One of my all time favorites.

Admirable film.

The storyline feels a little thin and moth-eaten in parts but this sequel is plenty of fun.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

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 ?

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.

Shakespeare's TEMPEST is magical, romantic, and full of delight. But the center of the play is the dynamic between Prospero, the wise old wizard, and his innocent but adventurous daughter Miranda.Pippa Guard is PERFECT as Miranda. She captures all of Miranda's sweetness and gentleness while adding courage and spirit and passion and even daring to the surface obedience she always displays. Watch the famous scene where Prospero talks on and on about his past and his great gifts and his magical plans to bring them home. At the end of his long-winded speech, he prevents Miranda from asking any further questions by waving his magic wand and sending her to sleep! It's a scene that often makes modern audiences groan aloud. But Pippa Guard has the most extraordinary gift for putting a world of passion and deep feeling into her face as she opens her mouth to protest. Her magnificent spirit is fully displayed, even though she has no verbal comeback to Prospero's manipulative magic. Even the surprised, confused, and then suddenly very sleepy look on her face cannot conceal her growing strength and her rebellious desire to know more.Pippa Guard is the model Shakespearean actress -- rendering the language beautifully and adding a world of meaning with just a single look or a glance.Pippa Guard Rocks!

I love The Tempest as a play - its magic, its fun, its emotional impact. All these should be present in a good adaptation.The problem with this version is twofold. First, it is very studio-bound, giving a feeling of flatness to the proceedings (compare to the Derek Jarman version a year earlier, or the 1950s version with Maurice Evans). Second, it suffers from inappropriate casting in key roles, notably real-life siblings Pippa and Christopher Guard as lovers Miranda and Ferdinand, and David Dixon as Ariel (the potential was there but it just didn't work).Michael Hordern is however fine as Prospero, and Nigel Hawthorne and Andrew Sachs provide some comedy. Warren Clarke is a monstrous and diverting Caliban, devoid of magic but with some sense of the injustice he feels at his treatment on the island.Some clever ideas and some very good scenes (notably when the goddesses appear, singing), but this Tempest is too dry and flat to be really engrossing.