Comparison between the two movies■ (Romeo & Juliet movies) 1968 by Zefferelli and 1996 by Luhram

Essay by TroubleSomeHigh School, 10th grade October 2002

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The two movies of Romeo & Juliet made according to the play of Shakespeare are very, very different from one another. Although some similarities occur but both are very different. The old one, released in 1968 by Zefferelli is pretty long and follows the whole drama properly through out the movie. On the other hand the new one released in 1996 by Luhram is much quicker, lines are cut and more action is placed into it. I think this is the case because the newer one is made for the modern audience and teenagers like us, who of course, don't like long speeches cause we don't have much patience.

Now lets get a little specific here. Take for example the scene where the letter gets lost near the end of the movie, over here both the movies focus on the part that Romeo never gets the letter by showing us that he misses it by a nick of time.

In the movie directed by Luhram, Romeo misses the letter by Balthasar (one of his servant), he comes and gives Romeo the news that Juliet is dead & the fact that he has seen her in her tomb with his own naked eyes. Then Romeo is shown leaving in Balthasar's car, whereas the letterman remains unable to deliver the letter from the priest. In the old one the same technique is applied but it's more into old style, that horses are used instead of cars. Not much music, action music or sad. So by this example we can see that the newer version is much quicker, more action and good. Therefore the newer one is better.

Another solid example would be the death scene in both of the movie. In the old one, the death scene is showed pretty long, it follows the book completely its not much interesting to see, we need a lot of patience to watch it. First Romeo enters the tomb where Juliet lies unconscious, he sees Juliet dead, then gives a really long speech and kills himself, and then the priest comes up and sees this event and by then Juliet is directed to get up. Then Juliet gets up and sees Romeo dead, she refuses to go with him (the priest) and a speech is given then they show Juliet kill herself by suicide with the help of a dagger. This scene isn't that interesting in here, also it is very long. Whereas in the newer version by Luhram, this is constructed and directed very differently. Lines are cut in the play, and the scene is very suspenseful. While Romeo is loving Juliet and kissing her. Her hands are moving and she's waking up! It is pretty suspenseful especially if you haven't read the Romeo & Juliet drama before you hardly can have a bit of clue of what will happen next. Is Juliet going to wake up, are they going live happily ever after or are they both going die! Also in both movies, equipment is used differently. In Zefferelli, horses and dagger are shown unlike in Luhram cars and guns are more popular.

These are the main differences between these two movies and as we can see the newer one seems more interesting to watch. And that's the one I enjoyed watching the most.