King Lear
1971: Peter Brook

This is probably the most stylized and strange of the King Lear productions. It’s a black-and-white film, played in furs, which is probably all to the point, since it’s spun out at a glacial pace as well. It’s directed by one of the most daring (but not invariably successful) directors of the period, Peter Brook. It was Brook who took it upon himself to direct and produce a six-hour miniseries based on the Indian epic the Mahabharata, widely considered (and perhaps correctly) to the be longest epic poem in the world, and perhaps even the longest single work of fiction (though here quantifications fail).

This particular production stars Paul Scofield — Thomas More in A Man for All Seasons (the 1966 Zinneman production). It’s worth seeing, and quite intense, in a rather slow-paced, mind-warping way — but if you can only see one Lear, choose another.