Rating: 
Summary: Olivier is obviously past his prime
Review: The minimalist set, an great actor past his prime and a pathetic cast all add up to a community theatre caliber production. The unethusiastic production was in need of a true star, if you are interested in seeing a better representation of Shakespeare's work watch Kenneth Branagh's Othello, Henry V, Hamlet. Even Mel Gibson's Hamlet is done with more quality and accuaracy towards the script.
Rating: 
Summary: Olivier is the best Lear ever....
Review: The traditional difficulties of the play--the geographical ambiguities and broad scope of the scenes---and of playing King Lear--the actor needs to be old enough to be believable and yet if he's too old, he doesn't have the tremendous emotional and physical resources to play the role the way it must be played--are overcome in this absolutely beautiful performance.I always have thought that Olivier gave his all to this particular production as if it were his last. The starkness of the set focuses all attention on the characters, and Olivier is exactly the Lear I always thought Lear should be. The supporting cast is tremendous and the relationship between the Fool and Lear is wonderfully developed. John Hurt creates real depth and humanity in his Fool.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing how some just don't get it
Review: This is a fine production of one of Shakespeare's greatest plays. The spare sets add to the poignance of this version as we aren't caught up in some exotic location so much as in the fact that it is actually a play. I chuckle whenever I hear someone say Olivier is too old for the power of Lear. I suppose it never dawned on ANYONE that Lear is an old man. He is supposed to be very old and Olivier fills the part. Who would know better how an old man would play it than an old man himself and the world's greatest actor on top of that? I can enjoy Ian Holm's version and Paul Scofield's version, but this is the definitive version. The cast is well chosen. The comments someone made about a poor cast are laughable. Don't let them fool you, this is great Shakespeare. Olivier knows just what he is doing. John Hurt as the Fool,Diana Rigg as Regan and Leo McKern as Gloucester are amazing. Get this and enjoy it!
Rating:
Summary: King Lear at its best!!!!
Review: This is for anyone who knows anything about Shakespeare.
I think this is an excellent Lear...the cuts that were made are not excessive and the acting is superb pretty much all around.
Sir L of course is wonderful....rising to the part and the occasion. His daughters are all well cast and the only strange acting came from Lear's Fool...a British actor who took the role to the dark and mysterious place( who's the real fool?) ...a good choice..but the play is so dark and sad anyway..why not have some humor to spice it up? Shakespeare didn't write the fool in this play with great lines or funny lines....
overall the production is an utter Shakespearean success.
Rating:
Summary: best Lear
Review: This is not the best Lear, or the most complete, but it's the one I use in my classroom because Olivier's performance is so accessible and moving. His final scene makes you marvel at the emotional power an actor at the end of his career could muster -- and almost allows you to forget "The Betsy"! The supporting actors are very good, particularly Diana Rigg as Regan and John Hurt as an empathetic Fool. The language is crystal clear and the neolithic-Britain setting gives a better sense of the historical context for this legend than do the many modern-dress updates.
Rating: 
Summary: you WILL cry
Review: This is not the best Lear, or the most complete, but it's the one I use in my classroom because Olivier's performance is so accessible and moving. His final scene makes you marvel at the emotional power an actor at the end of his career could muster -- and almost allows you to forget "The Betsy"! The supporting actors are very good, particularly Diana Rigg as Regan and John Hurt as an empathetic Fool. The language is crystal clear and the neolithic-Britain setting gives a better sense of the historical context for this legend than do the many modern-dress updates.
Rating:
Summary: IF you want Lear..you'll find him here!!
Review: This is the definitive King Lear production..and it is not just because of Sir L..though he has a great deal to do with it...someone told me once they read a quote from L.O. on acting King Lear and he responded, I'm paraphrasing..."You could get naked and run up and down a steep hill unitl you were blue in the face and scream at the top of your lungs, and you still wouldn't be any closer to being able to play K. Lear!"
whatever the hell that means...
anyway...he does a great job...
I, reasonably so...I enjoy the "set" and the low budget-ness of the production...not everyone had a budget like K.B.'s HAMLET...and one does not need millions to make Shakespeare come alive...one just needs heart and determination with brains and creativity..that is here...and more..
the storm is lovely, sad, and terrifying...
the only weak part is the fool..
who adds no foolishness to Lear's poor terrified heart.
Some humor would have been nice, Will. buy it..it is worth it!!!!!!! I'm an actor..believe me... "How sharper than a serpents tooth it is to have a thankless child."
Rating:
Summary: Unbeatble Lear !
Review: This Shakespeare drama in particular has had sublime adaptations: in the screen Ran of course of that japanese genius:Akira Kurosawa of 1985 ; the version of Peter Brook of 1971 and at last , this colossal adaptation originally conceived for the British TV .
This is a full blooded , credible and superb playing , the camera work , the characters and the illumination worked out in the highest level .
Olivier was simply overwhelming as Lear . All the cast was in the top of the line but deserve apart mention : Diana Rigg as Regan ; Anna Colder Marshall as Cordelia ; Brian cox as Burgundy ; Jeremy Kemp as Cornwall , Robert Lang as Albany and John Hurt .
You will be rewarded always with this superb production , fundamental story of a king torn apart for the ambition and treachery .
Lear shows till the saciety that you must never delegate the authority ; just only the duties .
Rating:
Summary: Nuncle Lear, Nuncle Lear!
Review: This version of King Lear has to be the best I've ever seen. The cast is in top form. Colin Blakely was awesome as Kent, John Hurt was perfectly cast as the fool, and as for Olivier, what a way to go! About a year ago, I went on a Lear-a-thon which involved watching this video five or six times in a row. I plan to do it again soon. This is the version to get if you really love the Bard and Lear.
Rating:
Summary: Poor performance from Olivier.
Review: While his films of Hamlet and Henry IV are brilliant, this performance was disappointing. I am not sure whether he was past his prime or if the part simply did not suit him, but the full weight of the King's character is missing. Another point I found extremely irritating is that Olivier mutters his lines on numerous occasions making it very difficult to understand his words, it left me scrambling for the remote control to turn on the sub-titles, unfortunately there is none on the DVD, so I was left miserably struggling to understand many passages. The rest of the cast were super, John Hurt especially was electrifying as the fool. But overall one to avoid.
| 
