A Tale of Two Shakespeares

Coincidentally I have watched two movies about William Shakespeare within a week.

I took Roland Emmerlich's "Anonymous" (2011) to be a playful and enjoyable piece of historical tosh -- theorizing as it did that the Earl of Oxford wrote all of Shakespeare's plays.

Rhys Ifans was splendid as Edward De Vere/Oxford. Rafe Spall played Shakespeare as a comedic oaf with elan and enthusiasm. Joely Richardson and Vanessa Redgrave played the young and old Elizabeths. Richardson is of course

Redgrave's real-life daughter. Edward Hogg was magnificent as Robert Cecil.

And the CGI to create Elizabethan London was nothing less than brilliant.

Oh, and Mark Rylance was in it as well. And Derek Jacobi gives the prologue and afterword.

Why, I wondered, did it divide the critics?
It transpired that Emmerlich seemed to believe that all of this was true! So, far from it being a happy romp of historical nonsense, Emmerlich was on a mission. The problem with this, of course, is that if you want to create a conspiracy here, you have to twist the facts beyond credibility. Indeed, going into the fact-twisting and blatant falsehoods in the film would be wearisome (not least getting the wrong "Richard" play at the time of the Southampton/Buckingham rebellion). Elizabeth seems to have bastard children all over England. Well, it's all rather mental.

6/10

Just as enjoyable was BBC Films' "Bill" (Richard Bracewell, 2015) from the crew that made Horrible Histories (which ceased production in 2012, leaving many of them at a loose end).
This too takes liberties with history, but it wears this on its sleeve. It covers the "lost" period of Shakespeare, and hypothesizes a plot involving Philip II of Spain seeking to blow up the queen at the end of a Shakespeare play.

It is genuinely funny. The cast take on five or six roles each and at times one is reminded of Monty Python and Life of Brian. There are knowing nods to history, and rampant moments of surrealism. Simon Farnaby as the Earl of Croydon ("where?" "Do you know Penge?") is superb. Farnaby has popped up in The Detectorists, but he is far better here. The Russian mortgage lenders are a cameo masterpiece. Highly recommended.

7.5/10