Stage to Screen
At Criterion, cinema is king, but the play is also the thing. Here’s a selection of films that adapt great works of theater for the screen.
| Spine # | Title | Director | Country | Year | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Androcles and the Lion | Chester Erskine | United Kingdom, | 1952 | |
| 1153 |
|
Arsenic and Old Lace | Frank Capra | United States, | 1944 |
| 740 |
|
The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant | Rainer Werner Fassbinder | West Germany, | 1972 |
| 606 |
|
Blithe Spirit | David Lean | United Kingdom, | 1945 |
| 305 |
|
Boudu Saved from Drowning | Jean Renoir | France, | 1932 |
| 773 |
|
Breaker Morant | Bruce Beresford | Australia, | 1980 |
| 76 |
|
Brief Encounter | David Lean | United Kingdom, | 1945 |
| 294 |
|
The Browning Version | Anthony Asquith | United Kingdom, | 1951 |
|
Caesar and Cleopatra | Gabriel Pascal | United Kingdom, | 1945 | |
| 830 |
|
Chimes at Midnight | Orson Welles | Spain, | 1966 |
| 464 |
|
Danton | Andrzej Wajda | France, | 1983 |
| 1237 |
|
Demon Pond | Masahiro Shinoda | Japan, | 1979 |
|
Désiré | Sacha Guitry | France, | 1937 | |
| 1096 |
|
Don’t Play Us Cheap | Melvin Van Peebles | United States, | 1972 |
| 370 |
|
The Emperor Jones | Dudley Murphy | United States, | 1933 |
|
An Enemy of the People | Satyajit Ray | India, | 1989 | |
| 515 |
|
The Fugitive Kind | Sidney Lumet | United States, | 1960 |
| 1240 |
|
Funny Girl | William Wyler | United States, | 1968 |
| 127 |
|
Gertrud | Carl Th. Dreyer | Denmark, | 1964 |
|
The Girls | Mai Zetterling | Sweden, | 1968 | |
| 242 |
|
The Golden Coach | Jean Renoir | France, | 1953 |
| 618 |
|
Gray’s Anatomy | Steven Soderbergh | United States, | 1997 |
| 82 |
|
Hamlet | Laurence Olivier | United Kingdom, | 1948 |
| 982 |
|
Hedwig and the Angry Inch | John Cameron Mitchell | United States, | 2001 |
| 974 |
|
The Heiress | William Wyler | United States, | 1949 |
| 41 |
|
Henry V | Laurence Olivier | United Kingdom, | 1944 |
| 158 |
|
The Importance of Being Earnest | Anthony Asquith | United Kingdom, | 1952 |
|
India Song | Marguerite Duras | France, | 1975 | |
| 566 |
|
Insignificance | Nicolas Roeg | United Kingdom, | 1985 |
|
Katzelmacher | Rainer Werner Fassbinder | Germany, | 1969 | |
| 1249 |
|
King Lear | Jean-Luc Godard | United States, | 1987 |
| 721 |
|
Love Streams | John Cassavetes | United States, | 1984 |
|
The Lower Depths | Jean Renoir | France, | 1936 | |
| 726 |
|
Macbeth | Roman Polanski | United Kingdom, | 1971 |
| 71 |
|
The Magic Flute | Ingmar Bergman | Sweden, | 1975 |
|
Major Barbara | Gabriel Pascal | United Kingdom, | 1941 | |
| 882 |
|
Marius | Alexander Korda | France, | 1931 |
| 762 |
|
A Master Builder | Jonathan Demme | United States, | 2014 |
| 706 |
|
Master of the House | Carl Th. Dreyer | Denmark, | 1925 |
| 559 |
|
The Mikado | Victor Schertzinger | United Kingdom, | 1939 |
| 416 |
|
Miss Julie | Alf Sjöberg | Sweden, | 1951 |
| 1106 |
|
One Night in Miami . . . | Regina King | United States, | 2020 |
| 870 |
|
Othello | Orson Welles | United States, | 1952 |
| 358 |
|
Pandora’s Box | G. W. Pabst | Germany, | 1929 |
| 901 |
|
The Philadelphia Story | George Cukor | United States, | 1940 |
|
Quadrille | Sacha Guitry | France, | 1938 | |
| 945 |
|
A Raisin in the Sun | Daniel Petrie | United States, | 1961 |
| 213 |
|
Richard III | Laurence Olivier | United Kingdom, | 1955 |
| 1171 |
|
Romeo and Juliet | Franco Zeffirelli | Italy, | 1968 |
| 443 |
|
La ronde | Max Ophuls | France, | 1950 |
| 132 |
|
The Ruling Class | Peter Medak | United Kingdom, | 1972 |
| 949 |
|
A Story from Chikamatsu | Kenji Mizoguchi | Japan, | 1954 |
| 22 |
|
Summertime | David Lean | United States, | 1955 |
| 317 |
|
The Tales of Hoffmann | Michael Powell and Emeric Pressburger | United Kingdom, | 1951 |
| 829 |
|
A Taste of Honey | Tony Richardson | United Kingdom, | 1961 |
| 605 |
|
This Happy Breed | David Lean | United Kingdom, | 1944 |
| 405 |
|
The Threepenny Opera | G. W. Pabst | Germany, | 1931 |
| 190 |
|
Throne of Blood | Akira Kurosawa | Japan, | 1957 |
| 1264 |
|
The Wiz | Sidney Lumet | United States, | 1978 |
| 599 |
|
Vanya on 42nd Street | Louis Malle | United States, | 1994 |
| 1271 |
|
You Can Count on Me | Kenneth Lonergan | United States, | 2000 |