Mikhoels As King Lear

Synopsis: Soloman Mikhoels in his dressing room putting on his masks and make-up to play King Lear. Scenes of him playing Lear on stage.
Language: Yiddish
Country: Former USSR
Medium: Film
Technical information: Black-and-white / Sound

Cast

Solomon Mikhoels

Notes: The online catalogue record at the Stephen Spielberg Jewish Film Archive does not give a date or running time, describing the film as ‘one reel’ 35mm. Mikhoels performed Lear in the mid 1930s at the State Jewish Theatre in Moscow.
General: In 1948, Mikhoels was murdered on the orders of Stalin and his body was run over to create the impression of a traffic accident.
Reviews: From ‘Monument of Truth’ by Ariel Hirschfeld http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/998756.html (accessed 10/2008). It is assumed that the footage Hirschfield describes is similar to, or the same as, as the Archival print held by the Stephen Spielberg Jewish Film Archive.

'All I have seen of Mikhoels as an actor is a few seconds on television from a scratchy archival film in which he performs a scene from "King Lear," accompanied by a recording of his voice delivering a monologue from the play. In the scene the actor is peering out of a booth in a kind of wooden structure, straggly hair encircling his pate, a few expressionist lines of makeup on his sharp-featured face. His thin mouth, ironic like the mouth of Voltaire, is a bit twisted, and his eyes seem to cross for a moment and then return to their place. Even if he had been filmed in a full-length silent feature, it would be impossible to avert one’s gaze from his face. To my mind, this is the most powerful theater acting I have seen in my life’.

British Universities Film & Video Council