King Lear (1953)

My first look at an adaptation of King Lear is an interesting one: it was a telecast of the show Omnibus from 1953. Somehow preserved on kinescope, it was directed by Peter Brook, and featured Orson Welles in the title role. Perhaps most interesting, it clocks in at only 73 minutes.

This glimpse into the past not only gives us a fascinating view of the play, but also of 1950s television. The show was hosted by Alistair Cooke, who briefs us on what we are about to see (he also lets us know that Shakespeare's plays were long because subplots were introduced to give the lead actor a break). As part of the DVD, there is also a preview from the week before, when we are given a look at a rehearsal (without Welles, of course).

The production manages to be so short because Brook has cut the Edmund/Edgar subplot. Edmund doesn't appear at all, while Poor Tom is not Edgar in disguise but simply a crazy man. Thus the story is boiled down to Lear and his daughters. It may not have the full breadth of the original, but it is especially good for newcomers to the play, which were certainly a majority of the TV viewers back in 1953.

Welles, who in addition to being one of America's greatest directors, was also one of its best actors of Shakespeare. He was only in his 30s, but with some makeup and a majestic bearing ("Every inch a king") he commands the stage. Also in the cast were Natasha Parry as Cordelia (she was married to Peter Brook) and Beatrice Straight, who would years later win an Oscar for Network, as Goneril.

With so many cuts, some good stuff is lost. Gloucester is still in the play, and still gets his eyes plucked out, but we do not get Edgar taking care of him, or his false jump from the cliff of Dover. Oswald gets some of Edmund's lines, but he also gets Edmund's death scene, and loses his own, when he cries out, "O, untimely death!"

Television, in 1953, was still finding its way. But what a time it must have been, when networks (this was CBS) actually put on Shakespeare, and hadn't yet learned to pander to the masses. Cooke would go on to host Masterpiece Theater for years, and made a terrific documentary series about U.S. history that aired in the '70s, which I would very much like to see again.