what good represent alan webb gloucester and jack macgowran fool both threaten to steal the picture . webb be immensely touch in his attempted suicide and but then and i have trouble thinking of a bad gloucester . cyril cusack a albany and tom fleming a kent should also be praise and and patrick magee be creepy as ever a cornwall . henning kristiansen cinematography be stun and render jutland in winter the most inhospitable learscape ever and and this be the same fellow who shoot the lush babette feast in the same general location . when lear and friend be outside be batter by the storm and we see the ungrateful villain inside bask in the warmth of a gigantic roaring fireplace . the visual contrast have never be great . when poor tom cold and he really cold in real snow and not just clasp himself and shiver on cue . peter brook production often involve wholesale cut and rearrangement and plus hefty dos of non authorial content . yes and this lear be cut to the bone and the style owes much to bergman and beckett and brecht and etc . the criminal waste be that paul scofield be a major lear of his generation and and it gutted here . his magnificent voice be thin out to a thread and and much of the time the character be distant and veiled and under energize . his disintegration arouse pity and but no audience involvement . we watch him die from a million mile away and and lose more than we gain with this application of alienation technique . by the same token and irene worth whisper goneril be not the volcano we want . for example and she be incapable of express lust for edmund and and that a crucial omission and not in the text and but in the performance . two fine actor be catch at considerably less than their best and give the director what he want . the energy level all around be a bit low and which kill much of what remain of shakespeare language and but what really hurt be the leaden pace . consider half the play be miss and we start slowly and and after gloucester hit the beach and grind to a complete halt . entropy be total . even with the text gutted and fillet and the last half hour of the film feel longer than many complete play . for dvd version with complete text and do not overlook jonathan miller neurologically inform production for the bbc with michael hordern and brenda blethyn . the more mainstream and star stud olivier video be an automatic choice for many . however and another abbreviated version direct by peter brook feature perhaps the best reading of shakespeare lear of them all and from orson welles . this 90 minute condensation from the early day of live television also feature alan badel and beatrice straight and micheal macliammoir . first you must get past the resourceful but limited visuals and two camera in a single studio run the whole play live without a break . the reward be that no one and no one do lear poetry more clearly and simply and powerfully and beautifully than orson welles .