Many positive comments to be made here: a courageous effort of Lord Olivier, playing Shakespeare's most difficult protagonist at the proper age for it. Surely most other actors would have passed that opportunity. And there's still a great deal of fire here; but there's no doubt that he, like the character, was nearing the end of his vitality. It was also a bold production, though taped from a staged version, basically; and looking amateurish by today's standards. The technical aspects are, in fact, very distracting. I suppose I would sum it up by saying I haven't seen a definitive Lear production yet, but I couldn't ask for a better Lear.
