The Bard's Old Man Lear (1953)

[dmolson]

Scanning through IMdb, I noticed that the 1953 TV version that OW did of King Lear, directed by Andrew McCullough, is available on vhs. Curiously, the photo they use (as its possible) for dust jacket appears to be Welles' McBeth... This was Welles first foray into the small screen, co-starring Beatrice Straight, Lloyd Bochner (still with us) and Michael MacLiammoir. I'm surprised this hasn't received some notoriety since Lear is one of those roles that Welles embraced his whole life. Any opinions on this project - can we expect it to appear on dvd any time soon?

[blunted by community]

i went to imdb and looked up LEAR. that is odd who they list as director, and they list peter brooks as stage manager. everything i've always read said, "Peter Brook's King Lear." though i saw orson touches all over it, i always thought peter brooks was the director and producer. my copy is from TV GOLD, and has a drawing of welles as lear that looks nothing like welles does in the film. it also has Fountain Of Youth on the tape but there is no mention of it on the box. from what i've read welles got rave reviews on Lear, and for unexplained reasons another opportunity to do lots of work came and went. i can only imagine why.

and i might also mention that i was having a fairly good time watching lear, till that kindly old man's eyes got gouged out and he spends the rest of the film walking around with empty eye sockets.

[dmolson]

The Encyclopedia of Welles also names Brook as the director. McCullough's main claim to fame was all in TV, directing such staples as Maverick, the Donna Reed Show, the Fugitive and ending credits being Michael J Fox's Family Ties. IMdb also states he was the cinematographer on Lear, but has virtually no background on him at all - birthdate, death, nada.
Brook had an interesting introduction with Welles; he had approached the star to appear in Salome, which Dali was to design the costumes (dripping clocks on ties, anyone?). Welles agreed to play Herod, but disappeared. Another proposal, another disappearance. He finally pegged him down for Lear. Although the Omnibus program was considered a huge success, providing live culture to the masses, at least those with picture tubes, it didn't help bury Welles' bad reputation at the time, though I guess his globetrotting and devotion to his own products may have kept him too busy. Thanks for your info, Blunted. I'm glad there are prints of this item available and hope it will surface on dvd soon.

[blunted by community]

i also hope it turns up on dvd. i found my vhs copy in 1993?, on a 99 cent rack. imagine my surprise when i popped it in the vcr and it also had fountain of youth!

the tv gold logo looks like an attempt at deceiving; tv guide; tv gold. the TV letters are really big, the gold in small letters under the big TV letters, and encased in a tv screen shape. at a quick glance you would think it's a product from tv guide.

lear has an introduction by peter brooks, and a greyhound bus commercial, but then it's commercial free, as it was presented in it's day.

travel like a king, travel greyhound

[Cole]

How's the quality of "Fountain of Youth" on the TV Gold tape? I may have to keep an eye open for that one.

[blunted by community]

the quality is superb. my previous copy of fountain was like 122 generations down, and i hade to squint my eyes to watch it. the tranfer is excellent, i bought it new and made a copy of it so not to wear down the original tape. i suppose it's a pretty rare item. about a year ago i put it at half.com for 70 bucks and had a buyer in 3 days, but then i decided not to part with it.

[Cole]

Thanks for the info. It’s good to know about the TV Gold tape. I’m sure there are other copies floating around out there. It’s just a matter of finding them.

The only copy of “Fountain of Youth” I have is pretty cruddy, but truth be told it’s not the poor quality of the print that I find most distracting when I watch the tape. I mean, did Welles have to pick Joi Lansing for one of the lead roles? When I watch a Welles film it’s done to appeal to my higher senses, but Joi Lansing is so gorgeous my mind starts drifting to less serious matters. As the scorpion in the fable says, I can’t help it – it’s my nature.

[Glenn Anders]

I agree, cole. You will remember that she was the girl in TOUCH OF EVIL who thought there was something ticking in her head. She died tragically young of breast cancer.

Glenn

[Glenn Anders]

Peter: You might very well be right in the end about Shakespeare's works being one of Welles two informing loves, given Callow's interest in the subject, and the fact that Welles begins his theatrical interest in Shakespeare, and all but ends with it, too.

In regard to King Lear, just about every critic concludes there has never been a really successful production of the play. The tragedy is too encompassing, too difficult to express, beyond the energies and ingenuity of the finest of actors. We are left with accounts of a fine performance here, an effective scene there, a number of incomparably read speeches. But the sheer effort required would seem to leave the most intelligent and receptive of audiences exhausted. It would seem to remain the grail of the English-speaking Theater.

But that does not mean that there are not many splendid insights to be had from the record of Welles' TV debut in the part. And certainly Peter Brook was one of the best theatrical directors of the 20th Century.

Thank you, Peter, for bringing us your warm and sharp impressions of the production.

Glenn

[ToddBaesen]

What I find interesting is that we can see Welles acting in Peter Brook's KING LEAR for CBS TV, which was followed by Welles directing his own production of KING LEAR on stage at City Center.

Of course, Micheál mac Liammór appearing as Poor Tom (Edgar) in the TV version is presumably because of Welles influence on the production... but one never knows for sure.

However, Peter Brook went on to direct Paul Scofield as Lear, who even Welles would certainly agree gave a brilliant performance, that he would be hard pressed to surpass. In 1966 Welles acted with Scofield in a MAN FOR ALL SEASONS, and the next year Welles wanted to cast Scofield in a movie version of JULIUS CAESAR, as Brutus against Christopher Plummer as Marc Antony, with Welles playing Caesar. One can only imagine what a film that would have made in the summer of love... "Welles envisions the Roman mob as hippies in the Haight-Ashbury, incited to violence after the assassination of Caesar!"

However, when CAESAR didn't work out, Scofield appeared in Peter Brook's movie version of KING LEAR, and Welles must have admired that performance tremendously, if perhaps not so much the actual direction...

I've no doubt, as a director, Welles felt he could do the play more justice. So, if Welles had ever gotten to do his own film version of KING LEAR, we might have seen Welles final Shakespearian masterpiece, even if he probably wouldn't have reached the heights Paul Scofield attained as an actor in playing the Mad King.

[Alfred Willmore]

Keats Wrote: . . . "this video reinforces my prediction that one of the two loves that Callow plans to highlight in his third volume is the love of Shakespeare"


Is there word on when Callow Volume III will come out?

[ToddBaesen]

--

Just saw this short bit of info from Simon Callow on the CBC:


Q: Your first Orson Welles book [The Road to Xanadu] traced his life up to the release of Citizen Kane. The second [Hello Americans] only got as far as his 1948 film of Macbeth. You must be working on the third volume now. Will you be able to finish his biography with that book, or will you need a fourth?

A: Oh, don’t even go there! [Laughs] It’s got to end with the third. I was hoping it would come out next year, in time for my 60th birthday, but I don’t think it will. It’s very big: it covers the last 38 years of his life. A lot of people have said to me, “Oh God, it will be so depressing, won’t it? It’s just a steady decline.” But I don’t think it is just decline. Welles became absolutely his own man [in that period]; he did what he wanted to do. He didn’t do everything that he wanted to do, but then he refused to accept any authority over himself, and was doomed by definition to be an independent filmmaker – and at that time especially, that was a very tricky thing to be.

[Wellesnet]

Here's Shadowplay on the 1953 Lear:
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