BBC Play of the Month "King Lear" 1975 

People say Lear is a mountain that can't be climbed but Horden makes it look easy. It's that mellow, penetrating, effortlessly powerful voice (and that constant grumble, like an extra punctuation), and the fact that he always looked older than he was, so he could play ancient and still be very strong and vigorous for a long heavy part.

I think Hordern's is the definitive Lear. Made me weep a few times. The pinnacle of performance of this masterpiece.

What a treat! Thank you Mr Jayston.

Wonderful actors. These were a stable of actors the BBC used for Shakespeare. You can see John Schrapnel (Cornwall) in Timon of Athens and Frank Middlemass (the fool) in Measure for Measure.

This is good, but the scene with Gloucester’s blinding is seriously underwhelming. When Norman Rodway played Gloucester, in a 1982 version of the play, the blinding scene was so harrowing I was left shaken. That version starred Michael Hordern, and Anton Lesser played Edgar.

A tour de force not sure if this production is one of the greatest of any Shakespeare dramas very impressive.

Even though it isn't complete, but bloody hell the Beeb was brilliant at this back in the day. The golden age of TV. What's happened to it?.

bruh the audacity of getting rid of act 2, scenes 1 & 2 :(

أفضل فيلم من بين الافلام جميعها لرايعة شكسبير الملك لير ٠فيلم يستحق المشاهدة

King Lear always reminds me of The Salt Princess.

Great cast.

Ah, educated mind seeks out an educated world. Bravo,bravo king lear

What happens to the fool?

布拉

A wonderful cast, almost perfect casting, especially fine were the three sisters: Sarah Badel was the most complete and fullfilling Goneril I have ever witnessed, Penelope Wilton so beutifully controled as Regan, and Angela Down drew new and strong depths from Cordelia. It is often overlooked, that the women are the driving forces in this play.

Excellent production! Thank you! I thought I recognized Lear's voice, he was the narrator for Barry Lyndon! Truly a great Lear, Michael Hordern. Thanks again for sharing.

May God bless you and your family through a hundred generations. I was looking for this for more than 4 years

Such an imposing Lear. His voice makes the very Earth shake, very impressive.

Miller originally produced Lear with Hordern in the name-part at the Nottingham Playhouse in the late 60s, and the two men filmed it twice for the BBC, once in 1982, and seven years earlier in this far superior performance. Miller and his actors obeyed Granville-Barker's injunction to speak the verse as rapidly as possible, cutting a full hour from a play that normally runs for three, particularly in the enormously long 'conflated' text used here. This has the effect of much diluting the sentimentality that afflicts this work in less capable hands. As a result, even such affecting scenes as Lear's reunion with Cordelia, as well as the final lines of the play, leave us rather more dry-eyed than otherwise. No matter; such distancing from the powerful emotions conjured by Shakespeare is perhaps a small price to pay for a production of such expertise and understanding. Thank you for the upload!

What a wonderful voice Michael Jayston has

I'm not convinced there will ever be a better interpretation of King Lear and I have seen the Olivier performance and Orson Welles'. Breathtaking, performance which guarantees immortality for Michael Hordern. Strongly recommend any students of Shakespeare to watch this. Kind regards from "Locked Down England" March 2021.

Rest in peace Michael Jayston. Loved him in Cluedo when I was a kid.

Wow!! Wow!! Just Wow!! And the fool in this production becomes easy to follow...

Good Edmunds are very hard to find these days. I haven't seen a great one in years. I like that Jayson displays no silly impolitic anger or shame; he's perfectly used to being the bastard, and has spent years looking smooth and satisfied.

Thanks for uploading this. Best Lear ever. I was 17 when I first saw it. I hope many more people see it.

Man, I love how badass Michael Hordern looks with a beard in this film adaptation of King Lear!

The error people make in judging Lear, is they assume it is arbitrary, absolute rule ongoing. But it isn't. Lear is bound according to the tradition of his people, and that is why he divides the kingdom among his daughters. That was Britonic practice. It drives him mad but it is the only thing for him to do honourably.

Wonderfull! If you have more Shakespeare's plays, please upload them!

