1930 – 1939: Worldwide Obscurity
Cast: Gloria Swanson (Judy Rogers), Laurence Olivier
(Nicholas Randall).
Screenplay: Miles Malleson and Garrett Graham.
Director: Cyril Gardner.
Cast: Elisabeth Bergner (Rosalind), Laurence Olivier (Orlando), Henry Ainley (Exiled Duke), Felix Aylmer (Duke Frederick), Sophia
Stewart (Celia), John Laurie (Oliver), Leon Quatermaine (Jacques), Mackenzie
Ward (Touchstone), Richard Ainley (Sylvius).
Screenplay: William Shakespeare, as adapted by J. M. Barrie,
Carl Mayer and R. J. Cullen.
Director: Paul Czinner.
Notes: A rather inauspicious beginning for one of the greatest
Shakespeareans of all time. Not yet thirty and with very little screen experience, Larry is rather
wooden. But the perfect diction and the youthful athleticism already impress. The
movie is charming, but the play is so heavily cut that it resembles
Shakespeare’s original but very vaguely. At least the essence of Rosalind and
Orlando is retained and they are fun to watch. Elisabeth Bergner is an excellent
Rosalind (never mind the accent that so enrages some reviewers) and her joint
scenes with Larry come off rather nicely.
Cast: Flora Robson (Queen Elizabeth),
Raymond Massey (Philip II), Leslie Banks (Earl of Leicester),
Laurence Olivier (Michael Ingolby), Vivien Leigh (Cynthia).
Screenplay: Clemence Dane and Sergei Nolbandov, based on the
novel by A. E. W. Mason.
Director: William K. Howard.
Notes: The 1st onscreen collaboration between Larry
and Vivien; of historical interest only.
Cast: Merle Oberon (Leslie Steele / Lady Claire Mere),
Laurence Olivier (Everard Logan),
Ralph Richardson (Lord Mere).
Screenplay: Ian Dalrymple, Arthur Wimperis and Lajos Biro,
based on the story “Counsels Opinion” by Gilbert Wakefield.
Director: Tim Whelan.
1939 – 1944:
Hollywood Stardom and British Propaganda
Cast: Laurence Olivier (Heathcliff), Merle Oberon (Cathy),
David Niven (Edgar), Flora Robson (Ellen), Geraldine Fitzgerald (Isabella).
Screenplay: Charles MacArthur and Ben Hecht, based on the novel by
Emily Brontë.
Director:
William Wyler.
Cast:
Laurence Olivier (Maxim de Winter), Joan Fontaine (Mrs de Winter), Judith
Anderson (Mrs Danvers), George Sanders (Jack Favell), Reginald Denny (Frank Crawley), C. Aubrey Smith (Colonel Julyan), Gladys Cooper
(Beatrice Lacy).
Screenplay:
Robert E. Sherwood and Joan Harrison, based on the novel by Daphne Du Maurier,
adapted by Philip MacDonald and Michael Hogan.
Director:
Alfred Hitchcock.
Cast: Laurence Olivier (Darcy), Greer Garson (Lizzy),
Screenplay: Aldous Huxley and Jane Murfin, based on the dramatisation by Helen Jerome
of the novel by Jane Austen
Director: Robert Z. Leonard.
Notes:
Darcy with an acute sense of humour. Outrageous? Not so in Larry’s case.
Cast: Laurence Olivier (Lord Horatio Nelson), Vivien Leigh (Emma
Lady Hamilton), Alan Mowbray (Sir William Hamilton), Gladys Cooper (Lady
Frances Nelson).
Screenplay:
Walter Reisch and R. C. Sherriff.
Director:
Alexander Korda.
Notes: Pretty
good achievement for war propaganda. The last and in many ways the finest
onscreen collaboration between Larry and Vivien. She is the star here; but his
Nelson is also worth checking out.
Cast: Eric Portman (Lieutenant Hirth), Laurence Olivier (Johnny – the Traper),
Finlay Currie (The Factor), Leslie Howard (Philip Armstrong Scott), Glynis Johns
(Anna).
Screenplay: Emeric Pressburger.
Director: Michael Powell.
Notes: Another piece of propaganda that has aged remarkably
well. Larry’s cameo – it is a cameo, never mind the
star billing – is one of his most harshly criticized appearances on the screen.
