Romeo and Juliet is a 1936 American film adapted from the play by Shakespeare, directed by George Cukor from a screenplay by Talbot Jennings. The film stars Leslie Howard as Romeo and Norma Shearer as Juliet. The New York Times selected the film as one of the "Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made," calling it "a lavish production" which "is extremely well-produced and acted." Producer Irving Thalberg pushed MGM for five years to make a film out of Romeo and Juliet, in the face of the studio's opposition: which stemmed from Louis B. Mayer's belief that the masses considered the Bard over their heads,... and from the austerity forced on the studios by the depression. It was only when Jack Warner announced his intention to film Max Reinhardt's A Midsummer Night's Dream that Mayer, not to be outdone, gave Thalberg the go-ahead. Thalberg's stated intention was "to make the production what Shakespeare would have wanted had he possessed the facilities of cinema.
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| Release date: | August 20, 1936 |
| Directed by: | George Cukor |
| Runtime: | 125 Minutes |
| Producer: | Irving Thalberg |
| Editor: | Margaret Booth |
| Music by: | Herbert Stothart |
| Cinematography: | William H. Daniels |
| Screenplay by: | Talbot Jennings |
| Estimated budget: | $2,066,000 |