	M T D 5123
Label:	The Ovation Series
Keywords:	Music, Classic, Book, General, Venice, Performance, Merchant, Plays, Drama, Performing, Based, Arts
Genre:	Drama