AS YOU LIKE IT -- Paul Czinner, dir

©1936
dir: Paul Czinner
cast: Laurence Olivier, Elisabeth Bergner, Sophie Stewart, Felix Aylmer, Henry Ainley, Leon Quatermaine
treatment: J.M. Barrie
screenplay: Robert Cullen (and Carl Mayer)
based on the play by William Shakespeare
B&W

An early screen version of Shakespeare's play about a young man who's inheritance is usurped by his brother, and who falls in love with the lovely Rosalind, who disguises herself as a man and tells the young man how to woe her.

I actually quite like this version of the play. I remember seeing it while I was in college, and then paying a small fortune for a video tape copy back in the late '80's.

The sound quality is poor and hasn't transferred well to the DVD, but Olivier's performance is quite strong and really makes this work. Bergner, as Rosalind, is a little annoying as Rosalind, but actually kind of fun to watch when she plays the man, "Ganymede."

I've since learned that Olivier didn't much care for the role or the production, and it was because of this that he maintained creative control over his screen portrayals of Shakepearean works afterwards.

I recommend this as an entertaining version of this play.