The wacky French accent is usually enough to set the Olivier-haters foaming at
the mouth. Personally, I find it a charming and hilarious oddity. Very nice movie
on the whole, with stellar lead performance by Eric Portman and gorgeous
cinematography.
1944 – 1955: Shakespeare Rules
Cast: Laurence Olivier (Hamlet), Jean Simmons (Ophelia),
Eileen Herlie (Gertrude), Basil Sydney (Claudius), Felix Aylmer (Polonius), Terrence
Morgan (Laertes).
Screenplay: William Shakespeare.
Director: Laurence Olivier.
Notes: Masterfully abridged, intensely brooding and relentlessly
probing, Hamlet is one of Larry’s
finest Shakespearean achievements. And decidedly his best work as a director. It
holds spectacularly well 65 years and quite a few Hamlets later.
Cast: Laurence Olivier (George Hurstwood),
Jennifer Jones (Carrie Meeber), Eddie Albert (Charles Drouet), Miriam Hopkins (Julie
Hurstwood).
Screenplay: Ruth Goetz and Augustus Goetz, based on the novel Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser.
Director: William Wyler.
Notes: This is generally agreed to be one of Larry’s most woefully
underrated performances. Everybody agrees on that. So what? The movie remains
obscure and neglected by anybody but old-movie buffs. Pity. It’s a beautiful
picture. Larry’s restrained yet powerful art is fully matched by Jennifer Jones
in the title role and William Wyler in the catbird seat.
Cast: Laurence Olivier (Richard), Ralph Richardson
(Buckingham), John Gielgud (Clarence), Claire Bloom (Lady Anne), Mary Kerridge
(Queen Elizabeth).
Screenplay: William Shakespeare, with additions by Colley Cibber and
David Garrick.
Director: Laurence Olivier.
1957 – 1989:
Characters, Cranks, Cameos – and Forgotten
Treasures
Cast: Kirk Douglas (Richard Dudgeon), Burt Lancaster (Rev.
Anthony Anderson), Laurence Olivier (Gen. Burgoyne), Janette Scott (Judith
Anderson), Harry Anderson (Maj. Swindon),
Basil Sydney (Lawyer Hawkins).
Screenplay: John Dighton and Roland Kibbee, based on
Bernard Shaw’s play.
Director: Guy Hamilton.
Notes: Very charming and often overlooked movie. Shaw’s original play
is considerably trimmed and toned down, but enough is left to guarantee an
amusing spectacle. Larry gets most of the best lines – including immortal gems
like “History, sir, will tell lies, as usual”, “Your friend, the British soldier, can stand up to anything – except the
British War Office” and “Oh, Mr Dudgeon, since we can’t hang you, perhaps you
would care to take tea with me this afternoon” – he delivers them with smooth
elegance, and he captures the subtle irony of General Burgoyne’s character to
perfection. It’s one of his most delightful supporting roles. He all but steals
the movie from Douglas and Lancaster (both excellent).
Cast: Laurence Olivier (Archie Rice), Joan Plowright (Jean
Rice), Alan
Bates (Frank Rice), Brenda de Banzie (Phoebe Rice), Roger Livesey (Billy Rice).
Screenplay: Nigel Kneale and John Osborne, based on the latter’s play.
Director: Tony Richardson.
Notes: The
third-rate entertainer Archie Rice, much like George Hurstwood, is a rather
compelling proof that Larry could play small-scale losers (Shakespeare’s tragic
heroes are obviously large-scale losers) as well as anybody. In this harrowing
family drama, considerably helped by excellent supporting cast, he gives one
of his finest non-Shakespearean performances. It is a crime that this movie is
virtually unknown outside the narrow circle of Larry-lovers.
Cast: Kirk Douglas (Spartacus), Jean Simmons (Varinia), Laurence Olivier
(Crassus), Peter Ustinov (Batiatus), Charles Laughton (Gracchus), John Gavin
(Julius Caesar).
Screenplay: Dalton Trumbo, based on the
novel by Howard Fast.
Director: Stanley
Kubrick.
Notes: Crassus is one of Larry’s least hammy and most sinister
characters. The epitome of quiet menace. The rest of the cast is magnificent
and the epic holds rather well more than 60 years after it was made.
