Romeo and Juliet

Zeffirelli's mod adaptation of Romeo and Juliet isn't one of the very slim handful of masterfully filmed Shakespeare plays, but it's nowhere near as mawkish as the simple-minded pantheism on display in the later Brother Sun, Sister Moon. It is successful in one very important respect, the handling of the hot-headed youth of the feuding Verona families, and the street brawling scenes are admirable. The rot sets in with Zeffirelli's treatment of the 'stern' parents, the sentimentality of his Irish friar (O'Shea) and Cockney nurse (Heywood), and the tragic denouement. Mostly it remains enjoyable for its colour and visual flair. Danilo Donati's costumes are, as usual, breathtaking.