King Lear
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DVD Cover Information Actor: Anna Calder-Marshall, Colin Blakely, Jeremy Kemp, Laurence Olivier, Robert Lang (II) Brand: Kultur DVD: Region Code 0 Audio: English (Unknown), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo; English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Format: Color, DVD, NTSC Picture Format: 1.33:1 Running Time: 158 minutes DVD Release Date: 2000-06-13 Audience Rating: NR (Not Rated) Studio: Kultur Video |
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Movie Reviews of King Lear
Movie Review: Oliviers Lear
Summary: 1 Stars
A very thin performance and lacklustre production. Painful and arduous to watch: a waste of time. It may be pleaded that Olivier's voice had gone (which I am sure it had), but I do not rate his Hamlet either: a very gimmicky affair where Olivier failed to capture the poetry and further ruined the play with intrusive, naive and sentimental mood music. His Henry V, however, bears the marks of genius. In cadence and projection of voice, he delivered the great set pieces with full justice. For that we must thank him copiously, but like all successful actors, he become lionised and was paid the earth for base trash. Where Shakespeare is concerned, that is a crying and a perdurable shame upon our English heritage.
For Lear, see Michael Hordern in the BBC collection. His is the only acceptable one I have seen. As a production, it is spoilt by a very lame Edgar, but Hordern and others are superb. By the way, beware of the BBC S'peare collection: many of the productions are simply monstrous. Coriolanus is unwatchable (such a wimpish damp-squib lead, compared with Burton's rendition), as is Anthony & Cleopatra.
No wonder we no longer command much respect globally, when we can't do justice to our chiefest men. Apart from Shakespeare, nearly always done badly, there is nothing of Jonson and only one Marlowe play available (the latter is Faustus with Burton, and very good). In case one suspects me to be a Burton adulator, I must deny it categorically, and decry his Hamlet as available on DVD, which is a complete farce. Indeed, I know of no satisfactory Hamlet that is available. Gielgud's audio recording is about the best thing I have been able to get.