King Lear
by Michael Elliott
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DVD Cover Information
Actor: Anna Calder-Marshall, Colin Blakely, Jeremy Kemp, Laurence Olivier, Robert Lang (II)Director: Michael Elliott
DVD: Region Code 0
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo
Format: Color, DVD-Video, NTSC
Picture Format: Academy Ratio, 1.33:1
Running Time: 158 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2000-06-13
Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated)
Studio: Kultur Video
Movie Reviews of King Lear
Movie Review: EXCEEDINGLY UNEVEN AND SEVERELY ABRIDGED
Summary: 3 Stars
Really.
We could have skipped the extended amateur sword play between Edgar and Edmund at the end in order to have John Hurt speak ALL of the Fool's lines, and had a much better performance all around. Instead we miss much of the Fool's best parts: The exit chanting "And such a daughter . . .", the exit chanting "things cut shorter . . ." and much else. Perhaps in other places the severe abridgement makes sense to place the focus all on Olivier (as it is all about Olivier here), but it is not Shakespeare anymore than was Nahum Tate's adaptation. In fact the early brief televised abridgement by Peter Brooks with Orson Welles might be considered more true. (See it, you must, at The Orson Welles, Double Feature #1: The Stranger/King Lear.
Believe me, I could have been spared the sight of an old man splitting a tanned and stuffed rabbit skin to pull out and eat a small sack of rubber something. What is this, the original Swept Away (Digitally Remastered Edition)? I do not read these stage directions in my The Oxford Shakespeare: The History of King Lear.
And yet we have the magnificent and masterful Leo McKern, he of Rumpole of the Bailey - The Complete Series and of Help!, etc. McKern makes the definitive Lord of Gloucester, by whom all else must be judged. Mrs. Peel is not too shabby as a daughter of Lear, and stands up well, but let us mourn lost opportunities here. The Oswald is pitiful, and the abridgement of "Tom's" lines before his death most unfortunate. But none can match Bob Hoskins in the King Lear: BBC Dramatization (BBC Radio Presents) (nor its Dame Judi Dench, nor above all its magnificent and unbeatable Gielgud).
In short, and for all of the pity and sympathy poured upon the wonderful Olivier here, we find a typically poor Great Performances production, which cuts corners not only in Shakespeare but also on actors, after springing for Olivier and Mrs. Peel, and a much shortened John Hurt.
I cannot believe they left out the entire interchange after Gloucester's reading of the fake letter given him by Edmund, to cutting Edgar overhearing Edmund's astrological moaning (La, Si, Sol), questioning in his greatest line Edmund's sincerity "How long have been you been a sectary astronomical?" but jumps immediately to a DIFFERENT SCENE altogether in a different time and place and the immediate deception of Edgar by Edmund. Unforgivable.
Summary of King Lear
The late Sir Lawrence Olivier stars in this Emmy Award winning production of Shakespeare's King Lear. It is the timeless tale of greed and lust for power, and of a sick old man, his scheming children and lost loyalties. Also stars Diana Rigg, John Hurt, Leo McKern, and Colin Blakely. Special DVD features include a biography and filmography on Sir Lawrence Olivier, character and cast list, chapter stops on each scene, and more. 158 minutes.Art House & International DVD Video
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