Lear

Alternative title: King Lear
Synopsis: Act I, iv and Act III ii from King Lear enacted by players from the Young Vic Company with a thirty second introduction by Ronald Howard.
Series: World’s a Stage, The
Language: English
Country: Great Britain
Medium: Film
Technical information: Black-and-white / Sound
Year of release: 1953
Duration: 13 mins; 451 (16mm) feet

Director

Charles Deane

Producer

Cinematographer

Writer

Art Direction

Contributor

Cast

Notes: The Library of Congress holds 16mm master material only as part of the unexamined Prelinger collection (05/2008). The Pacific Film Archive, UCLA holds a 16mm viewing print.
General: Made at Merton Park Studios.
History: Lear was released in the United States in 1958 and distributed by United World Films. It appears to be the only title in this series to be released in the US. Lear is not listed in Monthly Film Bulletin.
Reviews: The Monthly Film Bulletin notes of the production of TWELFTH NIGHT in this series, ‘Possibly intended as a television film, the production pays no concessions to the film medium and the acting (which is of conventional repertory standard) is very theatrical in style. Neither photography nor décor display any imagination, and it seems unlikely that the film will increase the interest of audiences for filmed Shakespeare’. In the entry for A Winter’s Tale for this series it states ‘The scenes themselves must be as bewildering to those who are not familiar with the plays as they are distressing to those who are’.

British Universities Film & Video Council