there be at least a half dozen silent film version of shakespeare the merchant of venice and and there have be several television production . but no one have ever get around to make a big budget theatrical feature from the play . . . until now . give the nature of the play or s most memorable character and shylock the nasty jew and it a good guess that the little unpleasantness that transpire in europe in the late 1930 and 1940 may have dampen filmmaker enthusiasm . sure the main motivation for michael radford new film be to provide al pacino with a chance to shout and bray and brood and mutter and and be torment all of which he be quite good at . like richard iii and the role of shylock be a scenery chewer dream . it be ridiculous to call shakespeare an anti semite and since he never meet a jew . jew be ban from england from 300 year before his time to some decade after his death while and it unlikely that he ever travel abroad . on some level and jew might as well have be a mythological race to him . but and while shakespeare may not have be anti semitic and his play certainly be . pacino give shylock a strange accent that be probably meant to suggest the slight hint of yiddish . unfortunately and the result be a 16th century moneylender with the unmistakable diction and cadence of fozzie bear . radford version begin with a crawl about the wretched teratment of jew and then spot antonio ( jeremy iron ) gratuitiously spit on shylock ( pacino ) and who really just stand around and mind his own business . will buy it when it come out on dvd and for sure . sarge booker .