As You Like It (1936)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Paul Czinner

Writers:

J.M. Barrie (treatment)
Robert Cullen (scenario)

Release Date:

8 January 1937 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Comedy | Romance

Tagline:

Today's most lauded and applauded star... (1949 re-release)

Plot:

A duke usurps his brother's land and power, banishing him and his retinue into the forest of Arden. The banished duke's daughter...

Plot Keywords:

Brother | Forest | Love | Servant | Cousin

Cast

Henry Ainley	...	Exiled Duke
Elisabeth Bergner	...	Rosalind
Felix Aylmer	...	Duke Frederick
Laurence Olivier	...	Orlando, Son of Roland de Boys
Stuart Robertson	...	Amiens, Lord Attending Exiled Duke
Leon Quartermaine	...	Jacques, Lord Attending Exiled Duke
Austin Trevor	...	Le Beau, Courtier Attending Duke Frederick
Lionel Braham	...	Charles, the Wrestler
John Laurie	...	Oliver, Son of Roland de Boys
J. Fisher White	...	Adam, Oliver's Servant (as Fisher White)
Mackenzie Ward	...	Touchstone, a Clown
Aubrey Mather	...	Corin, a Shepherd
Richard Ainley	...	Sylvius, a Shepherd
Peter Bull	...	William, a Country Fellow
Sophie Stewart	...	Celia

Runtime:

96 min | West Germany:65 min (TV)

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Noiseless Recording)

Certification:

UK:U | USA:Not Rated

Filming Locations:

Elstree Studios, Borehamwood, Hertfordshire, England, UK

Company:

Inter-Allied

Trivia:

The play was an adaptation of the 1590 novel "Rosalynde, Euphues' Golden Legacie", by Thomas Lodge, who has been credited with giving William Shakespeare the title for his play.

Quotes:

Jacques: All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, and one man in his time plays many parts...

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Apple (1980)

Uneven but Likable, Especially Bergner as Rosalind

The main role, Rosalind, is well-played by the cute, vivacious Bergner. Olivier is good with the physical stuff (very graceful) and the repartee. He tends to fall flat on the soliloquies and extended reveries, though. (And he's wearing way too much makeup, including at times some very crooked lipstick.) The costumes and sets are vivid, probably meant to suggest a fairy-tale, and thus account for the ridiculous plot devices.

And despite the comments of another reviewer, the camera-work is not all "point-and-shoot." It is a bit static by today's standards, but not by those of 1936.

The biggest liability is the muddy, distant sound.

All in all, I liked it more than the average filmed Shakespeare, though it's not great by any means.