Theatrical
see all genres ›Plays, the traditional “theatrical production,” including musicals and radio plays, offer rich material for film adaptation.
Discover Theatrical Films
Genres / Adaptation / Theatrical
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Antigone
In the aftermath of a bloody civil war that fatally pitted both her brothers against each other, Antigone (Papas), daughter of Oedipus, picks through the carnage outside the gates of Thebes in search of her fallen siblings' bodies. Vowing to bury both men, Antigone defies a direct edict from Thebes' King Creon that Antigone's...Start your free trial to watch -
Armless
ARMLESS tells the story of a man who suffers from Body Integrity Identity Disorder (B.I.I.D.), a real-life psychological condition in which an individual paradoxically doesn't feel “whole” unless he loses one or more major limbs. When he leaves his wife and goes to find a doctor willing to amputate his arms, it triggers a...Start your free trial to watch -
Band Drill
One of several films made from Charles Hoyt's musical burlesque "A Milk White Flag," which mocked the state militias that savored their snappy uniforms and male camaraderie (including free drinks at the regimental bar). In fact, their actual courage was questioned for the "milk white flag" (the flag of purity but also...Start your free trial to watch
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Barnum
A leaping, spinning and singing Michael Crawford stars as the world's greatest showman, Phineas T. Barnum, in Harold Fielding's rousing Victoria Palace production of the smash circus musical BARNUM. Hailed as “the definitive Barnum,” Crawford delivers beautiful songs and show-stopping circus moments, one after another. The...Start your free trial to watch -
The Belle of Amherst
Against a handsome set depicting Emily Dickinson at her Amherst, Massachusetts home, Julie Harris is in constant motion recollecting the poet's past from her work, her diaries and letters and encountering the significant people in her life: friends, relatives and acquaintances. The play shrewdly balances...Start your free trial to watch -
Bromo and Juliet
Though introduced as a “successful young business man of rare judgment and great dignity,” Charley Chase’s diminutive gentleman is out of his league the moment his sweetheart says she’ll only marry him if he plays Romeo to her Juliet. The night of the play he’s squirming in his sponge-packed tights....Start your free trial to watch
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Car Cemetery
Combining punk rock and post-apocalyptic mayhem, Arrabal's outrageous adaptation of his infamous stage play is a gallows-humor romp in a wretched dystopia. The inhabitants of a junkyard at the edge of a nuclear crater live hand to mouth all the while being hounded by authorities from a corrupt government. Among them is Emanou...Start your free trial to watch -
The Cat and the Canary
A decaying mansion and a stormy night are the archetypal setting for mystery and chaos when a pack of greedy relatives gather for the reading of a twenty-year-old will. But before the fortune of Cyrus West can be handed down, the family must endure a night in the cavernous manor, unnerved by the news that...Start your free trial to watch -
The Cherry Orchard
Acclaimed international director Michael Cacoyannis (ZORBA THE GREEK) and a dream cast of British screen talent revive Anton Chekhov's masterpiece of imprisonment in wealth and regret. Working from his own translation, Cacoyannis expands and condenses THE CHERRY ORCHARD with a fidelity that preserves...Start your free trial to watch
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Chicago
Sexy, jazz-loving and dressed to kill, Roxie Hart (Phyllis Haver) has a doting, handsome husband in Victor Varconi; not to mention a gold-digging affair on the side with Eugene Pallette, who pays and pays, eventually with his life. Put on trial for murder, Roxie secures lawyer Billy Flynn (Robert Edeson), equal part mob...Start your free trial to watch -
College Chums
Loosely based on Brandon Thomas' farce-comedy play CHARLEY'S AUNT, the last two-thirds of COLLEGE CHUMS may seem unique in that it shows one scene entirely in an establishing shot. In fact, the film was often screened with live actors behind the screen providing synchronous dialogue for the on-screen characters, a popular...Start your free trial to watch -
Counterspy Meets Scotland Yard
When enemy agents obtain leaked secrets about a guided missile reservation, the chief of America's counterspy division (Howard St. John) and Scotland Yard's best investigator Ron Randell get on an investigative trail which quickly leads to a reservation secretary (Gunsmoke's Miss Kitty, Amanda Blake).Start your free trial to watch
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Cymbeline
Southern California locations vividly suggest both elemental pre-Roman Britain and classical Rome. An energetic cinematic pacing and intimacy show rapidly improving narrative technique and realism well beyond the limitations of the stage. Especially cinematic are the bedchamber scene in the first reel, with its intimate...Start your free trial to watch -
David Harding, Counterspy
Based on the popular 1942-1957 network radio series created by Phillips H. Lord. Howard St. John is the Washington DC-based David Harding, head of a covert counter-espionage organization, charged with preventing top-secret scientific information from reaching the hands of America's enemies around the...Start your free trial to watch -
Demon Pond
From the director of GOZU and ICHI THE KILLER, DEMON POND is the modern-day story of a man searching for a friend who has mysteriously disappeared intersecting with a magical tale involving strange creatures, a heartbroken princess and a pact that cannot be broken. Conflicts between faith and skepticism (and between social...Start your free trial to watch
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Don Juan
A story of appetite and destruction, DON JUAN has been a staple of puppet theatre for centuries. Jan Svankmajer brings this tradition to vivid and at times uncanny life in this dynamic film adaptation. When we first see Philip and Maria, the lovers who inspire Don Juan’s wrath, they appear on the flattened plane of a stage....Start your free trial to watch -
Elevator
A boy and a girl, high school teenagers, want to get away from the world and be alone for an afternoon. They decide to hide in an abandoned factory on the outskirts of town. While there, they fall in a trap of their own intention and get stuck in a cargo elevator. There is no one around to hear them and nobody knows where...Start your free trial to watch