What an incredible cast, astonishing performance from Horden but Middlemass as Fool and Nichols as Gloucester were also wonderful but, to be honest, you couldn't fault anyone. Fifty years old but how good is it!

Kent looks like Shakespeare

This is the first time I have seen this version. It is great!

King Lear has been performed by esteemed actors since the 17th century, when men played all the roles. From the 20th century, a number of women have played male roles in the play; most commonly the Fool, who has been played (among others) by Judy Davis, Emma Thompson and Robyn Nevin. Lear himself has been played by Marianne Hoppe in 1990, by Janet Wright in 1995, by Kathryn Hunter in 1996-97, and by Glenda Jackson in 2016 and 2019.

Personally I don’t think Hordern is that good - two dimensional and predictably taking the path of least resistance . I seem to remember a Russian production which captured the essence of kingmandhip and the realities of life in feudal times. Some of the supporting cast are pretty naff too. Probably unused to playing to cameras

Which sadly just goes to show you that repressed ‘realistic’ playing of Shakespeare, despite the intelligence does not really touch the world of this play. Sarah badel comes close as does Michael jayston…

That future strife may be prevented … Hah! How so when you demand love like a competitive sport⁉️ Sir, you have just invited strife and your own dishonored end. Pride goeth before a fall.

I love the visual set up of the multi-person scenes.

Wonderful. Real telly not like the dross we have now. You wouldnt have Prometheus Bound by Tom Paulin. I still remember seeing it decades ago.

Superb...very intense...great acting of this miraculous play.

Godness, Edgar's performance in this production is just heartwrenching.

Prithee, have this not without reading the novel.

Hordern is great as Lear

Really, this is very wonderful and this story is interesting

Ah! To watch luvvies, doing what they love. Bliss, dahlings!!

Young people need a translator to understand this…..I studied English @ university and I still remember these lines…..I read it 10 times

Qui i paragoni si sprecano dal punto di vista femmiile..meglio Sara Badel che si insinua come una serpe o la magnifica tragicita' della Tutin, meglio la controllata Reagan superbamente recitata dalla winton o la puttana, la cagna in calore magnifica della Rigg, meglio la glacialita della Down o la dolcezza infiinita della Calder- Marshall? Non saprei, tutte la Attrici seguono in linea personalissima di recitazione, frutto di un Altissima scuola.E' un privilegio vederle!

Un'edizione molto intima...

What's the rush? Oh, I know - a 2-hour limit. Well, that's not a good enough reason to edit Lear to ribbons, and then to rush through what remains as if a cash prize awaits the theatrical company who finishes it first. That unflattering intro aside, there's some good here: Michael Hordern's interpretation here is seriously better than his 1982 version, which I recently cited in a review preferring Olivier's Granada "Lear" to the "Lear" of the BBC Shakespeare package. This 1975 version is not part of that package, it was part of something called "Play of the Month". Here, the goal was to portray Lear as more of a family man than a royal titan striding the globe or whatever. I think the modesty went too far in 1982. There, he's just a grumpy granpaw. Anyway, it's confusing: same play, same actor in the lead, same network broadcasting the particular productions. But in some ways (NOT all), this is the better production. You'll see a young Penelope Wilton as Regan, which she played again in the 1982 version. I like Sarah Badel as the sexy Goneril - we can see what Edmund is attracted to, for a change. (Goneril seems to be played by a woman of 60 every time I see a production.) Kubrick fans will notice Frank Middlemass as the Fool - he was Sir Charles Lyndon in "Barry Lyndon". Jane Austen fans will recognize Mr Bennet in the 1995 "Pride & Prejudice" series - young Benjamin Whitrow is the wimp Albany here. The production is okay. Grandeur is missing.

Where is the translation l am from Egypt

Brilliant! I'm sharing this with my 12th grade class.

Tremendous

1:15:02 🔞 😰

Like si vienes por Gary Jones

Thank you! 💐💐💐

Isn’t this in I am the walrus?

Great!

29:43

tremendous! Thank you.

For Americans wondering whether they should watch this one, I'm sure it's good but too British. It will be hard for you to understand