Cast: Laurence Olivier (Graham Weir), Sarah Miles (Shirley
Taylor), Simone Signoret (Anna)
Screenplay: James Barlow and Peter Glenville
Director: Peter Glenville
Notes: One of Larry’s most underrated performances, usually
mentioned (if at all!) only to be lambasted as “awfully miscast” or other words
to that effect. It is, in fact, a stunning tour de force of rare subtlety. Graham
Weir, the pacifistic, alcoholic, gentle, kind-hearted and idealistic
schoolteacher, is the ultimate proof that Larry could play perfectly ordinary
people as well as anybody – and better than most. No ham here at all. Just pure
acting of the highest calibre! Excellent movie on the whole, very well written
(I don’t know why people so often neglect the importance of the screenplay), very
well directed by a man who should be better known, full of complex and
believable characters, and beautifully acted all around. Sarah Miles
is young, sexy and totally convincing as a very confused schoolgirl who is both exasperating
and touching. Simone Signoret as the embittered but compassionate wife delivers
an outstanding supporting performance. The cast also includes memorable cameos
by Terence Stamp, Hugh Griffith and Roland Culver.
Cast: Carol Lynley (Ann
Lake), Keir Dullea (Steve Lake),
Laurence Olivier (Superintendent Newhouse), Noel Coward (Wilson).
Screenplay: John and Penelope Mortimer, based on the novel by
Marryam Modell (aka Evelyn Piper).
Director: Otto Preminger.
Notes: Another superbly understated and unjustly neglected
performance, this time as a cool and shrewd police detective. Larry’s role is
supposed to be supporting, but it really almost amounts to a leading part. Note
the subtle development of the questioning scenes: growing compassion with Ann,
growing suspicion with Steve. Beautiful acting in which every word and every
gesture matter. The movie on the whole is an intriguing psychological mystery
with fine performances by Keir Dullea and especially Carol Lynley. Preminger’s
attempt to out-Hitchcock Hitchcock was not quite successful, but it’s well
worth seeing all the same.
Cast: Laurence Olivier (Othello), Frank Finlay (Iago), Maggie Smith
(Desdemona), Joyce Redman (Emilia), Derek Jacobi (Cassio).
Screenplay: William Shakespeare.
Director: Stuart Burge.
Notes: Based on the 1964 production in the National Theatre directed
by John Dexter. Larry’s most controversial screen appearance, hands down. And
yet, I am amused when I see, as I often do, this particular role singled out
when people want to stress how overrated Olivier was. People seem to confuse
“overrated” with “overhyped”. You may have quibbles with Larry’s interpretation
of the Moor – indeed, I have quite a few – but as a technical accomplishment,
as an acting tour de force, as an original, consistent and coherent
characterisation, his Othello is second to none. I don’t quite see how this can
be denied by anybody, his most vocal detractors firmly included.
Cast: Charlton Heston (Gen. Charles Gordon),
Laurence Olivier (The Mahdi), Ralph Richardson (William Gladstone),
Richard Johnson (Col. J. D. H. Stewart).
Screenplay: Robert Ardrey.
Director: Basil Dearden, Eliot Elisofon
Notes: Minor part that came conveniently post-Othello – make-up-wise,
if not accent-wise. Entertaining scenes with Charlton Heston.
Cast: Anthony Quinn (Kiril Lakota), Laurence Olivier
(Piotr Ilyich Kamenev), Oskar Werner (Fr. David Telemond), David Janssen (George
Faber), Vittorio De Sica (Cardinal Rinaldi), Leo McKern (Cardinal
Leone), John Gielgud (The Elder Pope), Frank Finlay (Igor Bounin).
Screenplay: John Patrick and James Kennaway, based on the novel by Morris
L. West.
Director: Michael Anderson.
Notes:
Sprawling, dystopian/utopian (depends on your point of view) and lavishly
produced epic about the personal and social effects of religion and politics
with the active participation of the Vatican. Larry plays the small, but
not unimportant, part of the Soviet premier. Great scenes with Anthony Quinn.
Cast: Laurence Olivier (Andrew Wyke), Michael Caine (Milo Tindle), Alec Cawthorne (Inspector Doppler), John
Matthews (Detective Sergeant Tarrant), Even Channing (Marguerite Wyke), Teddy
Martin (Police Constable Higgs).
Screenplay: Anthony Shaffer, based on his own play.
Director: Joseph L. Mankiewicz.
