FRANCO ZEFFERELI

Franco Zefferelli lived to the great old age of 96. He was one of a group of Italian directors to be nominated in the U.S. for a direction Oscar. This group also included Luigi Visconti, Federico Fellini, Michaelangelo Antonioni and Bernardo Bertolucci. Franco’s nomination came for the ground-breaking Romeo And Juliet (1968). He lost to Carol Reed for Oliver. A really tough call but no big argument here.
Anyway, Franco’s Romeo and Juliet was different from earlier ventures, in that he used really young actors, just as the original play called for. Olivia Hussey and Leonard Whiting are teen-agers, just as the original characters were. Both of these actors now fit into the “whatever happened to” category, but the movie is just so romantic and wonderful, who cares?
Franco Zefferelli made a career of bringing Shakespeare to the screen, and most of his efforts are wildly successful. His Taming Of The Shrew (1967) featured two of the true icons of movies, Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor. Neither of which was famous for being easy to direct, but Franco brings it off in fine style. Those flashing eyes of Elizabeth as the feisty Kate and with Burton as the domineering Petrucio are hard to resist. The story is not really up to modern political correctness, but hey, this is 17th century stuff, and it’s stood up pretty well! 
Zefferelli’s version of Othello is spelled the Italian way, Otello (1986). That’s maybe because his version is actually a film of the Verdi opera. The cast members are, of course, opera singers. The incomparable Placido Domingo has the title role and sings up a storm as the slightly clueless leader. Iago is appropriately venal, Cassius crudely oportunistic, and Desdemona completely wronged (and murdered). I’m not much of an opera fan, but this one is really good!
There are at least a dozen film adaptations of Hamlet. Franco Zefferelli’s 1990 version is near the top, with a stellar cast. Mel Gibson plays the conflicted hero and reminds us here of how good he could be. Helena Bonham Carter shines as the doomed Ophelia, Glenn Close is Queen Gertrude, Alan Bates King Claudius, and Ian Holm the wretched Polonius. I needed subtitles to follow the dialog, but they are available in most versions.
And there are many versions of Jane Eyre, the timeless Charlotte Bronte classic about a plain orphan girl trying to get along in a hostile world. Zefferelli’s 1996 version is really good, with Anna Paquin as childhood Jane and Charlotte Gainsbourg as adult Jane. William Hurt is just fine as the puzzling Mr. Rochester. The story is somewhat compressed in this one, but the main themes are there. 
Tea With Mussolini (1999) is the frankly autobiographical story of an illegitimate boy taken under the wing of female British expatriates before, during and after World War II. My goodness, what a cast: Cher, Joan Plowright, Judi Dench, Maggie Smith, and Lily Tomlin. The young Franco is played by a series of Italian actors I never heard of. A very interesting treatment of a very difficult time. 
All of the films in this article are available on DVD. All are for adults.