Customer Reviews

As You Like It [VHS]

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This rendition of the popular comedy is not a glitzy Hollywood production, and in fact much of its charm derives from the fact that it is a live stage production that was "movified" by video cameras in the theater.

Although movie creations can offer intimacy and rich scenery that is not available on stage, there are always speeches that are whispered and shouted, and some of the throw-away lines are swallowed so that it can be difficult to understand the words-which is very important to the appreciation of the philosophical richness of Shakespeare's comedies. The twin benefits I see is this Stratford Festival production are that (1) it is much easier to understand all of the words, because stage players have to speak all lines to the guy in the back row. And (2) the stage and scenery are more like the Elizabethan theaters the plays were written to be performed in. You don't need fancy scenery to enjoy a Shakespeare play; you need excellent actors and a lively imagination.

All of the important actors are extremely well-cast, but Roberta Maxwell outshines them all. She brings Rosalind to life in a fresh and captivating interpretation. Truly she "counterfeits well" in her male impersonator's role, but throughout she is feminine grace personified. I fell in love with her by the end of the second scene, as would any red-blooded male who is free to do so. Her hands are especially beautiful in her eloquent gestures.

Of course, Orlando is as charming to the ladies, but his role is almost eclipsed by the brilliant Roberta.

The words of the play are true to the text, but the barnyard humor is surprisingly overplayed for the taste of educated people; however, mature observers can discount these occurrences for the richness of the morality and the philosophical expression offered by the Shakespearean wit. He puts most of the best lines into the mouths of rustics and fools, which makes them the more notable.

This video is an excellent buy!

The actors could have been more closely miked, the editing could have included more close-ups, the actors' faces could have been more brightly illuminated. But this is a surprisingly effective, satisfying filming of Shakespeare's supreme comedy and heroine. The performance is first-rate and the reproduction good enough (I wasn't even aware the tape was recorded in EP mode) to capture both the letter and spirit of the play as well as the response of an "informed," appreciative audience. The presentation brings to life Shakespeare's language in a manner that encourages the spectator to complete the meanings through the work of the imagination, as opposed to the "pre-formed" meanings of a lavish Branagh cinematic event, in which language necessarily takes the role of mere accompanist.

The pastoral, philosophical nature of this play in particular makes it difficult going for many readers, especially if they haven't cut their teeth first on less demanding comedies--12th Night, Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado. For this reason, the presence of coarse characters and vulgar sexual jokes is both a necessary dramatic device and counterbalance to the ethereal fancies of the "enchanted" lovers. But in the middle of all the extremes is Rosalind--a boy actor playing a woman who plays a man playing a woman--with insights about gender, love and marriage that take us beyond the most probing modern discussions of those subjects. As preparation for this play, the reader would be well advised to try Shakespeare's Sonnet 20, which dismisses biological differences between the sexes and affirms the power of love to at once affirm and transcend male-female difference. Was Shakespeare homosexual? Irrelevant. ( "Homosexual" and "heterosexual" weren't in Shakespeare's lexicon.) Are the poems and plays homoerotic? Yes, frequently. But more importantly they constantly force us to examine the limitations of our own assumptions and linguistic categories concerning human sexuality.

"As You Like It" is above all a story about education. To the blindesses, fevers, madness of lovers gone wrong, Rosalind serves as teacher, physician, counselor--and yet is a student as well, bringing us closer to the meanings of love even as she is discovering them for herself.

I was overjoyed to find it available on videotape through amazon.com.

This is a wonderful, magical performance, from top to bottom. The late Nicholas Pennell and Rosemay Dunsmore especially stand out as Jacques and Celia -- and watch their reactions to other characters, when their characters don't have lines.

The music is outstanding. The staging, especially the dark opening, is superb. More than 15 years later, this is still a favorite that I could watch again and again.

This taped performance of a stage production is far superior to the BBC AYLI. It has energy and charm, and a delightful sense of spontaneity.

This is a good play, with early Olivier, but Rosalind can be a bit difficult to understand if you don't already know what she's saying. Lighthearted Shakespeare.

At 158 minutes, this production is a full hour longer than the 1936 Olivier version and a half-hour longer than the 2007 Kenneth Branagh production. This extra running time is used to good advantage in presenting the most complete film version of this play. While less "cinematic" than Branagh's production it avoids looking too "stagey" through the judicial use of different camera angles and close-ups. Nicholas Pennell is especially good as Jacques.

Hello Amazon,

The movie is as I expected. I love the movie and the quality is about as good as the original taping and video images can get - under the circumstances - I suppose; only, I wish it were available in DVD format (which is why I entitled my review: "As I Would Like It". That is by no means a slap in the face but only a tongue-in-cheek). I am truly thankful to have my coveted movie (which I was unable to find elsewhere - in either video or DVD) but can you (or anyone else) tell me if it is availabe in DVD format anywhere?

Thanks...and that is my reply folks!

I LIKED THIS MOVIE VERY MUCH. OLIVIER WAS BORN TO TO DO Shakespeare AND Bergner is beautiful. She is so angelic and virtuous. I suggest that you watch this movie on PBS first, then if you like buy it from Amazon.com. I fell in love with the english language, although it is my first language, because of this movie.

Paul Czinner's version of Shakespeare's 'As You Like It' was one of the first Shakespearean films ever. For this fact alone it is often heralded. Aside from this virtue, the film's treatment of character is thought-provoking and innovative. Olivier, a callow youth, is a powerful Orlando, but Bergner (Paul Czinner's wife) is a little too playful - a little too much like Robin Hood in the forest. The most interesting feature of the film is the recreation of a forest in a studio. The forest covered acres of space, and looks very artificial. This may seem strange, until one remembers that Shakespeare's forest is also an artificial construct intended as a place as much of the mind as of physical location. The film's closing epilogue has Rosalind metamorphosing from Ganymede - her character in disguise - to Rosalind. This use of trick-photography is fascinating and unique. The addition of a real lioness and snake also adds an air of verisimilitude, which is thrilling. This film is too readily overlooked, and should be considered and appreciated. See this film, but look out for Christine Edzard's 1992 film version of the play, set in an urban wasteland.

Sometimes bizarre rendition of Shakespeare's comedy with a very young Laurence Olivier. The forest scenes are the best with very wild animals tramping across the camera eye as if they just escaped from a zoo. The film is old, creaky and sometimes inaudible but that is part of it's charm. Elizabeth Bergner's closing bit in the epilogue is very lovely.