Watch Love's Labour's Lost

While many of William Shakespeare’s plays have been adapted for the screen, the 2000 feature film version of Love’s Labour’s Lost was the first time that particular play had been brought to the big screen. Love’s Labour’s Lost is one of Shakespeare’s most lighthearted comedies. This adaptation, re-imagined and re-set in a glamorous 1930s Hollywood musical style, still relies on the main story as told by the Bard. King Ferdinand, the ruler of Navarre, has sworn off women and dedicated himself to a scholarly life instead. His three close friends and advisers, Berowne, Longaville and Dumaine, agree with him on this plan. However, all the men find their promise sorely tested when the gorgeous French princess comes for a state visit, bringing with her three beautiful ladies-in-waiting. The king tries to avoid the lovely princess, and urges his servants to avoid her beautiful maids, but all to no avail. Comic situations abound when the men begin to meet with the women secretly, outside the town, while trying to hide their actions from each other.

As in many Shakespearean tales, there is an involved sub-plot. This one concerns a rustic comedian named Costard, who ends up staging a rather silly play which provides a kind of story-within-a-story.

Part of the story is advanced through footage made to look like old time news reels. The film also features costumes from the late 1930s and many hit standard songs of the era such as “They Can’t Take That Away From Me,” “Cheek to Cheek,” and the show-stopping “There’s No Business Like Show Business.” You never know when one of the characters, speaking Shakespeare’s lines, will suddenly burst into song or dance. Sometimes the lighthearted musical moments advance the plot, and sometimes they just celebrate music.