To consider Shakespearean film is essentially to consider the accommodation of Shakespeare's plays in cinematic space, for it is primarily a distinction in spatial terms which makes the dramatic language of cinema different from that of theatre. Apart from its discontinuity, the most significant property of cinematic space is its centrifugality. A Shakespearean film cannot satisfactorily remain confined to the theatre stage. Neither can it abandon that intrinsic theatricality which beats in the heart of Shakespearean drama. Therein lies the challenge, and what emerges from a detailed study of different directors' work is that there are no rules. Film makers achieve dramatic effectiveness in their own ways, and not infrequently, the particular nature of one film's achievement makes it quite distinct from that of another.

Each of the eight films which have been discussed in close detail has managed, to a remarkable degree, to meet the challenge of reconciling theatrical resonance and centripetality with the fluidity, the discontinuity and the centrifugality of cinematic space.

In Henry V, Olivier's camera moves the action out of the Globe, but throughout the film, there remain clear reminders of theatricality. In Hamlet, too, the fluidity of the camera's movement inside Elsinore is counterpoised with clear theatrical reminiscences. The staging of ‘The Mousetrap’ photographed by the camera moving on its wide arc is an instance which illustrates the language of the whole film.