King Lear (1953)
King Lear (1953)
DVD9 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC 4:3 (720x480) | 01:22:35 | 7,72 Gb
Audio: English AC3 2.0 @ 224 Kbps | Subtitles: English
Genre: Drama | USA
DVD9 | VIDEO_TS | NTSC 4:3 (720x480) | 01:22:35 | 7,72 Gb
Audio: English AC3 2.0 @ 224 Kbps | Subtitles: English
Genre: Drama | USA
Based on Shakespeare's play: King Lear of Britain (Orson Welles) has decided to divide his kingdom into three parts, and to hand over the responsibilities of ruling to his three daughters. The two oldest daughters, Goneril and Regan, flatter their father insincerely, and are rewarded. Cordelia, the youngest, sincerely loves her father, but she cannot match her sisters' skill at false adulation - so Lear takes away her portion of the kingdom, despite the pleadings of some of his most loyal nobles. It is not long before Goneril and Regan reveal their deep ingratitude, and soon the old king finds himself in a confusing and desperate position.
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The Omnibus TV show ran from 1952 through 1961, earning a reputation as television's premiere arts program. The magazine-style show, hosted by Alistair Cooke, cobbled together 90 minutes of programming each week, covering various topics and showcasing quality performances from across the entertainment field.
In 1953, the show staged an ambitious production of King Lear. It was directed by Peter Brook, perhaps the most esteemed Shakespearian director of his time, and movie legend Orson Welles was signed on to play Lear. Little seen since, this new DVD gives us an impressively restored transfer of the Kinetoscope recording of the live broadcast. Filling the full Omnibus running time, it's a trimmed down staging of one of Shakesepeare's most revered and mature scripts. Brook cut out all the fat, ditching any subplots that didn't directly follow Lear, moving efficiently from the aging monarch dividing his kingdom, through his madness, and to his death.
King Lear (1953)
![King Lear (1953)]()
The excisions work, and the story still flows without the extra business of the Earl of Gloucester and his son–but then, one worries little about the quality of the writing in a Shakespeare play. Any retelling of a play like Lear really rises and falls on the performances and the staging. In this case, the production is not limited by the confines of one stage, but since it is still performed live, it does not have the full advantage of the time and mobility provided by motion pictures. Brook jumps into the television arena with both feet, creating a variety of large sets that effectively find the middle ground between complexity and openness. He works out how to allow multiple cameras in the performance space while still having backgrounds that look good. He wrangles a large cast, and moves between scenes without making the transitions or pauses obvious. His portrayal of the raging weather that reflects Lear's dwindling sanity is also quite impressive. We see Peter Brook at the end of the show, saying good-bye to Alistair Cooke, and it's clear he's exhausted. As one would be running at full speed for 90 minutes.
King Lear (1953)
![King Lear (1953)]()
Orson Welles as Lear is not the triumph that one might hope. Though he eventually achieves some wondrous heights by the end of the show, he starts off pretty low. Burdened by some terrible old man make-up and one of the worst false noses I've seen (and knowing Welles, he probably perpetrated these things on himself), he spends the bulk of the first act as a corpulent lump of moodiness. In between brooding and growling out demands, Welles stares into empty space, looking like a cranky manchild who needs a nap. There is no sense that this is a great man making a mistake. Welles's Lear is just a jerk.
King Lear (1953)
![King Lear (1953)]()
The actor is clearly more comfortable with the blustery concoctions of the second and third acts, and when an enraged Lear has his psychotic break, hammy Orson emerges to take over your television screen. His finest moment comes when he is reunited with the blinded Gloucester (Frederic Worlock) and delivers the "Ay, every inch a king" speech. Brook zooms in on Welles for this, and Welles makes the most of his close-up. His eyes bulge and roam, his lips quiver, and he's generally not afraid to go over the top. His character is, after all, insane.
King Lear (1953)
![King Lear (1953)]()
Moments like these string together an otherwise dry program. With the exception of the blinding of Gloucester, any scene away from Lear is a snooze. There is also too little of the Fool, though Alan Badel's strange mix of taunting jokes and quivering fear makes him the highlight of the first act. He dances around the sedentary Welles like some kind of Salome trying to make the King's blood boil. Maybe he has the right idea, because it does eventually help the old man to get out of his chair.
The Omnibus adaptation of King Lear doesn't quite fit into the revered pantheon of Welles' own Shakespearian productions (when are we going to get Macbeth and Chimes at Midnight on DVD in North America? Or have Othello return to print?), but King Lear is still an interesting glimpse at how the actor handled one of the bard's juiciest parts. Fans should be pleased at having a quality go-to version, even if the program itself falls a little short.
King Lear (1953)
![King Lear (1953)]()
I had high hopes for seeing Orson Welles in King Lear, and though this 1953 television production doesn't really meet them, it's still Recommended. Welles is slow to start, but he eventually gets the feel of Lear's blustery day and ends up being quite good shouting at the scenery. Peter Brook's staging of the play is hit and miss throughout, with some scenes working very well and others falling kind of flat, but overall, this rare live broadcast is worth a look for fans of the play or its star.
King Lear (1953)
Special Features (Lifted from various episodes of Omnibus):
- Backstage Preview (5:22) is a promo for King Lear broadcast during the previous week's episode of Omnibus. Hosted by Cooke, it features Brook directing his actors as well as production design paintings of the sets and a brief conversation with composer Virgil Thomson, who provided the score for the production.
- Dr. Frank Baxter on the Globe Theater (9:58) features Dr. Baxter, a University of California professor, providing a crash course on the layout of Shakespeare's Globe Theater (complete with demonstration model) and how it influenced the conventions of Elizabethan drama.
- Yale Shakespeare Festival (42:53) finds Omnibus visiting the annual festival during an episode from 1954. The segment is hosted by Burgess Meredith (Rocky) and features scenes from The Merry Wives of Windsor.
- In 'Walter Kerr on Staging Shakespeare' (43:24) the theater critic talks about how Shakespeare worked, what we do and do not know of his career, and how that creates a variety of options in the presentation of his plays. The piece includes several scenes from Hamlet, interpreted in different ways.
King Lear (1953)
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