Hi Richard,
Taymor's Tempest is going to be interesting for you in this regard. I just saw it a second time, at a benefit for the Shakespeare Society of New York. (It grew on me the second time around and this audience -- which included a mix of major donors for the Society, secondary teachers, performers, middle and high-schoolers -- was very appreciative.)
I was looking hard for books this time round and here's why: the final credits of the film unfold in a striking, and lovely, sequence of books (of various kinds) "drowning" -- descending and turning through clear, sunlit water. Audio track for this sequence is a version of Prospero's epilogue set to song by Goldenthal. (Female vocalist; Prospera does not say the epilogue.)
So I wanted to see what books show up before this in the film. There's a coffee-table book of the film (which I have a copy of now), that features books in what I take to be studio shots of Prospera working in her cell; I was looking closely through the opening scenes and what glimpses there were of these books in the cell were passing ones -- I missed them. I think I caught a glimpse of books (murky) being handed off to Prospera and child in the boat. There's also back-story (Prospera doing experiments back in Milan) with new text where I suspect there may be books in the mise-en-scene but again only glimpses. I asked JT about this in the talk-back and she said there were books 'all over the film' particularly in Prospera's cell. But this is all I could identify, even when looking actively for them.
Hope that's helpful,
Katherine
____________
Katherine Rowe
Chair and Professor of English
Director, Katharine Houghton Hepburn Center
Bryn Mawr
101 N. Merion Avenue
Bryn Mawr, PA 19010
610-526-5312
fax 610-526-7447
----- Original Message -----
From: "Richard Burt" <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Friday, November 12, 2010 1:26:56 PM
Subject: Props in Hamlet and The Tempest
Hi all,
Does anyone know of any film adaptation(s) of Hamlet in which he uses writing tables (after he "meets" the ghost of Old Hamlet)? And does anyone know of any film adaptation(s) of The Tempest (other than Prospero's Books) in which we see Prospero's books (in the boat with Gonzalo and Miranda, the library in Milan, and / or the library on the island) or see Prospero holding a book ?
Thanks much.
Best,
Richard
Professor Richard Burt
Department of English and Film and Media Studies Program
4314 Turlington Hall
P.O. Box 117310
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL
32611-7310
Phone: 352 373-3560
http://www.clas.ufl.edu/~burt/burtindex.html
http://www.clas.ufl.edu/~burt/Citations.html
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