Romeo and Juliet (1964 film) harmed Shakespeare more than Zeffirelli". Romeo and Juliet (1964 film) Romeo and Juliet () is a 1964 film directed and written by Riccardo Freda. Riccardo Freda maintained that it was himself who had the idea to adapt "Romeo and Juliet", having been an admirer of William Shakespeare since his youth and that he convinced Goffredo Lombardo who had gone bankrupt after the production of "Sodom and Gomorrah" to create the production company Imprecine and set up a co-production deal with Spain for this film and "Genoveffa di Brabante". Other sources such as Stefano Della Casa state that Freda was commissioned
Romeo and Juliet The religious metaphors of "shrine", "pilgrim", and "saint" were fashionable in the poetry of the time and more likely to be understood as romantic rather than blasphemous, as the concept of sainthood was associated with the Catholicism of an earlier age. Later in the play, Shakespeare removes the more daring allusions to Christ's resurrection in the tomb he found in his source work: Brooke's "Romeus and Juliet". In the later balcony scene, Shakespeare has Romeo overhear Juliet's soliloquy, but in Brooke's version of the story, her declaration is done alone. By bringing Romeo into the scene to eavesdrop, Shakespeare breaks