Customer Reviews

As You Like it

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is my favorite Shakespeare play, and I've often wondered why no one has ever made another movie version in all this time. This adaption is dated but generally well done, with an actively moving camera and some scattered attempts at making it more than merely a "filmed play." If you've seen it on TV then you probably remember the sound as awful and the picture pretty blurry (like many public domain movies, awful prints are everywhere). So know that this dvd is from an excellent print, with the sound much clearer, (though still not great) and the picture 10 times better than I have seen. So if you are wondering if this dvd is worth getting even if only to replace your inaudible old VHS copy, then let me assure you Arden has never looked better, nor Elisabeth Bergner's shrill voice more effortlessly deciphered. I would not change it.

I have always enjoyed this movie even though the VHS version has very poor sound and picture quality. The DVD is much improved in both areas and is worth the additional investment (don't expect digital quality though). I love Olivier (young and handsome here) and considered him the star of this film, but the DVD keep box has about three "pages" of film history that set me straight. It explains that at the time this film was produced Elizabeth Bergener was the big star and Laurence Olivier a struggling young hopeful. Bergener insisted on him as Orlando. Her husband was the director of this and many other of her films. Also, I found her voice shrill, but hear it a bit differently now that I know that English is not her first language (she came to England as a fleeing Germany where she was already an international star). Fascinating stuff, a great film and good DVD quality.

This is not a bad play, but it feels tight. I wanted to see it to compare with the 1978 version with Helen Mirren (just about impossible to find - try Ambrose Video and sit down for the price). The setting is forcefully lush, but feels plastic. My general view is that Shakespeare needs to be "slowed down", performance-wise and most old movies (40-50 years) seem rushed.

I had recently purchased the Alpha Video version of this 1937 classic and
when I viewed it I just died. Beat up, cut up, scratched up copy of this timeless classic. Lousy sound quality to boot. The Alpha Video film didn't even feature the Twentieth Century fanfare opening ("Da da da da - da da da da DA..." you know it) which is included on the superior Blackhawk Films collection transfer.
The long and short is this is the best DVD of AS YOU LIKE IT on the market. Yes, you'll pay a premium for it, but I was thrilled by the quality of the film and the superb performances of Olivier and Elisabeth Bergner shine through. This was the first Olivier Shakespeare production, and from a historic perspective it demonstrates the genesis of his craft. Elisabeth Bergner's rendition is nothing short of ethereal and can never be duplicated. If you are a fan of this age old classic do your self a favor and buy this version. Although not perfect, I consider it to be one of Shakespeare's best film adaptations ever and, by gosh, shouldn't you be able to enjoy the play without having to be distracted by poor technical considerations? Enough said.

This is an old 1937 black and white production and Laurence Olivier's first foray into Shakespeare on film. It was also only the second time that Shakespeare had been filmed by Hollywood, the first being A Midsummer Night's Dream, just two years earlier. Whilst Paul Czinner's production had nothing else to guide it or to measure up to, it still became a successful film for that generation. Moreover, some modern Shakespearian enthusiasts like this early work.
As the production is 75 years old one must make allowances for dated film and sound quality. Perhaps I am less fussy than most, but I was not put off by these limitations.
Olivier plays a starry eyed Orlando with great aplomb. However, his friend and sometimes arch rival, John Gielgud felt that `he overdid it a little'. Over the decades that style of acting has dated and passed on, proving Gielgud correct. Despite this, Olivier was considered very successful at the time, and is still a great performance to watch. Only nine years later Olivier made a magnificent transformation with Henry V followed by Hamlet in 1948 and became the greatest ever Shakespearian film actor.
Elisabeth Bergner gave a goodish performance, although some scholars dislike her end-piece when she talked about the duties of `vomen'. Most other actors did acceptably well in tights, strutting around England's medieval Forest of Arden surrounded by lions and sheep. Even so, the play is a rustic romp comedy where we must `suspend our disbelief' to get the best from the film.
I believe that this production of `As You Like It' has survived, despite ageing, and I prefer it to most other versions made since. However for modern day entertainment, Kenneth Branagh's sumptuous full colour feature film has now surpassed this original production.

