Romeo e Giulietta (1964)
Directed by Riccardo Freda

Film Review

Riccardo Freda, an Italian filmmaker best known for his lurid horror films, would seem to be an unusual choice to direct a screen version of Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, but his visual flair and love of action (evident in his big budget peplums) allows him to offer a distinctive telling of a familiar story.  Like Franco Zeffirelli in his far better known 1968 adaptation, Freda cast two young actors to play the star-crossed lovers - Geronimo Meynier (in his final film role) and Rosemary Dexter - although both actors lack the talent and maturity to make their characters entirely convincing.  Beautifully shot on location for the most part, Romeo e Giulietta is a sumptuous visual feast throughout, and the film opens with a dramatic action sequence that would have been worthy of a big budget western.  As in Zeffirelli's more lavish production, music is an essential ingredient of the film, and pieces by Rachmaninoff and Tchaikovsky provide an effective complement to the lush images.  By compressing the story to its barebones, Freda offers an original interpretation of Romeo and Juliet that is fast-moving, colourful and intense, although it lacks the passion and poignancy of Zeffirelli's film.

Film Synopsis

In 15th century Verona, the rival houses of Montague and Capulet are locked in a deadly feud, which even the city's ruler is powerless to end.  At a banquet, Romeo Montague meets and falls instantly in love with a young woman named Juliet, whom he later discovers is Capulet's daughter.  Knowing that their parents will forbid their marriage, Romeo and Juliet wed in secret, but their happiness does not last long.  Once Romeo has killed Juliet's brother Tybalt in a duel, he is banished from Verona.  When Juliet learns that her father has arranged for her to marry the nobleman Paris she turns to Friar Laurence, hoping that he will procure for her a fatal nostrum.  The friar gives Juliet a drug that will feign the appearance of death and sends a messenger off to notify Romeo of his plan.  The messenger is unable to reach Romeo, and when the latter hears of his beloved's death he has but one thought, to end his days...