MONEY TALKS

REVIEWED - THE MERCHANT OF VENICE: Theatre goers have, over the last century or so, learned to appear unsurprised when Richard III turns up as a dwarf, Othello becomes a woman or King Lear proves to be from another galaxy. But, Forbidden Planet and Baz Luhrmann's Romeo+Juliet notwithstanding, mainstream cinema has continued to find a place for worthy, traditional Shakespeare adaptations suitable for school outings, writes Donald Clarke.

Michael Radford's elegantly decorated version of The Merchant of Venice will certainly play well in assembly halls and will, in its DVD incarnation, sit comfortably alongside Cole's Notes on the bookshelves of lazier students. Pared down with some skill by the director - that ghastly casket scene zips by - the script is just lean enough to be easily digestible without losing any of the more nourishing, chewy passages. Al Pacino, though a bit too eager to hit his consonants, gives us a hunched, old-school Shylock, pathetic even in his most intemperate rages. And Venice, of course, looks simply divine.

But you will search in vain for any big ideas in this Merchant. As is the way these days, the picture is preceded by a kind of programme note in which the film-makers explain that any anti-Semitism is to be blamed on the times rather than on Messrs Radford and Shakespeare. And the ferocious gob that Jeremy Irons's Antonio directs towards Shylock in the opening scene goes some way to explaining the money-lender's later intransigence. But such socially responsible modifications constitute good manners rather than evidence of any serious thinking.

In truth, pretty locations and nice music aside, there is nothing here you wouldn't have gotten from one of those BBC wobbly-set productions of the 1970s. Fans of The Office will, however, savour Mackenzie Crook's lively performance. Launcelot Gobbo - an uppity servant of low morals - has a surprising amount in common with Wernham Hogg's Gareth.