YouTube postings of scenes from Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 Film: Romeo and Juliet

Below are links to YouTube postings of scenes from a movie, done without the permission of the rights holders to that movie. From time to time the rights holders of a movie inform YouTube (a video file-sharing service by Google, Inc.) that a particular posting(s) violate their copyright and that they request YouTube to "take down" the specified illegal postings(s). This process takes time, but ultimately YouTube does comply with such a request, provided the copyright holder establishes (in writing) its ownership of the material that was posted.

In many cases, the copyright holders of a movie that has been posted in its entirety request that only some of its segments be taken down, often the first or last part of the movie. While it is impossible to know for certain why they would do this, it seems reasonable that the movie companies believe that having some of their movie shown (even most of it) acts as free advertising, keeping the movie in people's minds long after it leaves the theaters, and may actually lead to sales of DVDs or other media versions.

Thus, there are numerous legal, financial, and ethical implications involved in the posting of copyrighted work and, perhaps in linking to such unauthorized posts, and even viewing them. (See Digital Media Literacy Discussion Group on Property Rights and Permissions in a Digital World.)

The following YouTube postings were taken from Franco Zeffirellis 1968 Film: Romeo and Juliet.

You can buy this movie from the CyberClassics Store as a DVD or to view as Video-on-Demand 


YouTube Postings

Note: To help the viewer move back and forth between the movie postings below and a written version of the play, for each posting we have provided Act, Scene, and Line numbers (from the 1597 Quarto  of the play) to approximately identify the corresponding start and end points in Shakespeare's text . However, because this movie is an adaptation of Shakesepeare's play, it often deviates from his original script by eliminating or moving dialogue even entire scenes. Thus, the dialogue and action in a given posting will not correspond exactly to that contained between the provided start and end points of Shakespeare's text.

Part 1 of 15
From the Prologue, Line 1 through Act I, Scene 1, Line 159

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Part 2 of 15
From Act I, Scene 1, Line 160 through Act I, Scene 4, Line 58

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Part 3 of 15
From Act I, Scene 4, Line 58 through Act I, Scene 5, Line 72

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Part 4 of 15
From Act I, Scene 5, Line 83 through Act I, Scene 5, Line 125


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Part 5 of 15
From Act I, Scene 5, Line 125 through Act II, Scene 2, Line 115

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Part 6 of 15
From Act II, Scene 2, Line 121 through Act II, Scene 4, Line 7 

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Part 7 of 15
From Act II, Scene 4, Line 7 through Act II, Scene 5, Line 18

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Part 8 of 15
From Act II, Scene 5, Line 18 through Act III, Scene 1, Line 71

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Part 9 of 15
From Act III, Scene 1, Line 72 through Act III, Scene 1, Line 130 

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Part 10 of 15
From Act III, Scene 1, Line 130 through Act III, Scene 4, Line 149

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Part 11 of 15
From Act III, Scene 4, Line 149 through Act III, Scene 5, Line 160 

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Part 12 of 15
From Act III, Scene 5, Line 160 through Act IV, Scene 2, Line 122 

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Part 13 of 15
From Act IV, Scene 3, Line 15 through Act V, Scene 3, Line 42

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Part 14 of 15
From roughly Act V, Scene 3, Line 42 through Act V, Scene 3, Line 165

(Taken down)


Part 15 of 15
From Act V, Scene 3, Line 165 to end

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