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Actors: James Earl Jones, Rene Auberjonois, Raul Julia, Paul Sorvino, Tom Aldredge, Douglass Watson
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| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about King Lear (1974 TV) |
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In one of Shakespeare's greatest tragedies, Lear, a monarch of ancient Britain, is old and ready to divide his kingdom between his three daughters. His two scheming elder daughters, Goneril and Regan, flatter him excessively to get their slices, but his beloved youngest Cordelia refuses to play the game and enrages her father, who banishes her. Soon his older daughters tire of him, foisting him and his knights off on each other and eventually throwing the old king out in a storm where he loses his mind. In a parallel plot, the Earl of Gloucester's illegitimate son Edmund plots against both his father and good brother Edgar, so that the one loses his eyes and the other must go into hiding as a madman, to plan his revenge. This is a videotape of the 1974 New York Shakespeare Festival production, with minimal sets in an outdoor amphitheater (you can hear car horns and passing airplanes). The acting is stupendous, however; no surprise from Jones in the title role, Sorvino as Gloucester, solid Douglass Watson as the faithful but disguised Earl of Kent, and the late Raul Julia as the evil Edmund. There's an extra frisson from watching a white Edmund seduce Lear's black daughters. The duel between Edmund and his brother, played by Auberjonois, who many years later would become Constable Odo Ital in "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine," is hair raising.
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
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| Analysis of King Lear (1974 TV) |
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- distant past
Family, struggling with
Yes
Struggle with:
- Daughter
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- Prince/Nobleman/King
Age:
- 60's-90's
Eccentric:
Yes
- eccentric
- deluded
- emotionally unstable
Hair color?
- white
Body type
- (man) fat
Unclothed?
- Chest
Events of movie makes character more...
- sensitive
Ethnicity/Nationality
- British
How sensitive is this character?
- mean, arrogant
Sense of humor?
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Body type
- (man) average build
How much in movie?
- 40%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- British
Main Adversary
Identity:
- Male
Age:
- 20's-30's
Profession/status:
- not employed but independently wealthy
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 60%
Hair color
- brunette (Black)
Body type
- (man) average
Ethnicity/Nationality
- British
How sensitive is this character?
- hard edged
Sense of humor
- Cynical sense of humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Setting
Europe
Yes
European country:
- England/UK
Misc setting
- castle
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- moderately detailed references to deaths
Movie makes you feel...
- in awe
Sex/nudity in movie?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- vague references only
- kissing
Any profanity?
- Occasional swearing
Is this movie based on a
- play
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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