Uncle Vanya (1963) User Reviews

A classic production of a major work of world theatre

[pdoniger · 9/10 · 14 December 2005]

Olivier's production of Chekhov's masterpiece is rightly famous. In addition to following Constance Garnet's beautiful translation of the play faithfully and staging the play carefully (albeit in a traditional fashion), Olivier, who plays Astrov (the Doctor, who, as in all Chekhov's plays, represents the playwright himself) assembled a stellar cast of actors: Joan Plowright is a perfect Sonia and Rosemary Harris a subtle Yelena. The older characters are filled out by some giants of the 20th century English stage, including Max Adrian, Lewis Casson, and Casson's wife, the magnificent Dame Sybil Thorndike as the Nurse. Topping the list, of course, is a fine performance by Michael Redgrave in the title role. Olivier and his actors are able to evoke the classic Chekhovian mood from the opening and carry it through smoothly and warmly until the end. The result gives the viewer a gentle and bittersweet view into "country life" (see Chekhov's subtitle) and how people waste the gift of life with petty complaints rather than taking charge of it. This production is a perfect introduction to Chekhov and should be seen by all who love theatre.

commercial DVD available

[jcpo · 9/10 · 28 June 2006]

Chekhov's fascination with the inability to act makes him a spiritual ancestor of Samuel Beckett. I find the acting very satisfying, and what an all-star cast! Michael Redgrave is greatly moving in the title role, caught in the trap of upper-class ennui. And the women, particularly Rosemary Harris as Yelena are marvelous, each stuck in inescapable comfort. The modest scenery increases the oppressive claustrophobia of the atmosphere.

One definitely should see this production and immediately follow with Vanya on 42nd St.

A commercial DVD of this excellent production is available from a Canadian company called Learmedia.

Moving Chekhov

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 15 August 2022]

There were quite a number of reasons for watching this filmed version of 'Uncle Vanya'. One big reason being the play itself, which is one of Chekhov's best with it being a masterpiece of complex characterisation and bleak and intensely poignant mood. Another major reason being the cast, Laurence Olivier and Joan Plowright were seasoned Chekhov interpreters and Michael Redgrave was also a fine actor (very fond of his Terrence Rattigan adaptations).

1963's 'Uncle Vanya' is an invaluable document of how Chekhov was performed back then. Of all the filmed adaptations of Chekhov's plays seen, this is definitely up there as among the best and one of the few outstanding adaptations that in my mind nails Chekhov and what he's about. So much better than Olivier's later Chekhov adaptation 1970's 'Three Sisters', which was incredibly well acted but too stage bound. Whereas this was incredibly well acted while managing to not feel too stagy despite it being a filmed production.

Maybe the production could have brought out more of Vanya's cynicism.

Otherwise, this 'Uncle Vanya' is wonderful and this immensely difficult to adapt play is adapted and performed in a way as if it came easy to those involved. It is beautifully and moodily photographed, in a way that doesn't come over as too static. The setting also has atmosphere and is appropriately oppressive. The audio is suitably haunting without being melodramatic. Chekhov's dialogue is amazing, his prose was met with a lot of scorn and criticism in his day but while wordy it has never been a problem with me. The emotion is absolutely there without being overwrought and is full of meat and not too much fat.

Likewise with the character writing, they are not what one calls "likeable" but they are realistically flawed and psychologically fascinating. The stage direction is intelligent and moving, especially in the later stages. Personally did not find it too stylised or too polite, and thought the bleakness of the play was captured very well. While also not being overly serious. The performances all round do convey the key themes of loneliness and desperation very well and they nail their character traits and psychology. The smaller moments in the character interaction particularly come off well.

Of the performances, Michael Redgrave's subtle and very powerful Vanya and Joan Plowright's sweetly affecting Sonya are particularly notable. Rosemary Harris' Yelena isn't as understated but is still a riveting and searing portrayal, while Olivier succeeds in making Astrov a complex character of many emotions. The intensity of the character interaction is always obvious and the ending is moving.

All in all, wonderful. 9/10.

Invaluable Record of a Legendary Production

[richlandwoman · 10/10 · 13 October 2003]

This film is a record of probably the most famous English-language Chekhov production. Of course it's not the same as actually being in the theatre with Olivier and Redgrave, but it's still terrific.

Another reviewer commented negatively about the difference between stage and film acting, but in fact this "Vanya" offers one of Olivier's best *film* performances -- it's subtle and biting, cold-hearted and sweet-natured, incredibly complex and great. And Redgrave isn't far behind him.

10 out of 10

Greatest Vanya Ever

[dreamland3 · 10/10 · 13 March 2008]

George Steiner wrote of Chekhov that his plays were "a musical score for speaking voice". This Vanya is just that. The performances here of Laurence Olivier, Michael Redgrave, Rosemary Harris, Joan Plowright, Max Adrian and Sybil Thorndike are operatic in range and emotion. The translation of Constance Garnett is no less important to success - perfect in its rhythm and concision.

This recording survives as a wonder of the 1960s Golden Age in British theatre. Yes, John Gielgud, Ralph Richardson and Richard Burton are not in the cast but never mind; this production was immortal, one of the supreme nights in the theatre in our lifetimes.

How brilliantly the heart can ache.

[bobchico · 10/10 · 1 January 2007]

Executed in a traditional theatrical style devoted to the text and the Staislavsky school, this production may seem static to modern viewers. Most contemporary stagings of Chekov plays display pronounced movements to demonstrate relationships and emotional states, often involving physical contact between the characters that would have been deemed boorish during the rural Tsarist Russia of the play's setting. This forthright filming of the 1963 National Theatre production conveys the Chekovian mastery of self-doubt, longing and wishfulness through smaller gestures and voice. The key voices are Michael Redgrave and Laurence Olivier at the peaks of their greatness.

