Romeo and Juliet [Giulietta e Romeo] * (1954, Laurence Harvey, Susan Shentall, Flora Robson, Mervyn Johns , Bill Travers) – Classic Movie Review 10,315

Writer-director Renato Castellani’s 1954 UK/Italy film Romeo and Juliet [Giulietta e Romeo] stars Laurence Harvey and Susan Shentall as William Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers. Shakespeare’s play is adapted for the screen by Castellani.

After a shaky Shakespearean theatre season at Stratford upon Avon, Harvey went to Italy to play Romeo for Italian director Castellani, who cast first-timer Shentall as Juliet. Neither player is at all impressive and, among the support, only Flora Robson as the Nurse, Mervyn Johns as Friar Laurence and Bill Travers as Benvolio have the right stuff. Robert Krasker’s Italian photography in Technicolor is beautiful though. It is also made in the studio at Pinewood Studios, London, England.

John Gielgud (Chorus) speaks the prologue.

Admirably, Harvey turned down Hollywood films to do it.

Italian writer Ennio Flaiano plays the Prince of Verona, credited under his real name of Giovanni Rota.

Also in the cast are Enzo Fiermonte, Aldo Zollo, Sebastian Cabot, Lydia Sherwood, Ubaldo Zollo, Norman Wooland, Guilio Garbinetto, Nietta Zocchi, Lucian Bodi, Thomas Nicholls and Giovanna Testa.

It was nominated for three BAFTA Film Awards: Best British Film, Best British Screenplay and Best Film from any Source, but had no luck.

Krasker won a Best Cinematography, Black-and-White Oscar for The Third Man, was a Bafta nominee for The Running Man (1963), and won the British Society of Cinematographers Best Cinematography Award Romeo and Juliet (1954) and El Cid (1961).

Susan Shentall (1934–1996).

Castellani discovered Shentall as a student in a London pub and cast her as Juliet because of her ‘pale sweet skin and honey-blonde hair’. She never acted on screen again. She died on October 18, 1996 in Market Harborough, aged 62.

© Derek Winnert 2020 Classic Movie Review 10,315

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