I really do agree with you on the Branagh version of the film in relation to the CT/DT version of the play. I really enjoyed the film as a youngster and now when I try to watch it after seeing the play, it just feels lacking.

Part of me thought that it mostly had to do with the different interpretations of lines. There's so many different ways that you can play MAAN because the dialogue leaves it open to interpretation.

It's sort of ironic that there seems to be more depth in the play version, since a lot of the lines seemed to be played more for laughs. But oh gosh, when it's serious, that's when it really gets good.

One of the things I realized after seeing the play and then rereading the play is that Thompson didn't really play Beatrice as being mirthful. She tells jokes and she likes to poke fun at just about everyone, but it seems like she's doing it with and undercurrent of bitterness. Whereas Catherine's Beatrice really did seem to have a merry heart. And when her uncle said that though she dreamed of sadness she woke herself with laughing . . . I really believed that about Catherine's Beatrice.

Ok, I could say more, but I've already been too long winded.