Classic production

[pianissimo_550 · 9 May 2009]

Having heard the recording of Laurence Olivier's production of 'Uncle Vanya' at Chichester Festival Theatre's first season I have always wanted to see it.Laurence Olivier generously gives Michael Redgrave as Uncle Vanya the space to give one of greatest performances in British theatre history with Olivier himself as Astrov equalling him in stature as Astrov.To say that they at their peak does not do them justice! Chekhov shows through each character degrees of despair -- Redgrave's most brilliant moment comes with his delayed reaction to the the Professor informing that he wishes to sell the estate -- he mishears him and then unleashes second by second the years of frustration -- his torment and rage tears into the viewer provoking a feeling of sympathy at the waste of a life and hysterical laughter at the way he communicates it.Olivier's Astrov has smaller moments though no less powerful in the way he talks about the forests and his work with effortless detail to Yelena played by the beautiful Rosemary Harris -- it is a masterful display of great acting that we will probably never see again.

The definitive, brilliant production of UNCLE VANYA

[bugfat · 10/10 · 3 April 2006]

I disagree with previous comments. This a perfect production of UNCLE VANYA, one of the world's great dramas. We should be thankful that the stage production was recorded so that all of us can continue to enjoy and be moved by these brilliant performances. Michael Redgrave and Joan Plowright are particularly moving, but Olivier as Astrov and the lovely Rosemary Harris and the legendary Fay Compton are also memorable. Yes, it is not presented in an artificially cinematic style. With this play and this production that doesn't matter. In fact, the nature of the play demands that the camera focus on the faces and body language of the actors. It's their emotions, their reactions to each other that matter. With the camera so close to them, we can see them lying to each other and to themselves. Heartbreaking, brilliant, and unforgettable. A masterful rendition of a masterpiece.

Clumsy film of a stage production

[drn5 · 3/10 · 4 October 2000]

This production may have been good on the stage, but its transferral to film gives little indication of that. Theatre acting is very different to film acting, and when you point a camera up close to a theatre production, the actors look absurdly stylised and over-the-top. Here, in 'Uncle Vanya', one of the classic works of nineteenth-century naturalism, everyone struts around like marionettes, as if they're acting in a play by Marlowe or Brecht. The actress who plays Yelena suffers especially; her graceful movements and slow, musical delivery are presumably intended to project the idea of a fashionable city woman, but in close up she is almost unwatchable. It's a shame, because behind the film you can sense a great production. Michael Redgrave is a good Vanya, suitably dissolute and hangdog. Max Adrian is funny as the cranky old professor, and Joan Plowright is sweet as Sonya (although she's far too old for the role). But there are also some terrible misinterpretations; Laurence Olivier's representation of Astrov as plump, dapper and jolly is bizarrely wrong. You get no sense that Astrov has spent the last ten years working without a break in the cholera-ridden swamps amongst starving peasants-indeed, Olivier cuts the lines that describe all this! Similarly, the entire production is too polite and inoffensive; there's no real sense of bleakness, and no sense that the characters exist in a real, living world (an effect that Chekhov was so good at). Worse still, all the characters treat Vanya as a likeable, amusing companion, with the result that his cynical comments and miserablist pronouncements have no bite at all. This is a film of interest only to theatre historians and would not be a good way to introduce newcomers to Chekhov. Watch 'Vanya on 42nd Street' instead, which is not only a better production, but is also a real film, rather than a clumsy recording of a stage production.

Brilliant

[prez-1 · 28 March 2002]

Contrary to DRN5's critique of the 1963 filmed stage production of Uncle Vanya this production is so masterfully close to Chekov's intent, with Olivier and Redgrave at their all time best. No American copies exist. But there is a video version available in the UK.

Let the professional critics speak the truth!

[cw-26 · 27 August 2003]

DRN5's rather curious and one sided comments about the Olivier directed production of 'Uncle Vanya' needs to be put in the context of what the professional critics of the day expressed. That is not to say I did not enjoy 'Vanya on 42nd Street' - I did very much, but the Olivier production added another dimension portraying as it does, Chekhov's desire to say to people 'Have a look at yourselves and see how dreary your lives are'. 'This is ensemble acting in the Master Class' New York Times 'Miss Harris' argument, reconciliation and mutual confession with Joan Plowright are the best acted women's scenes I have ever watched. One after another, the British critics poured forth their praise...' American Newsweek Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, directed by Laurence Olivier, is the admitted master achievement in British twentieth-century theatre...for authority and finish - above all for centrality of purpose - this has no competitor' London Sunday Times Olivier's Vanya...is one of the greatest productions of an era... the most satisfying and integrated...' London Observer 'Take this road to find greatness...with a cast that could not be bettered on the English-speaking part of the earth' London Daily Express 'Majestic Uncle Vanya....the acting of a magnificent company. This production of a great play is a rare achievement. London Evening Standard 'This company and this production will be remembered for a long time...that leaves you awed, grateful and humble in the face of such perfection. London Punch

A PAL standard DVD of this film will be released late in 2003 in the UK.

more than beautiful adaptation

[Kirpianuscus · 31 October 2023]

Obvious, it represents more than a beautiful adaptation. It is a fair, honest and wise exploration of Cekhov univers, in precise terms, with high care for details and the expected inspired atmosphere. And it is not a surprise, the cast offering the guarantee of a beautitul to great adaptation, Astrov of Laurence Olivier, like Vanya proposed by Michael Redgrave reminding the spirit of play in each its nuance.

The story of wasted lives and clashes between visions are familiar.

But this adaptation has, obvious, the desire and gift to offer more than a new represented play. A sort of reflection, about himself, of viewer and this intention is wonderful used scene by scene.

So, Cekhov in pure traits.