Watch The Tempest For Free

I love this movie so much

Thanks for the memories!

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

There are problems with this play. It's somehow inherently downbeat. Of its numerous productions available on DVDs, and its reworkings under different titles, Forbidden Planet, Prospero's Books, none seem truly satisfactory. Something is always lacking. Its supremely quotable, memorable poetry appears at odds with its curiously artificial plot and story. Its clowns are not funny; its plotters are inane, its slaves are repellent or disturbing. I thought Ariel was quite good, once the embarrassing bikini could be overlooked. In this version, Hordern is too avuncular, insufficiently vibrant and intense, and lacking in dramatic and magical, masterful charisma. Difficult to suggest an actor with the right personality for the part. It's as if Shakespeare baulked at self-presentation. I don't see Gielgud as ideal for the role. Miranda and Ferdinand were not bad. The other parts are forgettable. The overall direction is competent, but I wouldn't say inspired. Is any other version any better ?

The 1970s/1980s BBC adaptation of all of Shakespeare's plays would be done very differently today. Back then, nearly all the actors and most of the stories were played in an old-fashioned Elizabethan style that you just wouldn't see nowadays.This is exactly what plagues "The Tempest", one of Shakespeare's last plays and a story that just cries out for modern special effects to really add life to it's language and it's characters.The story tells of Prospero (Micheal Hordern), the deposed Duke of Milan, reclaiming his Dukedom on the island where he's been exiled and he uses his powers of magic to whip a storm (the tempest of the title) to bring those who ousted him to the island, where they can resolve their differences. Complications arise with Prospero's daughter Miranda (Pippa Guard), the sailor Ferdinand (Christopher Guard) with whom she falls in love and the machinations of Ariel (David Dixon), a spirit of the island and Caliban (Warren Clarke), Prospero's slave...It is as always very well acted, with notable performances from Hordern as Prospero and Pippa Guard who makes a very pretty Miranda. It is wonderful to see Nigel Hawthorne and Andrew Sachs pop up as clowns Stefano and Trinculo and they are good fun to watch on screen.The design of the play is a perhaps a little bit too stagey, and not enough is made of the character of the island itself. Caliban's speech in Act 3, Scene Two tells of the wonders of the island but there is too little of these wonders on screen and a parade of naked man masquerading as spirits does not compensate for this.Good to watch, but definitely for Shakespeare buffs only.

Any theatrical repertory company that attempted a full Shakespeare cycle would have some winners and losers. The same is true of the BBC's attempt to commit the Bard to video. This is one of those occasions where nothing much goes right, and the results are a good deal short of satisfying.Michael Hordern is a choleric Prospero, emphatic in his anger, but he is cold and unpoetic in reconciliation. Perhaps because he was substituting for an unavailable Sir John Gielgud, Hordern goes too far in the opposite direction. This series gave him King Lear, in which he gave the performance of his life, but this Prospero can't be regarded as a success.The rest of the cast ranges from decent to annoying, but no one emerges covered with glory. Christopher Guard as Ferdinand is well enough, but his cousin Pippa Guard as Miranda winds up with all her stage tricks mercilessly exposed by the camera, without an honest moment ever. The Ariel and Caliban are absolutely predictable, no surprises here.A word about the physical production: these days we no longer see much in the way of TV studio design, but this series has moments of serious visual beauty. Even at it's most workaday, the BBC designers generally support the play.Here, unfortunately, the island is ugly. It is not Bermuda, as in the shipwreck that inspired Shakespeare, nor is it some Mediterranean isle between Naples and Tunis, as the text suggests. It is a Northern island, with basalt cliffs and weak winter sun. As a viewer, you wonder why anyone would stay there, and how come they're not working harder to get off of this repellent and most un-magical bit of frigid rock.The production design does not support the play, it sinks it further. All in all, a tedious misfire.Teachers should note that Ariel's Catering Service is seriously underdressed. If your class will find a clutch of nearly nude male dancers distracting, at least you'll know they're awake.

The production values are weak, the handling of the spirits is laughable, the wedding masque is tedious, and Ferdinand's hairstyle seems, to our current sense of fashion, ludicrous. BUT this television of Shakespeare's play is to be prized for some excellent performances, most notably Michael Hordern's restrained, intelligent, compassionate and emotionally profound performance as Prospero. Listen to him handle the difficult exposition in Act I, watch how he gives his approval to his daughter's marriage, how he releases Ariel, and the wonderful transition he makes into the final epilogue. There are some fine performances here--you just have to look past some unfortunate design and directorial choices.