Notes: One of Larry’s greatest performances in his nearly 60
years of screen career. One of the most perfect movies ever made. For more
info, see here.
Cast: Dustin Hoffman (Babe), Laurence Olivier (Szell), Roy
Scheider (Doc), Marthe Keller (Else).
Screenplay: William Goldman.
Director: John Schlesinger.
Notes: The
sadistic Nazi dentist-murderer-smuggler is possibly even less hammy and more
sinister than Crassus. Fantastic scenes with Roy Scheider (at the fountain) and
Dustin Hoffman (the notorious “torture scene” and the intense final one at the
dam). Enjoyable spy flick on the whole. Ironically, just two years later Larry
played an equally determined Nazi hunter.
The Boys from
Brazil (1978)
Cast: Laurence Olivier (Ezra Lieberman), Gregory Peck (Joseph
Mengele), James Mason (Eduard Seibert), Uta Hagen (Frieda Maloney), Bruno Ganz
(Professor Bruckner), Lilli Palmer (Esther Lieberman).
Screenplay: Heywood Good, based on the novel by Ira Levin.
Director: Franklin J. Schaffner.
Notes: Another
seldom appreciated leading role in a fine screen version of Ira Levin’s compelling
mixture of thriller and science fiction. Gregory Peck has never looked more
sinister than he does in this white suit, with this make-up, in this role! As
for Larry, the role gives him yet another fine chance to indulge his passion
for wacky accents, not to mention old-age hammy silliness, but that shouldn’t
distract the alert movie fan from the subtle portrayal of Lieberman, the determined
Jewish Nazi hunter. Watch out for the scene with Uta Hagen!
Cast: Laurence Olivier (Loren Hardeman), Robert Duvall (Loren
Hardeman III), Kathleen Beller (Betsy), Tommy Lee Jones (Angelo Perino), Lesley-Anne
Down (Lady Bobby Ayres), Jane Alexander (Alicia Hardeman), Katherine Ross
(Sally Hardeman).
Screenplay: William Bast and Walter Bernstein, based on the novel by
Harold Robbins.
Director: Daniel Petrie.
Notes: After
Sleuth and King Lear, this is possibly Larry’s finest leading performance of
his late years. Loren Hardeman is a complex character: ruthless, manipulative
and lecherous tycoon, yet a human being capable of tenderness, affection and
charm. Beautifully acted on all fronts. The movie, on the whole, has been
trashed more severely than it deserves. It’s not a great one by any stretch of
the imagination, but it’s a compellingly decadent look at the 1970s. I have
seen a good deal worse pictures with much greater pretensions.
Cast: Neil
Diamond (Jess Robin/Yussel Rabinovitch), Laurence Olivier (Cantor Rabinovich),
Lucie Arnaz (Molly Bell),
Catlin Adams (Rivka Rabinovitch).
Screenplay:
Herbert Baker and Stephen H. Foreman, based on the play by Samson Raphaelson.
Director:
Richard Fleischer
Notes.
Small but not inconsiderable part for Larry. The movie on the whole is a decent
drama with plenty of fine music. It has been trashed more severely than it
deserves.
Clash of the
Titans (1981)
Cast: Harry Hamlin (Perseus), Laurence Olivier (Zeus), Claire Bloom
(Hera), Maggie Smith (Thetis), Ursula Andress (Aphrodite), Jack Gwillim
(Poseidon), Susan Fleetwood (Athena).
Screenplay: Beverly Cross.
Director: Desmond Davis.
Notes: Having played so many kings, princes, generals and other
larger-than-life figures, it was about time to play a god. Zeus is an
auspicious choice for a debut in the sky. The star-stuffed Mount Olympus
is the only reason to see this otherwise indifferent fantasy romp.
Cast: Laurence Olivier (King Lear), Diana Rigg (Regan), Dorothy Tutin
(Goneril), Robert Lindsay (Edmund), John Hurt (The Fool), Leo McKern (Gloucester), David Threlfall (Edgar), Anna Calder-Marshall
(Cordelia), Colin Blakely (Kent).
Screenplay: William Shakespeare.
Director: Michael Elliott.
Notes: Larry’s seventh and last Shakespearian effort on the screen,
fittingly in one of the Bard’s most shattering plays. It has all the poignancy that a valedictory
performance should have. The visual side is rather drab and unimaginative, but
the rest of the cast is nearly perfect.
