King Lear (1971 UK film)

Last updated

King Lear
King Lear FilmPoster.jpeg
Film poster
Directed by Peter Brook
Produced by Michael Birkett
Mogens Skot-Hansen
Written byPeter Brook
William Shakespeare
Starring Paul Scofield
CinematographyHenning Kristiansen
Edited byKasper Schyberg
Release date
  • 4 February 1971 (1971-02-04)
Running time
137 minutes
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish

King Lear is a 1971 British film adaptation of the Shakespeare play directed by Peter Brook and starring Paul Scofield. [1]

<i>King Lear</i> play by William Shakespeare

King Lear is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare. It depicts the gradual descent into madness of the title character, after he disposes of his kingdom by giving bequests to two of his three daughters egged on by their continual flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. Derived from the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological pre-Roman Celtic king, the play has been widely adapted for the stage and motion pictures, with the title role coveted by many of the world's most accomplished actors.

Peter Brook English theatre and film director and innovator

Peter Stephen Paul Brook, CH, CBE is an English theatre and film director who has been based in France since the early 1970s. He has won multiple Tony and Emmy Awards, a Laurence Olivier Award, the Praemium Imperiale, and the Prix Italia. He has been called "our greatest living theatre director".

Paul Scofield English actor

David Paul Scofield CH CBE was an English actor of stage and screen who was known for his striking presence, distinctive voice, and for the clarity and effortless intensity of his delivery. Regarded as one of the greatest Shakespearean actors of all time, Scofield preferred the stage over film. This, and his decision to put his family first, has meant that he has never been as well known outside the United Kingdom as some other actors.

Contents

Cast

Cyril Cusack Irish actor

Cyril James Cusack was an Irish actor, who appeared in numerous films and television productions in a career lasting more than 70 years.

Susan Engel actress

Susan Engel is a British actress.

Thomas Kelman Fleming, FRSAMD was a Scottish actor, director, and poet, and a television and radio commentator for the BBC.

Review

Brook's film starkly divided the critics: Pauline Kael said "I didn't just dislike this production, I hated it!" and suggested the alternative title "Night of the Living Dead". [2] Yet Robert Hatch in The Nation thought it as "excellent a filming of the play as one can expect" and Vincent Canby in The New York Times called it "an exalting Lear, full of exquisite terror". [3] The film drew heavily on the ideas of Jan Kott, in particular his observation that King Lear was the precursor of absurdist theatre: in particular, the film has parallels with Beckett's Endgame . [4] Critics who dislike the film particularly draw attention to its bleak nature from its opening: complaining that the world of the play does not deteriorate with Lear's suffering, but commences dark, colourless and wintry, leaving (in Douglas Brode's words) "Lear, the land, and us with nowhere to go". [5] Cruelty pervades the film, which does not distinguish between the violence of ostensibly good and evil characters, presenting both savagely. [6] Paul Scofield, as Lear, eschews sentimentality: this demanding old man with a coterie of unruly knights provokes audience sympathy for the daughters in the early scenes, and his presentation explicitly rejects the tradition (as Daniel Rosenthal describes it) of playing Lear as "poor old white-haired patriarch". [7]

Pauline Kael American film critic

Pauline Kael was an American film critic who wrote for The New Yorker magazine from 1968 to 1991. Kael was known for her "witty, biting, highly opinionated and sharply focused" reviews, her opinions often contrary to those of her contemporaries. She was one of the most influential American film critics of her era.

<i>Night of the Living Dead</i> 1968 horror film directed by George A. Romero

Night of the Living Dead is a 1968 American independent horror film written, directed, photographed and edited by George A. Romero, co-written by John Russo, and starring Duane Jones and Judith O'Dea. The story follows seven people who are trapped in a rural farmhouse in western Pennsylvania, which is besieged by a large and growing group of "living dead" monsters.

<i>The Nation</i> Weekly magazine on progressive politics and culture, based in New York City

The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States, and the most widely read weekly journal of progressive political and cultural news, opinion, and analysis. It was founded on July 6, 1865, as a successor to William Lloyd Garrison's The Liberator. It is published by its namesake owner The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City, and associated with The Nation Institute.

Related Research Articles

<i>Salesman</i> (1969 film) 1969 direct cinema documentary film

Salesman is a 1969 direct cinema documentary film about door-to-door Bible salesmen, directed by brothers Albert and David Maysles, and Charlotte Zwerin.

Donald Wolfit English actor

Sir Donald Wolfit, CBE was an English actor-manager, known for his touring wartime productions of Shakespeare. He was especially renowned for his portrayal of King Lear.

<i>Romeo and Juliet</i> (1936 film) 1936 film by George Cukor

Romeo and Juliet is a 1936 American film adapted from the play by William Shakespeare, directed by George Cukor from a screenplay by Talbot Jennings. The film stars Leslie Howard as Romeo and Norma Shearer as Juliet, and the supporting cast features John Barrymore, Basil Rathbone, and Andy Devine.

David Edelstein is the chief film critic for New York magazine and CBS Sunday Morning. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and two daughters.

The Florida Film Critics Circle (FFCC) is a film critic organization founded in 1996. The FFCC comprises 30 film critics from Florida-based print and online publications. At the end of each year, the FFCC members vote on the Florida Film Critics Circle Awards for outstanding achievements in films released that year. The organization also awards the Pauline Kael Breakout Award, named after film critic Pauline Kael, and the Golden Orange Award for Outstanding Contribution to Film. The FFCC membership includes film critics from Miami Herald, Miami New Times, Sun-Sentinel, Folio Weekly, Bloody Disgusting, WJNO Radio, WTVT, The Daytona Beach News-Journal, and Tampa Bay Times.