A charming, if prudish, version of "As You Like It". In this adaptation, Celia is taller than Rosalind (abiding by Le Beau's lines in I, ii of the First Folio and disregarding Rosalind's line in I, iii about being "more than common tall" - which is cut here). Felix Ayimer is excellent as Duke Frederick but many other characters are marginalized as the script, reduced to about half its full length, focuses on Orlando and Rosalind. I miss some of the racy passages and rants of Jacques and Touchstone that have been excised. Elisabeth Bergner's performance is affected and histrionic but an interesting dynamic develops (whether intentionally or unintentionally) between her Ganymede and Olivier's Orlando. I suspect that Olivier's Orlando knows from the moment he meets Ganymede that he is, indeed, Rosalind. He plays it with such subtlety, though, as if the director wasn't in on the choice. Bergner's Rosalind seems to be mentally unstable, just a bit off. Olivier's Orlando is attracted to her capriciousness and exuberance. Overall, I enjoyed the film more than I enjoyed Sir Peter Hall's puzzling production (2005 at BAM) with his daughter Rebecca as Rosalind (she was the weak link in a superb cast). I viewed the film on VHS and the sound quality was awful. Maybe they improved it for the DVD.

This version of "As You Like It" has not aged well. The modern approach to Shakespeare, with more natural dialog and realistic costuming, has left the tight-wearing overly theatrical players of old looking a bit foolish. They strut around the stage with obvious gusto and verve, but they just never connect.

With that in mind, "As You Like It" can be fun. The play itself is a bit silly, and the actors even sillier. The director made no attempt to disguise the feminine status of Elizabeth Bergener. She remains a pretty girl in boys clothes with a screeching soprano voice. To his credit, Olivier plays it as straight as an oak, and never for a minute doubts her ill-conceived charade. Jacques is in full motley, making his presence in Arden forest even more absurd.

Lacking any other version on DVD, "As You Like It" contains a certain charm. Just be prepared. Your "willful suspension of disbelief" has never been so sorely tested.

The Image release is the only one worth getting. They have the best picture quality and sound with no problems. Very good original print.

Let me add a hearty endorsement of the reviewer who complained about Elisabeth Bergner. Aside from the fact that her Rosalind seems a little slow in the head and one is mystified at how Orlando could possibly be swept off his feet by her, her horrible pronunciation and accent absolutely mutilates the poetry. Nobody watches Shakespeare for the story alone. Heck, hardly any of his stories are even original. The most important thing about Shakespeare is, obviously, THE LANGUAGE. Listening to Bergner speak Shakespeare is like listening to a Mozart piano concerto through a kazoo. It is painful and at times incomprehensible. The transformation into Ganymede is absurd, as well. I mean, at least lose the lipstick.

While Olivier is fun as Orlando, the rest of the cast is lackluster. Many seem to just be reciting lines. The edits are poorly chosen, with some of them completely marring essential themes of the play (for example the interaction surrounding the famous Jaques speech is critical in setting up the play's opposition to Jaques's cynical world view, but it's all missing here and you come away thinking that the exiled Duke actually agrees with Jaques as if he's some sort of wise sage). The directing is awful, as well. Whose idea was it to film Rosalind & Celia racing through the woods when they first learn of Orlando being nearby? Why can't Rosalind STOP HUGGING CELIA for more than 2 seconds at a time? The costuming, while meant to be authentic, is actually very distracting. It almost becomes a game of "what kind of crazy hat will we see next"?

All in all the historical interest in seeing a very young Olivier is not enough to make this worth buying. Maybe borrow it from the library or put it low on your NetFlix queue. And feel free to skip past any of the scenes without Olivier.

I still can't believe Bergner headlines this movie. She may have been great in other roles, but to put her in a Shakespeare play . . . I hope whoever the casting director was for this was fired. He did Ms. Bergner and anyone who has had to sit through this movie a disservice.

Excellent picture & sound quality on this EP speed tape mastered from a Blackhawk Films 16mm filmprint. Oliver is great in this film. You will love it!