<i>A Man for All Seasons</i> (1966 film) 1966 film by Fred Zinnemann

A Man for All Seasons is a 1966 British biographical drama film in Technicolor based on Robert Bolt's play of the same name and adapted for the big screen by Bolt himself. It was released on 12 December 1966. It was directed by Fred Zinnemann, who had previously directed the films High Noon and From Here to Eternity.

<i>Going Steady</i> (book) book by Pauline Kael

Going Steady: Film Writings 1968–1969 is the third collection of film reviews by the critic Pauline Kael, comprising the years 1968-1969, when she first began her film-reviewing duties at The New Yorker and which covers, " a crucial period of social and aesthetic change at the end of the sixties."

<i>The Shooting Party</i> 1985 British drama film directed by Alan Bridges

The Shooting Party is a 1985 British drama film directed by Alan Bridges and based on the book of the same name by Isabel Colegate. The film is set in 1913 and shows the way of life of English aristocrats, gathered for pheasant shooting and general self-indulgence. Their way of life is contrasted with the local rural poor, who serve as 'beaters', driving the game for the aristocrats to shoot. It was entered into the 14th Moscow International Film Festival.

<i>Romeo and Juliet</i> (1954 film) 1954 film by Renato Castellani

Romeo and Juliet is a 1954 film adaptation of William Shakespeare's play of the same name. It was directed by Renato Castellani and stars Laurence Harvey as Romeo, Susan Shentall as Juliet, Flora Robson as the Nurse, Mervyn Johns as Friar Laurence, Bill Travers as Benvolio, Sebastian Cabot as Lord Capulet, Ubaldo Zollo as Mercutio, Enzo Fiermonte as Tybalt and John Gielgud as the Chorus.

<i>Romeo and Juliet</i> on screen

William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet may be one of the most-screened plays of all time. The most notable theatrical releases were George Cukor's multi-Oscar-nominated 1936 production Romeo and Juliet, Franco Zeffirelli's 1968 film Romeo and Juliet, and Baz Luhrmann's 1996 MTV-inspired Romeo + Juliet. The latter two were both, at the time, the highest-grossing Shakespeare films. Cukor featured the mature actors Norma Shearer and Leslie Howard as the teenage lovers while Zeffirelli populated his film with beautiful young people, and Baz Luhrmann produced a heavily cut fast-paced version aimed at teenage audiences.

Over fifty films of William Shakespeare's Hamlet have been made since 1900. Seven post-war Hamlet films have had a theatrical release: Laurence Olivier's Hamlet of 1948; Grigori Kozintsev's 1964 Russian adaptation; a film of the John Gielgud-directed 1964 Broadway production, Richard Burton's Hamlet, which played limited engagements that same year; Tony Richardson's 1969 version featuring Nicol Williamson as Hamlet and Anthony Hopkins as Claudius; Franco Zeffirelli's 1990 version starring Mel Gibson; Kenneth Branagh's full-text 1996 version; and Michael Almereyda's 2000 modernisation, starring Ethan Hawke.

<i>Love and Money</i> (film) 1982 film by James Toback

Love and Money, also known as Love & Money, is a 1982 American drama film directed by James Toback and starring Ray Sharkey.

<i>Independence Day</i> (1983 film) 1983 film by Robert Mandel

Independence Day is a 1983 film directed by Robert Mandel from a script by the novelist Alice Hoffman. It was designed by Stewart Campbell and shot by Charles Rosher. It stars Kathleen Quinlan, David Keith, Cliff DeYoung, Frances Sternhagen and Dianne Wiest.

<i>Kiss and Make-Up</i> 1934 film by Harlan Thompson

Kiss and Make-Up is a 1934 romantic comedy film starring Cary Grant as a doctor who specializes in making women beautiful. Helen Mack and Genevieve Tobin play his romantic entanglements. The film was based on the play Kozmetika by István Békeffy. All of the WAMPAS Baby Stars of 1934 were cast in roles in the film.

Tell Me Lies is a 1968 British drama film directed and produced by Peter Brook. Based on a play by Denis Cannan called US, it stars Mark Jones, Pauline Munro, Eric Allan, and Robert Langdon Lloyd. The film was shot in London in the summer of 1967 and starred actors under contract to the Royal Shakespeare Company. The film is based on the American involvement in the Vietnam War and was highly controversial at the time of its release.

Raising Kane film

"Raising Kane" is a 1971 book-length essay by American film critic Pauline Kael, in which she revived controversy over the authorship of the screenplay for the 1941 film Citizen Kane. Kael celebrated screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz, first-credited co-author of the screenplay, and denigrated the contributions of Orson Welles, who co-wrote, produced and directed the film, and performed the lead role. The 50,000-word essay was written for The Citizen Kane Book (1971), as an extended introduction to the shooting script by Mankiewicz and Welles. It first appeared in February 1971 in two consecutive issues of The New Yorker magazine. In the ensuing controversy Welles was defended by colleagues, critics, biographers and scholars, but his reputation was damaged by its charges. The essay was later discredited after Welles's contributions to the screenplay were documented and Kael's own scholarship was called into question.

References

  1. ↑ Brantley, Ben. "New York Times: King Lear". NY Times. Retrieved 2008-08-17.
  2. ↑ Pauline Kael's New Yorker review cited by Brode pp.206&209.
  3. ↑ Both cited by Brode p.206.
  4. ↑ Brode pp.206–207.
  5. ↑ Brode pp.206–210, quotation p.207.
  6. ↑ Rosenthal p.82.
  7. ↑ Rosenthal p.83.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.